In the Shadow of the Moon
Directed by David Sington
In the Shadow of the Moon is filmmaker David Sington’s unabashed tribute to NASA and to the heroes who manned the agency’s missions to the moon from 1968 to 1972. He set out to record the personal stories of all the surviving astronauts who were aboard NASA’s moon flights, and the result is an awesome, truly inspiring documentary that reminds us that human beings are capable of enormous and wonderful achievements. We reached for the moon and got there. Six times.
The 10 astronauts featured in the film are among the very few human beings who’ve viewed our planet from outer space, and they’re remarkably candid in sharing their firsthand impressions and experiences with us. In their often surprising and thought-provoking comments, the Apollo heroes share their recollections, telling us about the challenges they faced, epiphanies they had while in space, their thoughts about each other and NASA’s Apollo program and feelings of gratitude and responsibility for having what has been termed “the right stuff.”
Their statements that Earth seems—from the perspective of the vast emptiness of outer space—to be such a singularly beautiful and fragile environment come across as a strong plea for environmental protection.
Never have talking heads in extreme close up been more fascinating. Their intimate interviews are interspersed with NASA’s archival footage—some of which hasn’t been seen for 30 years—of interiors and exteriors of command and landing modules, takeoffs and booster ignitions, mission control in Houston and amazing images of earth from outer space.
Sington effectively sets the historical timeframe of Cold War America and the race to space with vintage newsreels of JFK, the Vietnam War and a wide range of reaction shots of moon shot watchers around the world, which adds to the strong element of nostalgia in the film.
NASA’s space exploration period occurred at the height of the Cold War, when the USA and USSR were engaged in a hot race to space (and various other contretemps that are well chronicled in other documentaries). But, when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon, the entire world was united in awe and amazement. That’s probably the last (if not only) time in recorded history that such a strong sense of unity existed among human beings everywhere. That's something that strikes you as you watch “In The Shadow of the Moon,” and it really resonates when you think about and compare that sense of unity to what’s going on today.
Directed by David Sington
In the Shadow of the Moon is filmmaker David Sington’s unabashed tribute to NASA and to the heroes who manned the agency’s missions to the moon from 1968 to 1972. He set out to record the personal stories of all the surviving astronauts who were aboard NASA’s moon flights, and the result is an awesome, truly inspiring documentary that reminds us that human beings are capable of enormous and wonderful achievements. We reached for the moon and got there. Six times.
The 10 astronauts featured in the film are among the very few human beings who’ve viewed our planet from outer space, and they’re remarkably candid in sharing their firsthand impressions and experiences with us. In their often surprising and thought-provoking comments, the Apollo heroes share their recollections, telling us about the challenges they faced, epiphanies they had while in space, their thoughts about each other and NASA’s Apollo program and feelings of gratitude and responsibility for having what has been termed “the right stuff.”
Their statements that Earth seems—from the perspective of the vast emptiness of outer space—to be such a singularly beautiful and fragile environment come across as a strong plea for environmental protection.
Never have talking heads in extreme close up been more fascinating. Their intimate interviews are interspersed with NASA’s archival footage—some of which hasn’t been seen for 30 years—of interiors and exteriors of command and landing modules, takeoffs and booster ignitions, mission control in Houston and amazing images of earth from outer space.
Sington effectively sets the historical timeframe of Cold War America and the race to space with vintage newsreels of JFK, the Vietnam War and a wide range of reaction shots of moon shot watchers around the world, which adds to the strong element of nostalgia in the film.
NASA’s space exploration period occurred at the height of the Cold War, when the USA and USSR were engaged in a hot race to space (and various other contretemps that are well chronicled in other documentaries). But, when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon, the entire world was united in awe and amazement. That’s probably the last (if not only) time in recorded history that such a strong sense of unity existed among human beings everywhere. That's something that strikes you as you watch “In The Shadow of the Moon,” and it really resonates when you think about and compare that sense of unity to what’s going on today.
