Alan Bean Movies
Filmmaker David Sington merges the magnificence of science with the compelling drama of the human quest for advancement with this fascinating and visually stunning meditation on the historic Apollo space program. In the four remarkable years between 1968 and 1972, American history took a defining turn as nine NASA spacecraft made the trip to the moon, and 12 bold explorers became the first men ever to set foot on ground beyond planet Earth. In this documentary, space enthusiast Sington allows the surviving crew members from each Apollo mission the unique opportunity to recount their memories of those missions in their own words as vintage, original NASA film footage offers a tantalizing glimpse of this extraordinary era in American history. Candid interviews with the astronauts reveal the sensitive and fun-loving souls whose fearlessness would lead a nation into a new era of progress, and audio recordings from Mission Control lend a newfound sense of poignancy to a variety of oft-recounted historical milestones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Filmmaker Jeffrey Roth's documentary The Wonder of it All revisits the extensive space exploration of the late 1960s and early 1970s from a most unusual angle: the psychological impact of extraterrestrial charting on the individual astronauts. Of the 12 Americans who set foot on the moon between 1969 and 1972 and subsequently readjusted to civilian life, Roth interviews 7 - Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke, Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, John Young, Edgar Mitchell and Alan Bean - who offer intimate and candid reflections on their personal experiences from childhood through the present, their recollections of space travel and the NASA space program per se, and their postflight experiences in daily life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bean, Buzz Aldrin, (more)
- 2000
Originally titled Mercury Project, this made-for-cable thriller focuses on 17-year-old Todd Baker (Ryan Merriman) and his ex-astronaut grandfather, Gus Baker (Robert Wagner). Hoping to honor the memory of his late father, likewise a space explorer, Todd collaborates with Gus in restoring a Mercury Redstone Rocket (purchased from a junk heap for a mere $80,000) as a high school science project. When Todd grafts the Rocket to a Mercury 10 capsule found in a space museum, he brings down the wrath of the Feds, who inform him that he's committed an infinite number of security breaches. Denied permission to complete his project, our hero is nonetheless redeemed when a space shuttle crew is trapped hundreds of miles above earth...and only Todd's rebuilt rocket and capsule is capable of going to the rescue! About as credible as anything else on the ABC Family Channel ever since, Rocket's Red Glare debuted on August 27, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
