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From the Earth to the Moon
1998 · TV series · 58 min episodes · 1 season
Created by Tom Hanks, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Bostick
The story of the United States' space program, from its beginnings in 1961 to the final moon mission in 1972.
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31 comments on Hacker News
>that episode from From The Earth to the Moon where they take the astronauts out and give them geology lessons so they could be more productive with their descriptions.
My favorite episode of the series and I was thinking of it during Integrity's flyby.
I listened to pretty much the entire fly by yesterday, and I was imagining how I would have spent my time at the windows with a camera. Listening to the comms made me think of that episode from From The Earth to the Moon where they take the astronauts out and give them geology lessons so they could be more productive with their descriptions.
I was also very curious of their descriptions during the eclipse where the Earth shine was lighting up the dark side of the moon to such a surreal look they couldn't really describe it. They were even commenting that they didn't feel the photos being taken were doing it justice either.
I also was wondering if they will make any modifications to the capsule since covering a window to block the Earth shine caused concern on the ground from some of the readings they were getting. Assuming it was overheating as they redirected air flow to the window. Then again, the following missions won't be so concerned with a single fly by so probably not something they'll address.
It was a telegram, not a letter. As also immortalised at the end of the 1968 episode of ‘From The Earth To The Moon’, attributed there to an apparently fictitious person.
From the Earth to the Moon is a brilliant TV series that shows it all really well.
I love the episode where they sit down and list out the ~10 things they'll have to figure out how to do in order to achieve Kennedy's promise of landing within the decade.
Then they just assign teams and get on it, working on each item until they can actually do it.
For anyone interested in learning more about the original Apollo missions, I highly recommend From the Earth to the Moon, an HBO miniseries from 1999.
In the movie "The Right Stuff", Gus Grissom is not portrayed in a very positive light, particularly regarding the incident with the hatch blowing after splashdown on his Mercury capsule. Grissom asserted that the hatch "just blew". The investigating panel countered that there had been done all sorts of tests on the bolts and they never "just blew", putting suspicion that Grissom somehow managed to trigger the hatch.
Later investigation found that, indeed, there was a problem with the way the explosive bolts worked, that they could "just blow", and for that reason, they were not on Apollo 1.
If Grissom had not encountered that problem with his Mercury flight, then Apollo 1 would likely have had a different hatch design and they may well have survived that fire.
Later Apollo capsules had a different hatch design.
They talk about this in the "Apollo 1" episode of the mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon".
I highly recommend the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
And the book on which it's largely based, A Man on the Moon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_on_the_Moon
Nearby are the old blimp hangers from the remnants of the MCAS Tustin. They've been used for many things (including storing blimps, of all things) in the past several years. But notably germane here, they were used for the lunar set for the mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" (well worth folks time to watch, IMHO).
The interesting part is that partly because the buildings are so big, they were able to tie helium balloons to the actors to mimic the lower lunar gravity. My tinybrain math skills puts those balloons at about 16 ft in diameter (assuming they were a single balloon, I have no idea). Those hangars would have no problem accommodating large balloons like that.
If you are into that, you should watch HBO's From the Earth to the Moon miniseries.
Coincidentally last night I re-watched one of my favorite episodes of "From the Earth to the Moon," "Galileo was Right," which focuses on the Apollo 15 crews getting field training in geology. Their instructor (along with backup LM pilot Jack Schmitt, a geologist, who then flew on Apollo 17) emphasized identifying and collecting the "right" rocks, not just "any" rocks, which led to some of the more interesting samples, including the "Genesis Rock."
I happened to just finish watching the HBO Miniseries From The Earth To the Moon [1] last night. The last episode features a side-plot about the french film Le Voyage dans la Lune by Georges Méliès, which had an interesting tie to Edison I had never heard of before.
Méliès had intended on US distribution for the film, but before he could make that happen, someone working for Edison bribed a theater owner in London for a copy of the film they had, and Edison then made copies which he redistributed in the US. Méliès didn't see a penny of this, and went broke within the next few years.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon
The "From the Earth to the Moon" series is by far my favorite series/movie/documentary about the moon missions.
In 1962 when Grumman was awarded the contract for the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), Thomas Kelly was promoted to be the lead engineer. He was 32 or 33.
He was 40 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
There's an episode of "From the Earth to the Moon" called "Spider" that focuses on Thomas Kelly. Highly recommended.
From The Earth To The Moon is an awesome series from HBO and the Apollo 1 episode is great, with a great explanation as to why and how it happened.
The Apollo astronauts were also trained quite extensively in geology. Highly recommend the Apollo 12 episode of From the Earth to the Moon for a great look at that.
There's a wonderful miniseries called "From the Earth to the Moon" which is sort of a dramatic retelling of the Apollo program. Think the "Apollo 13" movie, but longer and more diverse.
My favourite episode, "That's All There Is" (#7) is told from Alan Bean's perspective.
It portrays him, and the entire crew, as an amazingly capable, funny, and tight-knit group. The entire episode has a humorous tone which, after my impression from watching several interviews with Al bean, probably fits his personality.
If you're an aerospace nerd like me, you'll love it. I probably watch the whole series several times a year.
While the 'Spider' episode is my favorite, 'That's All There Is', the Apollo 12 episode is my second favorite, and I know what you mean. 'A Man on the Moon', by Andrew Chaikin, roughly corroborates what's depicted in 'From the Earth to the Moon.' Great stuff, and great reminders of what is possible.
RIP Alan Bean.
While I can't vouch for its accuracy, the portrayal of the Apollo 12 mission is my absolute favorite from the "From the Earth to the Moon" miniseries. While the Apollo 11 were diehard professionals and excelled in the spotlight of one of the most prominent moments of humankind, the Apollo 12 crew seemed like just a bunch of regular (and obviously very talented) friends having enormous fun and the ride of their lifetime on their way to the moon.
If it serves of any proof, here are the words of the second crew setting their foot on the moon (which, contrary to the first one, almost nobody knows):
"Whooopeee! That might have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me..."
Thanks. Not sure why the article doesn't link to the video. BTW, there's also an HBO miniseries made from the book that's well worth watching:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
If you're interested in the Apollo program, you'll find no better telling of it than A Man On The Moon by Andrew Chaikin.
http://www.andrewchaikin.com/books/a-man-on-the-moon/
The book was adapted into the excellent miniseries From the Earth to the Moon by HBO.
The HBO mini series "From the Earth to the Moon" is also excellent. It's based on Andrew Chaikin's book, "A Man on the Moon" which I also recommend.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
Godspeed, Mr. Cernan.
During a recent winter storm, we started re-watching 'From The Earth To The Moon', the HBO mini-series on the Apollo program. Highly recommended.
While I can not from the top of my head think of all that many actual books, I would recommend considering a couple of tv series: From the to Earth the Moon [1] and Moon Machines [2]. The former is based on a book [3], but I have not read it.
There is a lot of information available on the American space programs all over the internet, but if you would like to read about their Soviet counterparts, give Rockets and People [4] a go.
Finally, to get an idea of what it is like to live in outer space nowadays, Chris Hadfield's autobiography An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth [5] is a good read.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_on_the_Moon
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/rockets_people_vol1_detail.html
[5] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18170143-an-astronaut-s-guide-to-life-on-earth
The Apollo 1 accident[0] was during a similar test (a "plugs out test", which tests the spacecraft independent of all the support systems on earth to verify that it works correctly on its own). The rationale behind all this tests is "better have a problem on the ground, where we can fix it, than have the spacecraft fail in space".
If you get interest in this stuff, the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" has an episode about Apollo1 (and the series as a whole, though slightly dated on the FX side, is amazing).
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
you'll here mention. Ugh, "hear."
Another tidbit. Toward the end you hear mission control say "30 seconds." That's how much fuel is left[1]. Those guys had steel spines.
If you can't get enough of this stuff, I highly recommend "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin[2], as well as the HBO mini-series produced by Tom Hanks and based largely on that book, "From the Earth to the Moon"[3]. "Failure Is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz[4] (flight director on Apollo 11 and 13, among other things) is also a good read.
[1] http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11_audio.html
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Man-Moon-Voyages-Apollo-Astronauts/dp/014311235X
[3] https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Moon-Four-Disc-Collectors/dp/0783114222
[4] https://www.amazon.com/Failure-Not-Option-Mission-Control/dp/1439148813
You forgot "From the Earth to the Moon", which was an excellent miniseries produced by the same team that did Apollo 13.
Some more recommendations: the book "Apollo" by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox is really excellent as an overview of everything that it took to get to the moon, as is the HBO mini-series "From The Earth to the Moon"
Worden's episode in "From the Earth to the Moon" was my favourite. You can see his double act with Farouk El-Baz at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59HpmdIqI-g
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120570/
Don't be put off by the fact that it's a "TV mini-series". It's 12 hours of "Apollo 13"-quality shows.
I cannot recommend "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin highly enough. It's an incredible read. Go find it and read it.
The HBO mini-series, From the Earth to the Moon, largely based on that book is also quite excellent. Go find it and watch it. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(TV_miniseries)
If you're still looking for more material after that, I'd go read "Failure is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz.
I like “failure of imagination” myself:
The phrase failure of imagination has been used to describe the cause of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. The term was attributed to astronaut Frank Borman, speaking at the Apollo 1 investigation hearings (dramatized in the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon in 1998.) — wikipedia