Moon Shot

It's ironic that the film Star Wars premiered only a very few years after the last Apollo flight. Of course, Star Wars became one of the greatest commercial successes in film history. The Apollo program died, because people weren't interested anymore. Perhaps many of us like to fantasize about space more than really doing something about going there. However, there was a time when that wasn't so. Moon Shot is an absolutely superb documentary about how the space program went from a short flight of fifteen minutes to man walking on the moon in less than a decade. Through interviews with some of the astronauts from that period, it also shows that people who ventured into space were just that-real people. They were not named Darth or Luke, nor were they the offspring of intergalactic royalty. The didn't wear capes or spandex costumes or use the Force. Rather, they were named Al or Gus or John or Neil. They came from working class backgrounds in many cases (John Glenn's father was a plumber). They had families, mortgages, and car payments. They worked hard, and sometimes made mistakes. They also did great things. By telling what happened, and having some of them tell what happened, Moon Shot is a wonderful chronicle of their accomplishments.

Moon Shot is the story of the astronauts that flew in the first flights into space thru the last flight of an Apollo space craft. It is a very solid and well put together film, exciting, action packed, and filled with scenes of high emotion (Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 8's Christmas Eve reading from Genesis, Apollo 13's ordeal, the final scene as a tribute to Deke Slayton). There is humor and a feeling of the type of personalities it took to man these crafts and fly into outer space. We are reminded of the political climate of the 60s, the leadership of JFK, the way the program treaded thru the late 60s. The show has what amounts to 3 climaxes. The first is the flight of Apollo 8, which was the first flight to orbit the moon. The Christmas Eve reading from Genesis is moving. The 2nd climax is the landing of Apollo 11 and the time that craft spent on the moon's surface. The 3rd was about Slayton finally getting to fly into space in 1975. For anyone that wants to get a feel of the way things were in the 60s, this is a grand film to watch.

With a lot of great humor. Moon Shot covers the U.S. space program from the Mercury days through Apollo/Soyuz, as told by former astronaut Deke Slayton (voiced by Barry Corbin). The humor comes from anecdotes from several of the original astronauts, including John Glenn, who, talking about the mysterious "fireflies" that appeared during his space mission, said that one of the psychiatrists asked him, "And, what did they SAY, John?" Alan Shepard later said, "Those fireflies weren't fireflies at all....they were the constellation URION (Urine)."

Or another example: Frank Borman, talking about his Gemini 12 flight with Jim Lovell, says, "There was a song by Nat King Cole.." And Lovell comes on, and says, " 'Put Your Sweet Lips a Little Closer to The Phone,' by Nat King Cole." They then alternate verses, and Lovell finally says, "And that went on for two weeks. And of course, Frank & I were alone." Or the debate about who would be the first man to step on the moon - Armstrong, or Aldrin. As "Deke," Barry Corbin, put it: "It came down to tradition, and tradition says the commander always goes first. Besides, Neil was closest to the door!"

One of the most poignant lines comes from Alan Shepard, when he describes what his father told him after his Apollo 14 mission: "My father said, 'Do you remember when you called us, back in 1959, and said that you were going to be an astronaut'? I said, 'Yessir.' He said, 'Do you remember what I said?' I said, 'Yessir. You were not in favor of it.' And he raised his glass and said...'I was wrong.' And that's all he had to say."

This video belongs in the library of anyone who is in any way interested in history and the early U.S. space program.

Based on the book of the same name, Moon Shot gives a real-life account of NASA's race for the moon by two men who were intimately involved: Deke Slayton and Alan Sheppard.

Much of this film is a gathering of the 5 remaining Mercury Astronauts - Al Sheppard, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordo Cooper. They reminisce about the old days and their different perspectives, something you don't get in the book, which is also excellent. Barry Corbin fills in as the voice, but not the image, of Deke Slayton. I think Corbin's part was a nice touch, narrating Deke's contributions to the book. I think it was interesting too that they got Corbin to play a former astronaut when he played former astronaut Maurice Minnifield on Northern Exposure for several years. Maybe intentional, maybe not, but a fine piece of casting. :)

If you liked the film, read the book. You won't be disappointed.

I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Neil Armstrong was my hero, Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard too. This TBS production is a very "viewer friendly" trip down history lane starting from the beginning of the astronaut selection for the Mercury program through the Apollo-Soyuz test flight. As told by Deke Slayton, it's easy to understand, doesn't waste the viewer's time with a lot of heady details, puts all due influence on our Cold War competition with the Russians (the astronauts were all soldiers, and the Apollo program was at first an effort to show we could put soldiers with a payload -- re: weapons systems -- on the moon), and has it told by the astronauts themselves: Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, Buzz Aldrin, Scott Carpenter, ground crew people like Chris Kraft.

Do kids these days even know who these people were? Do they understand that we really did shoot people into space in little tin cans with no bathrooms or kitchenettes? Do they understand that these cold warriors were "men", who had egos and wives and drank and got into trouble and made history? People died, too, both on the Soviet side and our boys, and the special very soberly gives attention to all of that while being genuinely amusing at times, mixing period era authentic NASA test footage with the astronauts reminiscing about how ALL OF THIS WAS REAL.

One thing does kind of work against it and that's the overly "down home" narration by Barry Corbin. Yes, Deke Slayton had a bit of a cornpone accept, but after a while it strikes you as having been laid on a bit too thick, along with the comedic music and pratfalls. It's when the presentation sharpens up and gets down to telling you what it was like to be an astronaut candidate that it all comes together. They were competitive, somewhat egotistical and "cocksure" fighter jocks, and one of the interesting points that the film does a good job in getting across is that in 1966 or whatever, not everybody could be an astronaut. Today sure, but only because of the pioneering work these men undertook.

Highly recommended and suitable for all ages & audiences, anybody will be entertained and just like Cosby used to say if you aren't careful you just may learn a few things too.