MOON SHOT: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE RACE TO THE MOON {PART ONE OF TWO} (TV)
Summary
This two-part televised miniseries, narrated by Barry Corbin as astronaut Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, documents the United States' efforts to put a man on the moon in the 1960s. The first program begins as Slayton, an Air Force test pilot, introduces himself and the other six members of Project Mercury: Alan Shepard, John Glenn, L. Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr., M. Scott "Scotty" Carpenter, Walter "Wally" M. Schirra and Virgil "Gus" Grissom. The seven men attend a press conference, and Glenn establishes his "hero" persona. Slayton explains that the Russian satellite Sputnik, the first manmade object in space, scared Americans and spurred NASA's efforts to put a man into outer space. Naturally, all of the astronauts wanted to be selected for the first ride, and Shepard describes his memories of mistakenly believing that he had been disqualified. Hundreds of men were rigorously tested, both physically and mentally, before the seven were selected, and though they all became friends, they were fiercely competitive with one another. Carpenter suggested that they undergo scuba training as well, and Slayton determinedly took part despite his inability to swim. Glenn became the "mother hen" of the group and scolded the others for having too much recreational fun, worried about the negative publicity. The men then learned that Shepard would take the first flight and Grissom the second with Glenn as "backup," and the others struggled with their disappointment. They all grew impatient as dozens of animals, including chimps, were sent into space first, and when further testing caused delays, the Russians beat them to it and Yuri Gagarin became the first human in outer space.
On May 5, 1961, Shepard entered space on the Freedom 7, and the flight was shown on live television. Tension was extremely high, and Shepard describes the emotional experience of his sixteen-minute flight and safe return to Earth. He became a huge celebrity and received a medal from President Kennedy, who then boldly declared that America would put a man on the moon within the decade. America was gripped with "moon fever," and Cocoa Beach, Florida, became the hard-partying headquarters of the space mission. Grissom was next, though his flight was still sub-orbital, and though the launch went well, he nearly drowned upon returning when his capsule malfunctioned. Russian astronaut Gherman Titov then went up and orbited the Earth seventeen times, strengthening America's determination. Slayton worked hard with NASA to improve their Atlas boosters, which had an unfortunate habit of exploding in midair, and Glenn finally made it into orbit on February 20, 1962 aboard the Friendship 7. His heat shield came loose and those on the ground waited fearfully to see if he had survived his trip back through Earth's deadly atmosphere, and everyone was wildly relieved when he returned safely.
Slayton was up next, but his dreams were crushed when he was grounded by a heart condition. Carpenter replaced him, and he was interested in "the human experience" of outer space flight, wondering if there were "living critters" in space, including the "fireflies" spotted by Glenn (which turned out to be frozen liquid particles). His distractions caused him to run out of fuel and delayed his return, and he was forbidden from entering space again. Russian sent up two more spacecrafts together, and Schirra's trip, though successful, was overshadowed by the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Slayton then joined the astronaut office as a boss of sorts, and though Cooper exhibited poor judgment during his training, Slayton refused to pull him from his mission. His flight aboard the Faith 7 in May 1963 went well for the first thirty hours, but he experienced many technical difficulties and impressed everyone when he was forced to make a highly dangerous manual reentry. Everyone's excitement was then dealt a severe blow when President Kennedy was assassinated in November, and the astronauts reflect sadly on the loss of their "buddy" who so strongly supported the Space Race. Lyndon B. Johnson proved to be an asset as well, however, and Project Gemini saw the addition of nine rookies, who were regarded with some resentment by Project Mercury. Shepard was then diagnosed with Ménière's Disease, which causes inner-ear problems and loss of balance, and he regretfully joined Slayton in the astronaut office. Glenn too was given a desk job, as NASA did not want to endanger their poster boy's life, and he soon entered politics. Grissom and rookie John Young manned the first Gemini spacecraft together, but Russia scored another victory when Alexey Leonov performed the first spacewalk.
Edward H. White quickly followed suit on the Gemini 4, and they next set their sights on a rendezvous, or a connection of two separate spacecrafts. They narrowly escaped disaster when Gemini 7 failed to take off, saved only by Schirra's instinctive decision not to pull the escape ring. Gemini 6 and 7 finally rendezvoused in space, thanks to the astronauts' "precision flying," and their next hurdle was duration. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell set a record by spending fourteen days in space, testing their bodies' endurance and annoying one another with their idiosyncrasies before returning safely. They next attempted to "dock," or connect, a spacecraft with an unmanned booster, and newbie Neil Armstrong saved the day when a thruster got stuck and the craft began spinning out of control. Gene Cernan attempted to not only "walk" but work in space, but his visor fogged up entirely and he had considerable trouble getting back into the craft. Cooper narrowly escaped death as well on Gemini 11, and they decided that they need a "new angle" and recruited M.I.T. genius Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. Though some perceived him as arrogant, he proved very helpful when he performed tests in a pool and invented new, more effective methods of working in space, which then proved successful. The Gemini project was then concluded on a positive note, soon to be followed by the Apollo missions. Commercials deleted.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: TBS
- DATE: July 11, 1994 8:05 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:38432
- GENRE: Education/Information
- SUBJECT HEADING: Education/Information; Science; History
- SERIES RUN: TBS - TV series, 1994
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Hoffman … Executive Producer
- Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer
- John Savage … Executive Producer
- Vivian Schiller … Supervising Producer
- Aaron Fischer … Producer
- Matthew Collins … Producer
- Daniel Levitt … Producer
- Kirk Wolfinger … Producer, Director
- Dana Rae Warren … Producer, Writer
- Rushmore DeNooyer … Writer, Music by
- Ed Van Fleet … Music by
- Malcolm Brooks … Music by
- Barry Corbin … Narrator
- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
- Neil Armstrong
- Frank Borman
- Scott Carpenter (see also: Malcolm Scott Carpenter)
- Gene Cernan
- Gordon Cooper (see also: Leroy Gordon Cooper)
- Yuri Gagarin
- John Glenn
- Virgil "Gus" Grissom
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- John F. Kennedy
- Alexey Leonov
- Jim Lovell
- Walter Schirra
- Alan Shepard
- Donald K. Slayton
- Gherman Titov
- Edward White
- John Young