For All Mankind

The staging footage was captured because NASA wanted to document the flight process of an unmanned Saturn flight for feedback in case there was a failure for engineers to look at footage to see what went wrong. Cameras were mounted in strategic locations, kicking on at critical moments to document the staging process for less than half a minute. After completion, the light-tight canisters containing the exposed film were jettisoned, dropping to earth with homing beacons and parachutes inside protective heat shields. Air Force C-130 transport planes, towing gigantic nets, recovered the canisters in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

The opening of the documentary incorrectly states that: "During the four year between December 1968 and November 1972, there were nine manned flights to the moon." The last lunar mission, Apollo 17, took place in December 1972.

Filmed on location by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Sex, Lies, and Videotape/Young Einstein/Parenthood/The Music Teacher (1989)