Innovation & Tech Today – May 2019

68 INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2019

tech
zone NASA

The media world will be abuzz all summer

with retrospectives about the Apollo moon

missions, for good reason: July 20 marks the

50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps

on the lunar surface. For most over 55, this is a

moment to relive a defining moment of

childhood and young adulthood — not to

mention human exploration.

For all others, this is a chance to revisit

America’s greatest moment as a working nation,

when a country, its people, industry, technology,

ingenuity, and purpose united behind a

visionary (and Cold War-influenced)

President’s directive to send a man to the moon

and return him safely to the earth by the end

of 1969.

That we pulled off nine trips to the moon

between 1968-72, with technology far weaker

and incapable than the smartphone in your

pocket, continues to speak to what is possible

when we work together and invest in resources

accordingly.

One of the “over 55s” is Tom Jennings,

director of Apollo: Missions to the Moon, a very

special film that will air on NatGeo beginning

July 1. Apollo is not your ordinary documentary:

it is created entirely with interviews and footage

taken during the Apollo years. This was part

of Jennings’ desire to again give us the

experience of being glued to our TVs and to

feel what those of us over 55 felt... something

you never forget.

“We try to give viewers the experience of

watching it as though it were happening in real-

time,” Jennings said. “It’s as close to reality as

possible, almost like making a motion picture

out of archival footage – although, with us, we

can’t go into a second take, because there is

none. We went through thousands of hours of

video, audio, radio interviews and still photos to

create a narrative story.

“In this case, it’s one that’s much like The

Hero’s Journey from Joseph Campbell. [The]

Apollo 1 [launch pad fire, which killed

astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White, and

Roger Chaffee] was a great tragedy, but it gave

NASA and the people working for NASA a

greater sense of urgency and purpose to their

mission. People can die doing this! Not only do

we have to figure out how to get up there, but

also how to bring them back home alive.”

Missions to the Moon:

In Real-Time

Tom Jennings’ Narrative Journey into Apollo’s Legacy

By Robert Yehling

Photo: Robert Yehling

Apollo 11 astronauts (L-R) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin stand near the spacecraft in

the bright Florida sun.

Boys watch Christmas Eve broadcast from Apollo 8 astronauts in space.

Photo: Otis Imboden/National Geographic Creative

Photo: Bruce Dale/National Geographic