Apollo 11: First Steps on the Moon

Apollo 11: First Steps on the Moon (1996)

On July 20, 1969, the whole world stopped. Where were you?

Fearful that the Russians would continue their lead in the space race and be the first to put a man on the moon, NASA felt an enormous pressure to push the Apollo Program forward as quickly as possible, though they knew that pushing too hard could lead to the ultimate disaster. This film recreates the tensions that were felt not only by the three astronauts, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, but also by their families and by the teams of technicians training to deal with anything that could go wrong.

Date of release
1996-11-17
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (8)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Drama
Director
Norberto Barba

Casting

Interesting facts

Apollo 11 is a 1996 American docudrama television film about the Apollo 11 spaceflight. It was directed by Norberto Barba, written by Phil Penningroth, and stars Xander Berkeley, Jim Metzler, Jeffrey Nordling, Jane Kaczmarek, Wendie Malick, Maureen Mueller, Carmen Argenziano, Jack Conley, Ted Raimi, and Matt Frewer. It aired on November 17, 1996 on The Family Channel, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy.

Development

The film was developed in response to the positive reviews of the 1995 film Apollo 13. Executive producer James Manos Jr. thinks the reason no movie was made previously was that, "at first glance it didn't seem as if anything dramatic happened".

They received NASA's permission to record portions of the film in the original Apollo Mission Control Center. Engineers at the complex volunteered to make some of the equipment work like it did in 1969, to add authenticity.

Buzz Aldrin, one of the three Apollo 11 astronauts, contributed to this movie as technical consultant. He was not always on the film set, but he made an effort to keep up with the film's production. He was filmed for a cameo, but the scene was cut. During the scene, he played a clergyman that interacted with Xander Berkeley, who portrayed Aldrin in the film.

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