From the Earth to the Moon: A Retrospective Podcast on The Apollo Program
By Doug & Peter
From the Earth to the Moon: A Retrospective Podcast on The Apollo ProgramJul 30, 2020
Interview About the New Book Based on this Podcast
From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle
Also on apple books and many other ebook platforms -- Links below.
If you enjoyed this podcast, you will love our new book project!
Think you've read everything there is about the moon flights? Think again!
In 1998, the landmark television miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" was first broadcast. In 12 episodes, it told the daring story of Project Apollo-NASA's program to put humans on the moon. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of each episode of the miniseries and covers Apollo from start to finish, and then some! More than a simple episode guide, this companion reviews the choices the filmmakers made regarding the actors, special effects, and historical accuracy. This book shows readers what each episode got right, got wrong, and what they didn't tell you about each of these historic missions.
Providing readers with a completely novel and unique approach to Project Apollo, this companion to the miniseries is packed with information.
Covers all manned Apollo missions, the creation of the lunar module, the Apollo 1 fire and aftermath, the personal and professional highs and lows of the astronauts and key NASA personnel, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Pete Conrad, Al Worden, Donn Eisele, Wernher von Braun, Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard, James Webb, and others. Also includes descriptions of the author's personal interactions with some of the Apollo astronauts.
Bonus: Includes an in-depth interview with Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon, the book that was the basis for the entire miniseries. Also includes 35 stunning images.
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/from-the-earth-to-the-moon-the-miniseries-companion
https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1523218640
https://www.scribd.com/book/468933487/From-the-Earth-to-the-Moon-The-Miniseries-Companion
New Book Based on this Podcast!
From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle
Also on apple books and many other ebook platforms!
If you enjoyed this podcast, you will love our new book project!
Think you've read everything there is about the moon flights? Think again!
In 1998, the landmark television miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" was first broadcast. In 12 episodes, it told the daring story of Project Apollo-NASA's program to put humans on the moon. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of each episode of the miniseries and covers Apollo from start to finish, and then some! More than a simple episode guide, this companion reviews the choices the filmmakers made regarding the actors, special effects, and historical accuracy. This book shows readers what each episode got right, got wrong, and what they didn't tell you about each of these historic missions.
Providing readers with a completely novel and unique approach to Project Apollo, this companion to the miniseries is packed with information.
Covers all manned Apollo missions, the creation of the lunar module, the Apollo 1 fire and aftermath, the personal and professional highs and lows of the astronauts and key NASA personnel, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Pete Conrad, Al Worden, Donn Eisele, Wernher von Braun, Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard, James Webb, and others. Also includes descriptions of the author's personal interactions with some of the Apollo astronauts.
Bonus: Includes an in-depth interview with Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon, the book that was the basis for the entire miniseries. Also includes 35 stunning images.
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/from-the-earth-to-the-moon-the-miniseries-companion
https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1523218640
https://www.scribd.com/book/468933487/From-the-Earth-to-the-Moon-The-Miniseries-Companion
Bonus 4: The Right Stuff (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983), Directed by Philip Kaufman.
Hey Ridley, you got any Beemans?
Crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo.
Bonus 3: First Man (2018), Neil Armstrong Feature Film.
First Man (2018), Directed by Damien Chazelle.
An intimate look at the inscrutable astronaut's Right Stuff'.
Bonus 2: Apollo 13 (1995), Ron Howard, Tom Hanks.
Our take on Ron Howard's blockbuster feature film, Apollo 13 (1995), Starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise.
Bonus episode, crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo.
Bonus 1: Apollo 11 Documentary, CNN Films (2019)
Our take on CNN Films' Apollo 11 documentary, 2019.
Bonus episode, crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo.
Ep 12: Le Voyage Dans La Lune
The story of the final lunar mission, Apollo 17, is told as a pseudo-documentary set several decades after the fact. Simulated interviews of various characters such as Emmett Seaborn and flight director Christopher C. Kraft Jr., in old-age makeup, are included. The documentary is interspersed with the story of early French film maker Georges Méliès' creation of his vision of a trip to the Moon, the 1902 Le Voyage dans la Lune. Scenes from the original film are merged with the recreation of its filming.
Episode 12 links:
Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902, B& W, complete)
Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902, hand coloured, complete)
Apollo 17 LM Ascent Stage liftoff from moon
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal Apollo 17 page
Trailer for “The Last Man on the Moon” documentary about Gene Cernan
Ep 11: The Original Wives' Club
Shows the Apollo program from the point of view of the nine wives of NASA's second group of astronauts, from 1962 beyond the end of the program. The burdens placed on them include maintaining a home while presenting a positive image to the news media, shielding their husbands from any family concerns which could affect their position in the flight rotation or ability to return to Earth safely, and comforting each other in the face of tragedy as Elliot See and Ed White are killed. The episode is anchored by the Apollo 16 mission, during which recently married Ken Mattingly loses his wedding ring in the Command Module, and Lunar Module pilot Charles Duke finds it while Mattingly is performing a walk in deep space.
Episode 11 links:
Long article about Jan Armstrong
Telegraph article about Astronaut Wives Club
Interesting blog post about astronaut wives
Ep 10: Galileo Was Right
Scientist astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, a geologist, persuades his mentor, professor Lee Silver, to train the Apollo astronauts in selecting appropriate rock samples to collect through field experience, rather than the boring classroom lectures NASA has been using. Silver takes the four Apollo 15 prime and backup landing crew members (David Scott, James Irwin, Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Schmitt) to the southwestern desert, while lunar geologist Farouk El-Baz trains the Command Module pilots (Alfred Worden and Vance D. Brand) in high-altitude recognition of geological features using airplane flights over Hawaii. Schmitt is disappointed to learn his own Apollo 18 flight will be cancelled, but he still believes the training of the other astronauts is vital. It pays off when Scott and Irwin find the "Genesis Rock", originally believed to come from the Moon's primordial crust. The title refers to Scott's reproduction of an experiment proving Galileo's hypothesis that gravity will cause bodies of differing masses to fall at the same rate in a vacuum, by dropping a hammer and a feather.
Episode 10 links:
British animated short about Apollo 15
FTETTM Hammer and Feather scene
Real Hammer and Feather on Moon
Apollo 15 EVA 1 complete TV transmission
Al Worden talking about 15, good and bad, including stamp incident
Apollo 15 In the Mountains of the Moon (saw this in elementary school-still well done!)
Ep 9: For Miles and Miles
In 1964, while riding high on his fame as America's first man in space and his expected command of the first Gemini mission, Alan Shepard is suddenly struck with Ménière's disease, characterized by vertigo and nausea. Flight operations director Deke Slayton must ground him, but offers him the job of chief astronaut, effectively making Shepard Slayton's assistant as supervisor of all the astronauts. A few years later, a surgeon tries an experimental surgery which cures Shepard's symptoms, and he is returned to the flight rotation, commanding Apollo 14 in early 1971, which accomplishes Apollo 13's failed Fra Mauro landing. Shepard brings a six-iron golf club head on board, which he fastens to a soil-collecting tool handle and uses to hit a ball "for miles and miles".
Episode 9 links:
FTETTM Landing scene with computer hack
Apollo 14 onboard camera footage-very nice
Ep 8: We Interrupt This Program
This episode covers the perilous flight of Apollo 13 entirely from the ground point of view; the astronauts are only heard on radio. Veteran TV spaceflight reporter Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith) is summoned to broadcast the breaking news of the in-flight failure, as young reporter Brett Hutchings (Jay Mohr) is pulled off of sports to help with the coverage. As the crisis unfolds, Seaborn finds himself at odds with Hutchings' style of sensationalizing its impact on the astronauts' families, and criticizing NASA. Seaborn starts to feel he is being marginalized when the network decides to leave Hutchings on location in Houston, while sending him back to headquarters to provide only background coverage. The last straw falls when, after the successful recovery of the astronauts, Hutchings horns in on his traditional post-flight interview with flight controller Gene Kranz. Seaborn leaves dejectedly, not to be seen again until the flight of Apollo 17 in the final episode.
Episode 8 links:
Apollo 13 news of measles exposure
Jules Bergman Apollo 13 Special Report: Initial Coverage of Explosion
Ep 7: That's All There Is
The story of the Apollo 12 second lunar landing mission is told by Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean. Bean, the last member of NASA Astronaut Group 3 to fly in space, narrates his experience with the tightly-knit, all-Navy crew commanded by Gemini veteran Pete Conrad, and accepts with humor and grace his responsibility for the failure of the first color TV camera on the lunar surface, and for almost fracturing his own skull by failing to properly secure the Command Module's TV camera before splashdown.
Episode 7 links:
Apollo 12 PDI to Touchdown from Apollo Flight Journal
FTETTM Apollo 12 Landing Scene
Apollo 12 First Steps on Moon (Conrad says “Whoopie…” at 15:26)
Al Bean Breaks the TV Camera (Original)
Apollo 12 Onboard Camera Film Footage
Apollo 12 Checklists from Vintage Space
Apollo 12 Checklists from Apollo Lunar Surface Journal High Res, all pages, all images
Ep 6: Mare Tranquilitatis
A dramatization of the Apollo 11 first Moon landing in Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") is interspersed with flashback sequences of Emmett Seaborn's television interview with the crew of Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module pilot Michael Collins.
Episode 6 links:
Apollo 11 Pre-Flight Press Conference
Apollo 11 PDI to Touchdown from Apollo Flight Journal
FTETTM Apollo 11 Landing Scene
Ep 5: Spider
Returns to 1961, and NASA engineer John Houbolt's lonely fight to convince management that the easiest way to land men on the Moon will be to use a separate landing craft employing lunar orbit rendezvous. It then traces the design and development of the Lunar Module by a team led by Grumman engineer Tom Kelly. Covers the selection and training of the first crew to fly it, James McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart (along with Command Module pilot David Scott), and culminates with their first flight of Spider in Earth orbit on Apollo 9. The Apollo 10 lunar "dress rehearsal" is briefly mentioned.
Episode 5 links:
Overview of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
Excellent Video on John Houbolt and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
Grumman Documentary on Lunar Module Development
Ep 4: 1968
Depicts Apollo 8's historic first manned lunar flight, as the redemption of an otherwise strife-torn year filled with political assassinations, war, and unrest. Documentary footage of the turbulent political events are interspersed with the drama, which is mostly filmed in black and white except for scenes aboard the spacecraft and some color newsreel footage. The fears of mission commander Frank Borman's wife Susan of the possibility of her husband dying in a spacecraft trapped in lunar orbit are highlighted. Includes the Apollo 8 Genesis reading.
Episode 4 links:
Apollo 8 Launch with Flight Director’s Loop
Apollo 8 TV Transmissions (first one)
Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast
Ep 3: We Have Cleared the Tower
Portrays the Apollo program's recovery to manned flight after the Apollo 1 tragedy, from the perspective of a fictional documentary team covering the flight of Apollo 7. This flight is commanded by strong-willed Mercury veteran Wally Schirra, who is focused on safety after the death of his colleague Grissom. Pad Leader Guenter Wendt, another zealous guardian of astronaut safety, is featured by the documentary team.
Episode 3 links:
Apollo 7 Launch, different angles, higher quality
Apollo 7 “Mutiny” via Vintage Space
Ep 2: Apollo One
Portrays the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire from the perspective of its subsequent investigation by NASA and the US Congress. Its effects on key individuals are shown, including Harrison Storms of North American Aviation, Joseph Shea of NASA, astronaut Frank Borman charged with supporting NASA's investigation, and the widows of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
Episode 2 links:
Frank Borman speaking about Apollo 1 Fire
Ep 1: Can We Do This?
Covers the early years of the United States' "Space Race" with the Soviet Union, including the creation of NASA and the decision to send men to the Moon. Provides an overview of the Mercuryand Gemini programs, concentrating on reconstructions of Alan Shepard's pioneering Freedom 7 Mercury flight; Ed White's first US spacewalk on Gemini 4, the near-disastrous in-flight failure during Neil Armstrong's and David Scott's Gemini 8 mission; and the successful completion of Gemini with Buzz Aldrin's perfection of extravehicular activity on Gemini 12.
Episode 1 Links:
Freedom 7 From the earth to the moon
Gemini 8 Real Agena Docking and Abort
Gemini 8 From the Earth to the Moon scene
Gemini 12 From the Earth to the Moon scene