FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON: THE ORIGINAL WIVES CLUB {PART 11 OF 12} (TV)
Summary
Continued from T:53266. Part eleven of this twelve-part docudrama series about the development of the U.S. space program as the country prepares to send men to the moon. Part eleven, entitled "The Original Wives' Club," chronicles the lives of the Apollo astronauts' wives. In the years leading up to the space missions, the astronauts' families must build homes in an enclosed community of other NASA employees. After settling into their new surroundings, the wives hold a community meeting to discuss their roles in the space program. The wives also discuss the expectations that NASA officials place on them with regard to the importance of their husbands' careers. Meanwhile, Marilyn Lovell tells her husband Jim that she is four months pregnant and fears that he may be pulled from flight rotation due to her pregnancy. Following the Lovells' new arrival, tragedy strikes NASA when two astronauts are killed in a crash, and Marilyn is asked to comfort one of the widows. Meanwhile, Pat McDivitt and Pat White venture to mission control to speak with their husbands, who are orbiting the Earth. At home, where the press awaits, Pat White is uncomfortable with the attention and noteriety. The wives begin to convene on a regular basis to discuss the pressure they must endure with their husbands flying untested spacecrafts. Tragedy strikes once again with the fire in Apollo 1, which kills three astronauts, and the wives whose husbands have not yet flown have various reactions. Susan Borman, who knows her husband Frank was supposed to be in the Apollo 1 capsule, cannot understand why he still wants to go ahead with his own dangerous mission. Susan is spending time alone and drinking at all hours, and finally realizes that she has a drinking problem, but worries whether it will affect Frank's duties. As the Apollo missions continue through the years, the remaining wives convene to discuss the state of the NASA marriages and the reasons they would prefer to be widowed rather than divorced. Continues with T:53268.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: May 10, 1998 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:53294
- GENRE: Drama, historical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, historical; Astronauts; Marriage; Apollo 1; Space exploration
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 1998
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tom Hanks … Executive Producer, Writer
- Tony To … Co-Executive Producer
- Graham Yost … Supervising Producer
- John Melfi … Supervising Producer
- Brian Grazer … Producer
- Ron Howard … Producer
- Michael Bostick … Producer
- Erik Bork … Co-Producer
- Bruce Richmond … Co-Producer
- Janace Tashjian … Co-Producer
- Terry Odem … Associate Producer
- Sally Field … Director
- Karen Janszen … Writer
- Erik Bork … Writer
- Andrew Chaikin … Based in part on the book "A Man on the Moon" by
- Marc Shaiman … Music by
- Michael Kamen … Theme Music by
- Jo Anderson … Cast, Pat White
- David Andrews … Cast, Frank Borman
- Katie Austin … Cast, Susan Lovell
- Robert Catrini … Cast, Reporter #48
- Wendy Crewson … Cast, Faye Stafford
- Ann Cusack … Cast, Jan Armstrong
- Tim Daly … Cast, Jim Lovell
- J. Downing … Cast, Charlie Duke
- Sally Field … Cast, Trudy Cooper
- Keith Harris … Cast, Charlie
- Jim Helsinger … Cast, PAO
- John Michael Higgins … Cast, the Master of Ceremonies
- Kristie Horton … Cast, Barbara Lovell
- Key Howard … Cast, Reporter #1
- Zeljko Ivanek … Cast, Ken Mattingly
- Elliot Kachnycz … Cast, Jay Lovell
- Delane Matthews … Cast, Pat McDivitt
- Claudia Miller … Cast, Reporter #72
- John Mountford … Cast, Christopher Conrad
- Deirdre O'Connell … Cast, Barbara Young
- Elizabeth Perkins … Cast, Marilyn Lovell
- John Posey … Cast, John Young
- Debra Jo Rupp … Cast, Marilyn See
- Cynthia Stevenson … Cast, Jane Conrad
- Robert Treveiler … Cast, L. Gordon Cooper
- Jobeth Williams … Cast, Marge Slayton
- Rita Wilson … Cast, Susan Borman