As a 13 year old in 1969 I was fascinated with the adventures of the US Space Program. 50 years later, CNN’s new Apollo 11 documentary brings back all those memories and a realization of what an amazing accomplishment the first moon landing was.
This is not your ordinary documentary. There is no narrator, just the original sounds, movies, and pictures from the historic flight. I liked how the film makers included relevant statistics to go along with their vivid pictures (see it in IMAX if you can). On Neil Armstrong’s and Buzz Aldrin’s harrowing descent to the moon in the lunar module (LEM), for example, the remaining fuel and alarm indications are displayed on the side as we get a view of the landing from the LEM’s window. As I watched the remaining fuel indicator tick down to mere seconds left, I was anxiously thinking “are they going to make it?!” Of course I knew the landing would be successful but the way this sequence is shown in the documentary brought back the feelings I had watching the live coverage 50 years ago.
I was also reminded that the Apollo 11 mission was more than just the three astronauts. In the documentary there are scenes from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Control and Houston’s Mission Control showing scores of NASA employees monitoring different aspects of the flight in their official duties. What a massive undertaking this was! And everything worked to perfection.
See the official trailer for the documentary below. I recommend Apollo 11 highly for young and old alike (my 25 year old son was equally impressed with the film).