Product: For All Mankind [VHS] (1989)
Rating: 5.0
Cernan's Narrative alone is worth the Price
If you are an Apollo collector, you do not want to miss this addition to your experience. The narrative by Eugene Cernan is alone worth the price of admission. Having read Cernan's book, "The Last Man On The Moon," I was expecting a polite appraisal of some old stock footage, by a tough old fighter pilot, who had previously confessed that he actually regretted having not flown combat in Vietnam - in spite of his place in the Apollo program~!. Instead, we are introduced to a contemplative , soulful and truly insightful gentleman who expresses the universal importance and positively spiritual significance of that entire period of history. As he states, it was impossible, period. There is no way, in retrospect, that we could have gone from missiles blowing-up on the launch pad in 1960, to putting men in orbit around the moon in 1968. Mankind has never before or since put together such a mind-boggling project, let alone in eight years. What Gene touches on - lightly- is the sacrifices of all those involved. The divorce rate was 80% for the Cape Canaveral area in those days. Ron Howard tried to capture that aspect of the Space Race in the two hour segment, Part 11, "The Original Wives Club," of the HBO movie, "From The Earth To The Moon." It was not just the astronauts that gave it their all.The engineers and technicians from that era tell stories that 14 hour days were just common, because no one wanted to leave their job. There was a spirit of teamwork and comradery that has left a hole in their psyche that has never since been filled. As Gene says, "It's as though we went into the future and stole a time segment."Gene needs to write another book.