Apollo 11: Fly Me to the Moon

A documentary about Apollo 11 wasn't a movie I was dying to see. But I ended up in the theater, watching it in IMAX, and I was absolutely blown away. Whether you're a space geek or not, I highly encourage you seek out this film. It is bewilderingly good.

We all know the story - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins (the poor man who had to orbit the moon while the other two got to actually walk on it - this movie made me appreciate that sacrifice even more) flew to the moon, landed, and return safely back to Earth. To watch that entire mission unfold on screen in 90 minutes is simply staggering. Director Todd Douglas Miller only uses archival footage, giving us a glimpse at what was going on behind-the-scenes at NASA in the lead-up to the launch and all the way to the successful return. The elation of every NASA scientist's face at every step of this mission is rather spectacular to behold (sadly as is the overwhelming white maleness of it all - I hope today's NASA has more diversity, though of course, they aren't flying to the moon anytime soon). We also get to see footage of all the people who thronged around the launch site in 1969, desperate to see history in the making and be able to tell their grandchildren that they were there the day that men flew off in a rocket to visit the moon.

The movie is quite technical, featuring a lot of staticky radio transmissions between the technicians and the astronauts about angles and velocities, and occasional hilarious snippets about their heart rates (Aldrin seems to be perpetually relaxed while Armstrong is constantly freaking - I particularly enjoyed watching these men in real life after seeing them portrayed in First Man last year). On occasion, there is a visual simulation to explain the maneuvers taking place at each stage of the mission to launch the various modules and get into the right orbits. If you're into data and technical wizardry, I'm sure you'd enjoy, but I was too busy being gobsmacked at how we managed to achieve this feat in 1969. It is an oft-repeated cliche that the computing power of the iPhone sitting in your pocket is superior to the combined power of ALL of NASA's computers in 1969. And yet - they strapped three men into a metal tube and got them to the moon and back.

Watching this movie in IMAX is a particularly surreal experience. The sounds, the visuals, everything envelops you and makes you feel like you're a part of that mission. I found myself overawed by the images of space, none of which were new to me, but felt brand new in this historical context. When the astronauts safely landed back on Earth, I got a bit teary - the whole thing only took up eight days of their life and yet in that eight days, what strides they had made. It boggles the mind that we got so far in 1969 and yet have no appetite to repeat the experience in 2019. If you ever harbored dreams of being an astronaut or simply want so spend some time in space, I cannot recommend Apollo 11 highly enough. Treat yourself to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.