Although this is on at the cinema it’s not a movie but a documentary.
Consisting of 100% actual footage, that’s not an actor, it’s Neil Armstrong, that’s not CGI, it’s the Saturn 5.
For me, that makes it all the more special, especially as a lot of it I’d not seen before.
However it’s fair to say your enjoyment wil depend entirely on how you feel about the Moon mission, whether that is meh, big deal, or it’s a big deal.
If the former then the methodical, clinical presentation will not engage interest.
An example here was a short scene showing some switches being flicked.
Look closer though and it becomes apparent they are starting the fuelling, turning the rocket into the worlds biggest firework/bomb!
And the film does require you to keep your eyes and ears open. All the clues are there but it’s not on a plate.
Such effort is repaid in spades though with a much deeper insight and appreciation of this incredible adventure.
Should it pique your interest I’d suggest going quickly as it is likely to not be on for long.
Oh, and go Imax if you can, the detail is often stunning.
OK, there is still a fair bit of grainy footage, it is video, from the 60’s, from the moon, but this is interspersed with still pictures of exquisite vibrancy.
Some of the ground based footage is count the rivets stuff as well.
Overall I found it a profound experience.
This truly was a giant leap for mankind.
IMAX tomorrow 
It’s absolutely worth the extra.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Yep one for us, we’ll go this week
It wasn’t cheap. In the mid 60’s NASA was taking 4-5% of the federal budget, which amounted to more than 0.7% of GDP, and the program employed 400,000 people. You can do some really impressive stuff for that.
I’ve never been to the nearest IMAX (Swindon) so this seemed like a good opportunity. We’ll see it tonight.
VB
They do show a small number of the 400,000 in the film.
Really enjoyed it. They do have a lot of footage. They didn’t use much from inside the spacecraft but they did cover a lot from the control rooms and run the full sound recordings through quite a few of the exciting bits, particularly the launch, in space rocket burns, landing, take-off from the moon, dockings etc.
I’m just old enough to remember it from the time (I was 10). Things that struck me now included the fact that while they had some computers and plenty of instrumentation they really didn’t seem to have much, if any, networking. So all of the data logging, real-time monitoring and decision making was done by legions of guys, and a few women, with clipboards sitting in rows, sometimes two deep, in front of screens and gauges and dials. Very little of what was going on seemed to be on any sort of ‘automatic pilot’. And while you were looking down a row of control stations your eye would suddenly be caught by a large school-type pencil sharpener, with a handle, clamped to the desktop. Alongside several coffee cups. And ashtrays.
VB
I imagine that the facility for recalculating based on current data was minimal - could they do it with sufficient error checking within the mission time?!?
I also liked the docking procedure, where it appeared they had rigged something up to line up with the camera and he did it by eye. Sweet!
Off to see this tonight
Wish I was. Been dragged to see Yesterday…
Heard episode 8 of this series, 13 minutes to the Moon, on t’radio this morning:-
Another really interesting insight into the events.
I’m sure you’ll really enjoy yourself. That nice Ed Sheeran is in it.
There were some nice songs in it.
Apollo 11 was brilliant. Just an amazing film with fantastic images. Recommended viewing.
Just finished listening to the series on podcasts. Fantastic radio.
Still working my way through but yes, fascinating stuff.
i still smile at the engineer who shouts the GO! commands.