8 Days: To the Moon and Back

When you've seen as many space docs as I have, you wonder what can I possibly learn that's new. This doc answers that: voice audio between crew members that not even Mission Control heard during their mission. One thing I learned: Armstrong had the least amount of space travel time among the three. So at one point, Buzz refers to Armstrong as "rookie" and the actor portraying Armstrong didn't like hearing that. Now, was that Armstrong's actual response? Hard to tell, except Armstrong said nothing in reply, which you can interpret as speaking volumes. Finally, you get a view of what it must have looked like for Eagle as it landed on the moon. A terrific doc and a must see.

Very good presentation. However I must protest that in all their Mission Control clips I didn't see one that showed Poppy Northcutt, the 25 year old NASA engineer in charge of the return trip from the moon. Major sexism here.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. 8 Days: To the Moon and Back recreated the events with the audio tapes, some lookalike actors in a recreation of the capsule which was mixed with historical footage.

The documentary had no narration. You relied on captions which gives some factual information as well as footage of the television coverage fronted by Walter Cronkite. The US network's coverage was sponsored by Kellogs on the day of the launch.

In the build up to the launch, the three astronauts had been constantly paraded on tv and the press. They must have been the most interviewed people in America, giving the same bland answers to the same questions. No wonder Armstrong eventually withdrew from the limelight.

Neil Armstrong was the most inexperienced of the three astronauts in terms of actual time spent in space. It showed when he mentioned his excitement of the prospect of seeing the sunrise from space. Buzz Aldrin was expecting to be the first man to walk on the surface of the moon but NASA had other ideas.

What came out of this documentary was just how much seat of the pants the mission was when it reached its critical stages as the lunar module approached its moon's orbit. The module overshot its planned landing site. A warning light came on and nobody knew what it meant. When a switch broke during take off from the moon, Aldrin improvised by using a pen while NASA boffins searched for an answer.

The three astronauts had a sense of calm and practicality throughout the mission.

After 50 years you would have thought there was little new to say about the first moon landing. This documentary proved me wrong as it provided new insights.

I bought the "Apollo 11" documentary that appeared in limited release in (few) theaters in the spring of 2019. I didn't think anything could surpass it but ultimately was disappointed at its brief running-time. "8 Days: To the Moon and Back" accomplishes what I was looking for. This documentary offers details about the moon landing with only the mildest interjection of "acting." I ask some other reviewer to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe ALL the dialogue is actual real-time dialogue between NASA and Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. The soundtrack is superb. The "what can possibly go wrong" moments will have you on the edge of your seat, as if you don't know the outcome. This is the documentary to watch. I call it a documentary and realize some may call it a docu-drama. I'd give it eleven stars if I could.

Almost a docudrama.

I've watched all the recent space documentaries and film celebrating the 50 anniversary of landing on the moon. I'm just old enough to remember it. Of all the programs this is the best and I include Apollo 11 that I watched at the cinema. By re-recording the mission conversations it comes over a lot clearer.

Despite knowing the ending it is really tense.