The only
astronauts to set foot on the moon will share tales of their journey Saturday
in a film screening to raise funds for a monument to their Apollo lunar missions.
"The
Wonder of it All" looks to understand the men who walked on the moon, instead
of the science and technology behind the Apollo missions. The result is a
highly personal and affecting history of the U.S. effort to send men to the moon.
"We're
all about the guys," said Jeffrey Roth, director of the film. The film
will screen at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to help raise funds for a monument honoring NASA's Apollo
lunar program.
Many of the
Apollo astronauts share early childhood fantasies of flying like sci-fi hero
Buck Rogers, and later pursued careers as military pilots. Their eagerness to
push limits meant they had to mentally prepare themselves for the risks and
uncertainties of the space program, as those became evident during the infamous Apollo
1 fire and the Apollo 13 accident in space.
However,
the astronaut experiences diverge more when they touch down on the lunar
surface. Some moonwalkers ran around methodically to accomplish their assigned
tasks. Others took the opportunity to conduct an impromptu "lunar
Olympics" by bouncing up and down in the moon's one-sixth gravity, or hit
a golf shot on camera.
"All
of us needed to do more human things," said Alan Bean, lunar module pilot for Apollo 12, who regretted focusing too much
on collecting moon rocks.
Yet Apollo
11 lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, the second person ever to walk
on the moon in 1969, took a moment to give thanks and pray under the
blackness of space that astronauts described as beyond any darkness on Earth.
Charlie Duke, of Apollo 16, left his family's photo in a clear plastic bag on the
lunar soil.
Those human
moments remain the most vivid impressions from "The Wonder of it
All," particularly as the astronauts describe life following the Apollo
program. Bean eventually left NASA to become an artist, turning his impressions
as a moonwalker into vivid paintings. Fellow astronauts stayed on with NASA to
work and consult, or entered politics.
The film
also sheds some light on the less-joyful experiences of the Apollo program,
such as returning astronauts being egged by student protesters or a personal
struggle with alcoholism and depression.
By the end,
astronauts reflect upon a spiritual experience in space that transcends the
boundaries of human knowledge — and allows film viewers to appreciate that
other component of the space program beyond rockets and spacecraft.
"Wonder of
it All" is one in a series of recent films, which include "In the
Shadow of the Moon" and "Magnificent Desolation," that focus on the
personal stories of those few humans who set foot on the lunar surface.
"Science
and technology could no longer explain what I was feeling," said Eugene Cernan,
Apollo 17.
The
benefit screening for the U.S. Space Walk of Fame will take place at 6 p.m. on Jan. 19 at the Kennedy Space Center's IMAX Theater. For ticket
information, go to www.thewonderofitallfilm.com.
Additional screenings are planned for the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia in 2008.
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