ebiros2 This series is about the race to the moon viewed from the the perspective of the American Space Program from Mercury to Apollo. Retired astronauts, engineers, and program managers reminisced about their involvement in the program which makes this 4 hour program an invaluable documentary of the history of American space exploration.What kind of an era was this when people were able to dream such grand adventure, and actually pull it off ? Sadly space exploration was put on hold due to domestic issues of feeding the poor, but 40 years later, those problem still persists, and we're not officially back on moon for all the years. Makes you wonder if the protest of the poor were just a sour grape to find an easy target to take pot shots at.There's still magic in seeing the giant Saturn V rocket take off, and space crafts making docking maneuvers in space. It could be the best of the movies, but even better. Will we see the spirits of adventure like this in our life time again ? If not, we've lost something valuable to all humanity.

paulo-1 It's ironic that the film Star Wars premiered only a very few years after the last Apollo flight. Of course, Star Wars became one of the greatest commercial successes in film history. The Apollo program died, because people weren't interested anymore. Perhaps many of us like to fantasize about space more than really doing something about going there. However, there was a time when that wasn't so. Moon Shot is an absolutely superb documentary about how the space program went from a short flight of fifteen minutes to man walking on the moon in less than a decade. Through interviews with some of the astronauts from that period, it also shows that people who ventured into space were just that-real people. They were not named Darth or Luke, nor were they the offspring of intergalactic royalty. The didn't wear capes or spandex costumes or use the Force. Rather, they were named Al or Gus or John or Neil. They came from working class backgrounds in many cases (John Glenn's father was a plumber). They had families, mortgages, and car payments. They worked hard, and sometimes made mistakes. They also did great things. By telling what happened, and having some of them tell what happened, Moon Shot is a wonderful chronicle of their accomplishments.

deke17 Based on the book of the same name, Moon Shot gives a real-life account of NASA's race for the moon by two men who were intimately involved: Deke Slayton and Alan Sheppard.Much of this film is a gathering of the 5 remaining Mercury Astronauts - Al Sheppard, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordo Cooper. They reminisce about the old days and their different perspectives, something you don't get in the book, which is also excellent. Barry Corbin fills in as the voice, but not the image, of Deke Slayton. I think Corbin's part was a nice touch, narrating Deke's contributions to the book. I think it was interesting too that they got Corbin to play a former astronaut when he played former astronaut Maurice Minnifield on Northern Exposure for several years. Maybe intentional, maybe not, but a fine piece of casting. :)If you liked the film, read the book. You won't be disappointed.

pastfind When I first saw this program on TV I knew instantly that I had to obtain a copy of it and I did. I feel that this is the best space documentary ever made, period. The fact that this documentary draws directly from the original mercury and gemini astronauts tells the story from those who lived in it. A lot of information about the space operations of NASA I had never heard about till I saw this and they were quite amusing. Sadly Deke Slayton died during the making of the film and Al Shepard just recently died. This film is a final tribute in my mind to two great Americans who helped lead all Americans into the unknown depths of space through their pioneering careers as astronauts.