Moonshadow Men

I'm too busy to blog! I'm back from England with just too much to do, but Sunday afternoon I took some time and drove to one of the few Boston area theaters showing the new documentary In the Shadow of the Moon. It was fantastic! It's basically the story of the Apollo Moon program told in the words of 9 or 10 of the 21 men who went to the Moon between 1969 and 1972 (12 Moon walkers, the rest Moon orbiters - it would have been 24 except for the fact that three astronauts went twice, and there would have been 14 Moon walkers except that Apollo 13 didn't land - Apollos 8 and 10 were intentional Moon-orbit-only missions).

The film is based mostly on footage shot by the astronauts themselves (no special effects), combined with recent interviews (no narrator). I especially liked the comments of Mike Collins (Apollo 11) and Alan Bean (Apollo 12) - they seemed the most willing to say it how they really felt it, though I suppose you have to give Buzz Aldrin special credit for saying that he stopped on the last step of the ladder of the LM to urinate just before he hopped down to the lunar surface to become the second human to walk on the Moon!

Although it's "presented by" (not directed by) Ron Howard, it's still a documentary, so it's in limited theatrical release. If you have an interest in space or in history, you should see this film. I think even non-space-buffs will be interested and even moved by the deeds and the words of these amazing men.