Documentary - From the Earth to the Moon

Post by **Airconvent** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:32 am

Recently rented these video to watch and if you're an amateur astronomer, you should not miss it!

Its actually a 5-DVD set produced and narrated by Tom Hanks and its done in a semi-documentary mode.

It is very interesting to see how the Americans lost out to the Russians in every department during the early years and how they overcame all their disappointments to bounce back and land on the moon. Technically inclined people will be happy with the engineering aspects of the show.

There is also one episode worth on the death of the 3 astronauts who were supposed to be the first to step on the moon. They were killed by flaming velcro! Alot of details and insights on how they investigated on the causes of the accident.

Then there is one episode on how the lunar module was designed and it originally was nearly scrapped too because everyone thought it was a stupid idea.

Looking at the series, you can see why Nasa now need 10-15 years with year 2007 technology to go to the moon whereas the pioneers did it in less than 10 years. They had a huge budget, hundreds of thousands of people working on it, the russians on their tail, sheer determination and lots of people who were willing to accept higher risks to achieve the goal. If today's safety practices were applied then I think the US would not have reached the moon until the 90s...

Do rent the video and watch it!

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:08 am

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the review and the tip!

I saw this DVD set in a shop recently, but it was being sold at around $80 or something.

Didn't know it is available for rental. Will definitely try to catch it!

Sounds from your review that there are a lot of very interesting historical aspects of the space race which are covered in this documentary. I am not very technically adept, though i do find such matters fascinating, like using gyroscopes for balance. I remember watching the movie Apollo 13 and learned a new word: "gimbals".

I wonder whether Al Nagler was featured in the documentary...

It would also be good if there is a similar documentary focusing on the Russian space effort. That would be very intriguing too. I have a certain admiration for Russian technology; after all they were the first into space and to send a probe to the Moon, and they used to make very good airplanes.

In fact, I remember clearly reading a news article (I think it was Time magazine) maybe 15 or more years ago, about an episode when the Americans and Russians (Soviets) mutually destroyed some of their nuclear weapons and missiles (just a small fraction of their total) under a treaty. The American observers/inspectors were surprised to see that all of the Russian nuclear misslies (disarmed of course) which were launched flew successfully. One of them reportedly said, "Gosh, all those suckers flew!".

So when I got my Intes-Micro MN56 a few years back, I looked at it and thought, that's nice, it's so Russian.

simei-sky · Post by **simei-sky** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:27 am

Thanks man. will try to look out for it...

branzzz · Post by **branzzz** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:51 pm

there is a book that's being sold at kinokuniya and borders titled Space Odyssey. its not based on the movie or book by arthur c clarke but is a new documentary made by the BBC, in the same series as walking with dinosaurs and walking with cavemen. infact this show was originally titled walking with spacemen. the tv channel central showed a trailer saying this would be one of the highlights for their 2007 programme, however a check on their website shows it will only be shown in the fourth quarter!!!

the DVD of this series was titled journey to the planets. its about a new nasa mission to almost all the planets, visiting every one from mercury to pluto and a comet. what is really interesting about this show is that it is very heavily based on science fact. everything from the spacecraft to all the places they visit are very very realistic, both visually and scientifically. the DVD costs around $80 at HMV so i didn't get it. instead i stayed at borders the entire day to read through the entire book. certainly worth it if you love space travel!

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:25 pm

I just borrowed the first 3 DVDs at a Video-Ezy near my place (River Valley branch) at $13.50 for 7 days. (Would be $5 for 1 DVD for 5 days.)

Now i will to sit through them... Thanks Rich for the tip!

Hi Branzz, am not exactly sure how many TV documentary series you are referring to? Space Odyssey, walking with spacemen, journey to the planets: 3 or 1 or 2? And if it going to be released on TV in 4Q 2007, how come it is now available on DVD at HMV?

Post by **Airconvent** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:30 pm

Hope you enjoy it! I finished disk 3 and they have landed on the moon.
my guess is disk 3 will be talking about apollo 13..could be a bit odd since Tom Hanks already starred in the academy award winning show of the same name...how can he make it better? mmm....

Another great series is Cosmos. I watched it on TV when it was first broadcasted and watched it again on the 2nd edition DVD where Carl Sagan updates on some of the material in the original DVD. There were also some parts where his wife Ann Druyan made updates on his updates and were made after he passed away...

Off Topic :
Here is a tip. You can join hollywoodclicks.com also. Pay $36 a month that will allow you to borrow up to 3 DVDs at a time with NO time limit. You get new ones when you return any of the 3. No need to go to the shop as everything is done via the mail. They mail the stuff to you and you mail it back with the provided envelope...quite convenient . Do check it out (btw, need to add I am not with hollywoodclicks. I have experience with their services before.) They do have collection of science dvds...including cosmos!

branzzz · Post by **branzzz** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:22 am

starfinder: yeah they're all the same show. i wonder why they had to give it so many names also. the book was named space odessey, the show in UK was called walking with spacemen, and the dvd was called journey to the planets. but they're all the same. it was actually shown in the uk on BBC is 2005,so it only made its way here this year. i'm really really looking forward to the series...