From The Earth To The Moon

Okay, I've just been spending four nights over the past two weeks
staying up really late to get FTETTM down on VHS with all the
commercials hand-edited out.
,,, And I've got two questions:
1.) What happened to the mutiny in space of Apollo 7?
2.) Did Farouk El-Baz really have an office 1/10th as cool as it's shown
in that miniseries?

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...
Okay, I've just been spending four nights over the past two weeks staying
up really late to get FTETTM down on VHS with all the commercials
hand-edited out.
,,, And I've got two questions:
1.) What happened to the mutiny in space of Apollo 7?

Wally (Walter M. Schirra, Jr.) retired ............
Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham never flew in space after that mission

2.) Did Farouk El-Baz really have an office 1/10th as cool as it's shown
in that miniseries?

Good question, it is unique. How would like to be the FETM model maker --
if it did not already exist?

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...
Okay, I've just been spending four nights over the past two weeks
staying up really late to get FTETTM down on VHS with all the
commercials hand-edited out.
,,, And I've got two questions:
1.) What happened to the mutiny in space of Apollo 7?
2.) Did Farouk El-Baz really have an office 1/10th as cool as it's shown
in that miniseries?


Wouldn't it be easier to buy the DVDs?

Heck, for the time spent, you could have worked at the local 7-11 at minimum
wage and then bought the DVDs, a player and a huge Slush Puppie and come out
ahead timewise. :-)


Pat

It sounded to me like he was asking why the mutiny was not shown in
"From the Earth to the Moon," and I think it is an excellent question.
The answer, in my opinion, should be obvious: Hero-worship. :-)

Pat Flannery wrote:
1.) What happened to the mutiny in space of Apollo 7?

1) I think they wanted an episode focused on launch preparations.

2) The mission wasn't going to the moon, an episode about three cranky guys
testing the CSM in orbit doesn't tell us much about the Apollo lunar missions.

3) I think the pre-launch build-up is the only way to positively look at Apollo
7 without tredding on the mutiny, which maybe Hanks and co. didn't want to do.

Also, a lot of people don't know what to make of the Wally Schirra that flew on
Apollo 7. Kraft and Kranz in their books seem to indicate that they were
flabergasted, that the Wally on 7 wasn't the one they knew before, or since.
Deke on the other hand felt it was typical of Schirra, but was ****ed for the
way Schirra's antics screwed Eisele and Cunningham.

-A.L.

Ummmm, MASTER, I was JUST ABOUT to agree with you until that last
sentence. There was a lot going on with Apollo 7, and it would have
been rather complicated to try and incorporate it into a one-hour
segment. But DON'T think that Deke thought it was "typical" of
Schirra. I'm sure you will not believe me, but because of MANY debates
with Scott, I spent WEEKS agonizing over Schirra, and while, as a Navy
"brat" I have NO EXCUSE for his behavior WHATSOEVER, there IS a part of
me that hurts for him. Schirra changed after the fire. I don't know
how or why he ended up with Gus' personal belongings and felt it was OK
to auction them, but I DO know the mindset of a Navy Captain, and HERE
is my dilemma: You have just performed the back-up crew check. You
believe something doesn't "ring right," which are the two scariest
words in test pilot parlance. You warn a man you've known for ten
years that if anything goes wrong, EVEN COMMUNICATIONS, to GET OUT. He
gives you his typical "I'll think about it" reply. You get on a plane,
and fly to Houston. You no sooner get OFF that plane than you get word
of the fire. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION?????? Schirra had to have been OUT
FOR BLOOD. Again, I have ZERO respect for his treatment of the Grissom
family, but there is no doubt in my mind he bounced off the WALLS after
the fire...something that is borne out when you look at how he suddenly
became skittish about wind speeds. It RATTLED him. I make NO excuses
for Schirra, but again, I'm torn, because I can FEEL what HAD TO HAVE
BEEN his reaction, and I believe both his retirement and his antics on
Apollo 7 were reflective of his complete loss of confidence in NASA.

w9gb wrote:

Wally (Walter M. Schirra, Jr.) retired ............
Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham never flew in space after that mission


In the show, the mission is covered up till the moment of launch...and
that's it. I was wondering what the story was in regards to not showing
Wally vs. mission control...did NASA tell Tom Hanks that it wouldn't
look kindly on showing the mutiny, or was that Hanks' decision? The
whole thing smells like the way that the Soviets used to remove the
unpleasant aspects of their space history.




2.) Did Farouk El-Baz really have an office 1/10th as cool as it's shown
in that miniseries?



Good question, it is unique. How would like to be the FETM model maker --


The models and spacecraft mock-ups in that miniseries are truly fantastic.

Pat

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

Wouldn't it be easier to buy the DVDs?

Easier, yes. Cheaper, no.


Heck, for the time spent, you could have worked at the local 7-11 at minimum
wage and then bought the DVDs, a player and a huge Slush Puppie and come out
ahead timewise. :-)


I hadn't seen around 1/3rd of the episodes, so I probably would have
watched the thing anyway.
I got everything except the one on the astronaut's wives.

Pat

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:57:16 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:



Kevin Willoughby wrote:


A simpler answer: Hanks wanted to tell the story of the Moon landings.
The first Apollo is part of that story, but the "Wally vs. Mission
Control" fight had nothing to do with lunar landings.


He devoted an entire episode to that flight...then didn't show the
flight itself! Watching it, one gets the feeling that the whole
reporters-at-the-cape was a last minute rewrite to fill in the time that
was originally going to be about the "mutiny in space".
Everything else that's been done on Apollo finds that to be a very
interesting story, so it's odd it isn't in this miniseries.

Pat

I think the point of that episode is really to show the recovery from
the fire. It's somewhat presented from the perspective of a
documentary film producer who, at one point, says something along the
lines of the space program being over if Apollo 7 fails or of it
moving forward towards its goal if it succeeds. There's some obvious
added tension/drama with the whole question of high winds and aborted
launches, etc., but it's clear that the final scene in that episode
would be the launch. It almost plays out like a "phoenix rising" type
of thing, really. That's just my take, mind you.

Dante

In article ,
says...
In the show, the mission is covered up till the moment of launch...and
that's it. I was wondering what the story was in regards to not showing
Wally vs. mission control...did NASA tell Tom Hanks that it wouldn't
look kindly on showing the mutiny, or was that Hanks' decision? The
whole thing smells like the way that the Soviets used to remove the
unpleasant aspects of their space history.

A simpler answer: Hanks wanted to tell the story of the Moon landings.
The first Apollo is part of that story, but the "Wally vs. Mission
Control" fight had nothing to do with lunar landings.
--
Kevin Willoughby lid

The loss of the American system of checks and balances
is more of a security danger than any terrorist risk.
-- Bruce Schneier