From the Earth to the Moon is a twelve-part HBO television miniseries (1998) co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks, and Michael Bostick detailing the landmark Apollo expeditions to the Moon during the 1960s and early 1970s. Largely based on Andrew Chaikin's book, A Man on the Moon, the series is known for its accurate telling of the story of Apollo and outstanding special effects. HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network with headquarters in New York City. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Brian Grazer (born July 12, 1951, in Los Angeles, California) is a Jewish-American film and television producer who founded Imagine Entertainment with partner Ron Howard. ... Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor. ... Description Role: Earth and Lunar Orbit Crew: 3; CDR, CM pilot, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 36. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Andrew Chaikin is an author, speaker and space journalist. ... A Man on the Moon (ISBN 0140272011) is a 688-page book by Andrew Chaikin, first published in 1994. ... Lasers were used in the 2005 Classical Spectacular concert Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to visualize scenes that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as space travel. ...

The series takes its title from, but is not based upon, the famous Jules Verne science fiction novel, From the Earth to the Moon. The last episode of the series begins with a look at the making of Georges Méliès' film based upon the book. Jules Verne. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The projectile, as pictured in an engraving from the 1872 Illustrated Edition. ... Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938), full name Maries-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. ...

Integration with existing films

The miniseries, concentrating on the Apollo space program, was produced with an intent not to repeat other dramatic portrayals of events of the space race. Apollo CSM in lunar orbit. ...

The movie The Right Stuff, for example, which portrayed Project Mercury, is briefly summarized in the first episode. Miniseries producers Hanks, Howard and Grazer, who had previously produced Apollo 13, deliberately shot the episode We Interrupt This Program from the perspective of the media covering that flight, as the film had already covered the story from the point of view of the crew and the mission control team. The Right Stuff is both a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe, and a 1983 film adapted from the book. ... Project Mercury was the United States first successful manned spaceflight program. ... Apollo 13 is a 1995 film portrayal of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission. ...

Awards

The series won an Emmy Award for best miniseries in 1998. An Emmy Award. ...

Episodes

The episodes of the series are:

1. Can We Do This? — Depicts the early events of the space race from the perspective of NASA, including the decision to send men to the moon. Briefly covers the Mercury and Gemini programs along with a reconstruction of the first American spacewalk.
   
2. Apollo 1 — Concentrates attention on the Apollo 1 fire and subsequent investigation. The episode focuses on several key individuals, including Harrison Storms of North American Aviation, Joe Shea of NASA, and Frank Borman of the astronaut office, all of whom were involved in the investigation. This episode is generally voted as one of the top two or three episodes in online usenet and internet episode popularity polls.
   
3. We Have Cleared the Tower — Follows a fictional documentary team covering the preparation for the flight of Apollo 7. Although a well-received episode, some criticism occured over the episode's ending with the launch of the mission, and failing to delve into the difficulties between Apollo 7's crew and Mission Control during the mission.
   
4. 1968 — Including much actual documentary footage of political events in the United States during the year 1968, this episode depicts the first manned lunar flight (Apollo 8). Much of the story is told from the point of view of Frank Borman's wife, Susan, and is shot in black and white, with the only exceptions being newsreel footage of news events, and the dramatized action in the spacecraft. Also depicts the Apollo 8 Genesis Reading.
   
5. Spider — Focuses on the development of the Lunar Module and its first manned flights during Apollo 9 and Apollo 10, from the point of view of both the crew of Apollo 9 as well as the Grumman design team headed by Tom Kelly. This episode is generally voted as one of the top two or three episodes in online usenet and internet episode popularity polls.
   
6. Mare Tranquilitatis — A dramatization of the first moon landing (Apollo 11), with flashback sequences to a television interview between the Apollo 11 crew and fictional broadcaster Emmett Seaborn. The title Mare Tranquilitatis refers to the actual landing site of the mission.
   
7. That's All There Is — The story of Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean and his experiences on the Apollo 12 mission. The episode is a humorous depiction of the most tight-knit crew to serve on an Apollo mission. On virtually all online usenet and internet episode popularity polls, such as ones conducted by Pat Flannery shortly after the series ended, this episode is consistently ranked as the best of the series.
   
8. We Interrupt This Program — Depicts the television media's point of view concerning the 'successful failure' of Apollo 13. The episode avoids comparison with the movie Apollo 13 by focusing entirely on Earthbound events, and adds a fictional subplot about the rivalry between a veteran TV news reporter and a young upstart. Another well-recieved episode, but tends to place low in online usenet and internet episode popularity polls due the newsman rivalry subplot, which many critics felt added nothing to the story other than to fill time.
   
9. For Miles and Miles — Tells the story of the return to flight status of Alan Shepard and his mission to the moon on Apollo 14. The title refers to Alan Shepard's famous golf swing on the lunar surface.
   
10. Galileo Was Right — Focuses on the training the Apollo astronauts undertook to become geologists on the Moon's surface, specifically the Apollo 15 astronauts. The contributions of scientists Lee Silver, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Farouk El-Baz are highlighted. The title refers to Galileo Galilei and his theory that gravity would act equally in a vacuum on bodies of different mass. The theory was proven correct by astronaut Dave Scott in an experiment recreated for the episode.
    
11. The Original Wives Club — The story of Apollo from the point of view of the wives who had to endure the dangers of spaceflight at home, framed by the Apollo 16 mission. Although praised for high accuracy in depicting the trials and tribulations of the wives, it has received servere negative criticsm for the portrayal of Pat White, widow of Apollo 1 Senior Pilot Ed White II.
    
12. Le Voyage dans la Lune — Intercuts the story of the last Apollo mission Apollo 17 with the 19th century vision of a trip to the moon by French film maker Georges Méliès. The title of the episode is also the title of the 19th century film shot by Méliès.

For other uses, see Space Race (disambiguation). ... Description Role: Orbital spaceflight Crew: one, pilot Dimensions Height: 11. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Apollo One is the official name given retroactively to the Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) spacecraft, destroyed by fire during a training exercise on January 27, 1967, at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral) atop a Saturn IB rocket. ... North American Aviation, Inc. ... Frank Borman (right) poses with Jim Lovell (left) and Bill Anders (center) for an Apollo 8 publicity photo Frank Borman (born March 14, 1928) was a NASA astronaut, best remembered as one of the three crewmembers of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. ... Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. ... Mission Control Center (MCC) is a unit that manages aerospace flights. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo space program, in which Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to leave Earth orbit and to orbit around the Moon. ... On 24 December 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast to date, the crew of Apollo 8 surpised the world with a reading from Genesis as they orbited the moon. ... ¹ ² ³ ™ bob loves cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee: The LEM flight instrumentation panel and front windows. ... Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched 3 March 1969. ... Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. ... See Tom Kelly (baseball) for the 15-year manager of the Minnesota Twins. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... The Sea of Tranquility of the Moon. ... Alan LaVern Bean (born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas) is a former NASA Astronaut. ... Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... Apollo 13 was the third American manned lunar landing mission, part of the Apollo program. ... Apollo 13 is a 1995 film portrayal of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. ... Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the moon. ... Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. ... Dr. Harrison Hagan Jack Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is a geologist, astronaut and former U.S. senator. ... Farouk El-Baz Farouk El-Baz is an Egyptian-born scientist who worked with NASA training astronauts in lunar observations. ... Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Giusto Sustermans. ... David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) a former NASA Astronaut, was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963 and is one of only twelve men who have walked on the moon. ... Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fifth mission to land on the Moon. ... Patricia White, more commonly referred to as Pat White, of Ilford, Essex in England in the United Kingdom, is the current chairman of the British Tenpin Bowling Association (BTBA). ... Apollo One is the official name given retroactively to the Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) spacecraft, destroyed by fire during a training exercise on January 27, 1967, at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral) atop a Saturn IB rocket. ... Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program and was the sixth and last manned mission to date to land on the Moon. ... Le Voyage dans la lune is a 1902 French science fiction black and white silent film known in its English language release as A Trip to the Moon. ...

Cast

See main article: Casting From the Earth To the Moon Casting the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon provided unique challenges to the producers. ...

Trivia

• A number of actors who appeared in the movies Apollo 13 (Tom Hanks, Chris Ellis, Brett Cullen, Clint Howard, David Andrews) and The Right Stuff (David Clennon) appear in this series, but as different characters. Some of the NASA flight controllers are also played by actors who played similar roles in Apollo 13.

• In the episode about Apollo 11, before Neil Armstrong takes his first step on the moon there is already a footprint where his foot is about to go.

• Many of the actors had opportunity to interact and form friendships with the real life astronauts they were portraying. Brett Cullen, who played Apollo 9 Command Module pilot David Scott, was invited to the Scott family home each time an episode he appeared in was first televised.

• Two short clips from the final scenes of Apollo 13 were used in "That's All There Is"; a splashdown sequence, and a view of the recovery ship USS Iwo Jima (portrayed by USS New Orleans).

Brett Cullen was born August 26, 1956 in Houston, Texas. ... Howard in the title role of the Ice Cream Man. ... David Andrews (born 1952) is an American actor. ... David Clennon (born May 10, 1943, Waukegan, Illinois) is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentell in the ABC series thirtysomething. ... Brett Cullen was born August 26, 1956 in Houston, Texas. ... Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched 3 March 1969. ... Description Role: Earth and Lunar Orbit Crew: 3; CDR, CM pilot, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 36. ... David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) a former NASA Astronaut, was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963 and is one of only twelve men who have walked on the moon. ... Apollo 13 is a 1995 film portrayal of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission. ... USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) was the lead ship of her class—the first ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. ... The third USS New Orleans (LPH-11), an Iwo Jima class amphibious assault ship in the United States Navy. ...

External links

• From the Earth to the Moon at the Internet Movie Database