Fifty years ago, the eyes of the world were on the moon. The documentary Apollo 11 shows the culmination of the epic Apollo undertaking:the nine days in July 1969 that included the first moonwalk. The film is an exciting time capsule for the enthusiast.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong has a heart rate of 165. He has to put the Apollo 11 lander on the moon. Despite an almost empty fuel tank, after inspecting the planned landing zone, he decides to continue flying for a while, hoping to find flatter terrain. Meanwhile, the lunar lander sounds an alarm:Error 1202. On the advice of the flight control, the astronauts ignore the warning signal.
It's one of the most exciting moments in the new documentary Apollo 11. And of course, we know the outcome. Armstrong lands safely on the moon with Buzz Aldrin. He is the first human to step into the moon powder and make his small step for a man. Together they raise a flag, unload some scientific instruments and are on their way home within a day.
A documentary without new information, although it reportedly contains never-before-seen film and audio recordings. The documentary also offers no context. It is not clear why the Americans really pulled out all the stops to give the gentlemen this multi-billion dollar trip of a lifetime. You watch Apollo 11 because you want to experience the journey (again) in 1969. It is above all a spectacular document for the space enthusiast.
The official trailer for Apollo 11.
Space enthusiast
The tension can be read on the faces of the three astronauts (Michael Collins also flew, but he did not land on the moon) as they prepare for the launch. But also the focus:everyone knows what needs to be done. The protocols for the next nine days have been worked out in detail. Apollo 11 is in fact a repeat of the Apollo 10 mission two months earlier, which took two astronauts in a lander up to 15 kilometers above the surface of the moon.
Three hours later, the astronauts sit atop the roaring Saturn V rocket, more than 100 meters high, launching their capsule on a three-day trip to the moon. Their heartbeats at that moment according to the documentary:88, 99 and 110. A healthy anticipation for their moon journey, shall we say.
Meanwhile on Earth, hundreds of people sit behind endless rows of primitive-looking computers guiding the flight. It's the tip of the iceberg. In reality, the monumental Apollo program employed an estimated 400,000 people at its peak, but you don't see any of that in the documentary.
Thanks to this army of engineers, Armstrong and his associates plunged into the Pacific Ocean again on July 24. Under the fanfare blare and the watchful eye of President Richard Nixon, they are taken aboard an aircraft carrier. No time to shake hands, because the astronauts immediately enter a kind of shiny caravan. The documentary does not say that this will be a quarantine of no less than 21 days, because there was fear of harmful moon bacteria that had hitched a ride. Unjustly, as it turned out later.
The impressive images of the mission are sure to delight the heart of the true space enthusiast, and that is what this documentary is all about. Small side note about the images:if you see the large-screen version, just like NEMO Kennislink, on the spherical screen of the Omniversum in The Hague, that gives some strange distortions. The rocket sometimes looks as crooked as a boomerang.
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Time Capsule
The documentary is a time capsule for the most spectacular journey of the twentieth century. The tension for the mission is once again palpable, among the astronauts and the massive crowd. Long shots of, for example, the landing on the moon are also impressive. In principle, the makers didn't have to add much more to make this mission an exciting report.
Yet the context of the American lunar program is lacking. For example, the run-up in the 50s and 60s in which the Americans were defeated time and again by the Soviet Union in the potty for the space they had entered together. Nobody comes to explain how difficult it actually was to put someone on the moon with the technology of the 60s. If you want context, check out another of the countless other documentaries about Apollo and the space race look, the makers must have thought.