An in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.

This movie documents the Apollo missions perhaps the most definitively of any movie under two hours. Al Reinert watched all the footage shot during the missions--over 6,000,000 feet of it, and picked out the best. Instead of being a newsy, fact-filled documentary, Reinart focuses on the human aspects of the space flights. The only voices heard in the film are the voices of the astronauts and mission control. Reinart uses the astronaunts' own words from interviews and mission footage. The score by Brian Eno underscores the strangeness, wonder, and beauty of the astronauts' experiences which they were privileged to have for a first time "for all mankind."—Scott B. Fisher <[email protected]>

The film begins with President Kennedy's September 12, 1962 speech at Rice announcing the goal of going to the moon. The rest of the film, using NASA footage and the voices of Apollo astronauts, takes us on a voyage to the moon, from the donning of space suits to splashdown. Footage of the scientists and engineers in Houston is inter-cut with footage of blastoff, orbiting the earth, looking back at a receding earth from inside the space capsule, circling the moon, seeing its surface up close, landing, and scenes of the astronauts on the moon's surface. They bring music with them, announce football scores, test a theory of Galileo's, and reflect on the wonder of the experience.—<[email protected]>

This documentary looks at the Apollo moon flight missions starting with Apollo 8. Showing only documentary footage, the voice-over isn't a narration per se but commentaries from the astronauts who flew the missions: on spaceflight, the moon itself and the emotions generated. The film doesn't follow the flights in sequential order which adds to the overall sense of awe and accomplishment.—garykmcd