"In the Shadow of the Moon", New documentary gets a favorable review Options

[jrdahlman]

Raymond Chen, a programmer for Microsoft, went to the Seattle International Film Festival. As mentioned in his blog, he walked into "In the Shadow of the Moon" almost by accident and came out raving about it. From his description, it sound like a film we would enjoy.

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...01/3019282.aspx

If I may quote:

"This was absolutely wonderful, a documentary consisting of stunning never-before-seen NASA footage from the Apollo missions and interviews with most of the surviving astronauts who have been to the moon. (Of the astronauts, all of whom are extremely well-spoken and quite funny, Michael Collins steals the show.) If this movie goes into general release, I strongly encourage every space buff to run, don't walk, to see it. The footage of the Saturn V launch brought tears to me eyes. I give it a 5 out of 5.

There's a spectacular shot taken from the inside of a spent stage: You watch the next stage ignite and the spacecraft fade off into the distance, then as the spent stage loses attitude, the earth comes into view before the film finally runs out. During the Q&A after the movie, one person asked the director, 'How did the film of that sequence survive re-entry?' The answer: The film was ejected from the spent stage and fell to earth. High-altitude planes were in pursuit with giant nets trailing out behind them. That was one insane game of 'catch'.

The special surprise guest at the screening was Bill Anders, the crewmember from Apollo 8 who took the famous Earthrise photo. He quipped that Frank Borman actually took the first Earthrise photo, but Borman had the disadvantage of using the camera loaded with black-and-white film; Anders had color film in his camera.

Bonus story #1 from Gene Cernan: 'My father was alive when the Wright brothers made their first flight; he could hardly believe that I walked on the moon. My son was five years old; he thought it was no big deal.'

Bonus story #2 from Charles Duke: 'After I returned, the flight doctor told me that at launch my heart rate was 144.' A beat. 'John's was 70.' Cut to interview with John Young: 'I'm old. My heart can't go any faster.'"

[Floyd]

As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, I could hear the rocket motor tests miles away in the desert--some ending with a bang. Unfortunately, I never got to Florida to see a launch. I would really have liked to see a Saturn V blast off.