About Apollo 11: Experience the Moon Landing in Real Time
It took millions of steps to make one giant leap. CHASING THE MOON, a film by Robert Stone, reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama. Utilizing a visual feast of previously overlooked and lost archival material — much of which has never before been seen by the public — the film features a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Sergei Khrushchev, son of the former Soviet premier and a leading Soviet rocket engineer; Poppy Northcutt, a 25-year old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male bastion of NASA’s Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut. PART THREE: MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION covers 1969-1970 and sending Americans to the
Apollo 11: Experience the Moon Landing in Real Time is presented by American Experience | PBS. Its listed runtime is 114 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.
As a society documentary, Apollo 11: Experience the Moon Landing in Real Time uses apollo, experience, landing as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.
What to consider before watching
- What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain apollo, experience, landing?
- Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in Apollo 11: Experience the Moon Landing in Real Time?
- How does American Experience | PBS' framing affect the documentary's emphasis, and which perspectives may deserve further research?
Topics covered in this documentary
Documentary details and original source
- Title
- Apollo 11: Experience the Moon Landing in Real Time
- Category
- Society
- Runtime
- 114 minutes
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- American Experience | PBS
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