From the Earth to the Moon 

Dramatized portrayal of the Apollo manned space program.

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Nick Searcy, Lane Smith

Top Rated TV #98 | Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 21 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Tom Hanks	...	Himself - Host / ... 12 episodes, 1998
Nick Searcy	...	Deke Slayton 10 episodes, 1998
Lane Smith	...	Emmett Seaborn 6 episodes, 1998
David Andrews	...	Frank Borman 5 episodes, 1998
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Gene Cernan 5 episodes, 1998
Stephen Root	...	Chris Kraft 5 episodes, 1998

Storyline

The twelve episodes follow the Apollo space program from a variety of viewpoints: (1) "Can We Do This?" maps the origins of Apollo and its Mercury and Gemini roots; (2) "Apollo 1" tells of the tragic fire and the subsequent finger-pointing; (3) "We Have Cleared the Tower" portrays the intense preparation for Apollo 7; (4) "1968" puts Apollo 8 into its historical context against events of the era; (5) "Spider" shows the engineering POV through the design, building, and testing of the LEMs with Apollos 9 and 10, (6) "Mare Tranquilitatis" shows the deeper considerations behind the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing; (7) "That's All There Is" portrays the camaraderie of the Apollo 12 crew; (8) "We Interrupt This Program" shows a by-now-indifferent media galvanized by the events of Apollo 13; (9) "For Miles and Miles" tells of Alan Shepherd's return to the manned program with Apollo 14 after being grounded between Mercury and Gemini; (10) "Galileo Was Right" show the non-piloting demands on ...

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Plot Keywords:

neil armstrong character | space program | the moon | apollo 8 | apollo 7 | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

From the Earth to the Moon

Filming Locations:

DeLand, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Clavius Base, Go Flight Inc., Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lane Smith plays a news anchor who is being forced out by an industry preferring younger, shallower and ratings-driven stories. Smith also appeared in Network (1976), based on a similar plot.

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Goofs

In Part 10, "Galileo Was Right", Astronauts Scott and Irwin were attempting to pull the drill out from the lunar surface. The drill was shown to be at the height of the astronauts' chests. When the shot returns to mission control, archived footage shows the drill to be at the height of the astronauts' heads.

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Quotes

Guenter Wendt: We drill! We drill the hell out of everything. We drill and we drill until we know every step in our sleep - and then we drill some more.

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Alternate Versions

On the 1999 UK VHS version, Episode 7 (That's All There Is) had three uses of strong language cut out by the BBFC in order to avoid getting a 15 rating and to keep the episode in line with the rest of the series at a PG rating. When the series was re-submitted in 2006 for the DVD release, the episode was passed uncut (and with a 15 rating).

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Connections

Referenced in Flat Earth Clues: Empty Theatre (2015)

User Reviews

An inspirationally movie, a Must-See for Everyone

From the Earth to the Moon is a stunning masterpiece that captures the triumph of a defining moment in the history of the world: Humankind's arrival to, short exploration of, and return from, it's planetary neighbor the Moon.

Tom Hanks brought together actors, writers, directors, producers, and composers of the highest caliber to deliver an accurate, outstanding, hard hitting film.

From the Earth to the Moon is a 12 hour movie spanning the United States involvement in the space race from the first man in space in 1961 to the last lunar landing in 1972. The movie teaches, gives insights, paints portraits of real people, and is simply fascinating.

The stories told in From the Earth to the Moon are inspiring, captivating, funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking. The true stories are absolutely unforgettable, stories of the men, women, and machines of the Apollo era.

All the stories presented in the film are special, and one that touched me was the story of Apollo 7. With the tragedy of Apollo 1, the movie reveals how Apollo 7 and its crew were America's last chance to make it happen. The movie beautifully presents the pressure Wally Shirra, his crew, and NASA were under before the lift-off of Apollo 7. Had Apollo 7 failed, the space program certainly would have stopped and the world would have never experienced Apollo 11's lunar landing.

The live footage shown from the Apollo 7 lift-off is awesome and spectacular. Generations from now will watch Apollo 7's lift-off to be amazed that humans could achieve such an engineering and technical marvel and scholars will debate in awe how the political, social, and economic environments of the time made such an event possible.

After viewing the entire movie, I was struck with sense of sadness. The Apollo program seemed to allow people's ideas to flourish and pull together around one common goal. That goal, of landing a man on the moon, was noble and exciting. It drew on man's positive strengths to explore, learn, move forward, and better the human condition. Someday, mankind must again reach for the stars.

From the Earth to the Moon will stay with you for a long, long time.