Apollo 11 Facts VJSC-1425L (in the Documentary section of Open Video Project). [Category: News]

Now this is the sort of historical footage I like to stumble across. This is a good long unedited portion of the NASA television footage of the Apollo 11 mission. This is the stuff the guys in Houston were watching, and it contains all of the back-and-forth talking between the astronauts and Mission Control. Now I’ll be honest and admit that this is not one of the more entertaining pieces of ephemera out there––the video is barely visible, there are lots of times when the astronauts are outside of camera range, lots of the stuff they do is very technical and not very interesting, and it goes on and on and on. But I remember watching this stuff as a kid, and even at age 9 it held me riveted to the screen because of what a big deal it was. It was such a big deal that I felt I was a part of history just watching the first human beings set foot on the moon. This brought back those memories. If you want entertainment, go elsewhere, but if you want raw footage from what is arguably the biggest news story of the 20th century, then this is your film. In between the boring parts are the highlights of the mission, including Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the lunar surface (and his bungled line––you really hear him saying “That’s one small step for Man” here), the astronauts describing how it felt to be on the moon, the raising of the flag, and the phone call from President Nixon. If you weren’t alive yet to experience this, well, here it is, free for the downloading.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****+. Overall Rating: ****.