Cheap Nova - To the Moon (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Nova - To the Moon

Wonderful documentary and a lot I didn't know
Lest anyone think this is the same old story of the moon shot, "One Small Step For Mankind" and all that, Nova's "To The Moon" is actually two fascinating hours of many of the stories that have been overlooked about man's journey to the moon. Few people know about the man who advocated the method of travel, called Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous, or why he was unpopular even after his contribution led to man getting to the moon. Few people know why Kennedy vaguely said we should get a man to the moon "by the end of the decade." Few people know the history of the Gemini program, lost between the Tom Wolfe heroics of Mercury and the Cold War glories of Apollo. Few people know about the later astronauts--in fact, how many people can name an astronaut after the Apollo 11 crew? (If you saw "Apollo 13" this might not be as hard.) The clips of the last mission on the moon, with happy-go-lucky geologist Harrison Schmidt dancing around digging for moonrocks, is worth the price of the DVD alone. Highly recommended as an educational tool as well as a fun ride. Public schools would be wise to teach kids history in this lively way.

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A lot of unique technical and historical detail
This is a wonderful documentary that fills in a lot of holes left by other "Moon Shot" videos. I loved the detail regarding Lunar Orbit Rendevous. They do a great piece on the Marshall Space Center where the space capsules for Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were designed. I really enjoyed the detail surrounding the work on the Saturn V, and the "All Up Test" that was needed to get the rocket program back on track. It was thrilling to relive the Apollo 11 landing from the eyes of the men in the control room, and their comments about the "Tranqulity Base" transmission. They did a very nice job on the Apollo 15/Dave Scott discovery of the Genesis Rock, and the story of Jack Schmitt, the only geologist astronaut in the program on Apollo 17. This was the perfect video to add to my space program collection.

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Not without its problems
I am more sanguine about the quality of this production than most of the reviewers here. 2.5 stars from me.

This is a decent telling of many aspects of the Apollo program. There are some important interview segments. Curiously lacking are such astronaut interviews, in detail, for the actual moon landing mission!

The music is awful and pedestrian. There is little of the sense of wonder, effort, and the various machinations behind the scenes that led to the development of the program.

I would suggest that far more inspiring and of immense technical quality, though a dramatization, is From the Earth to the Moon. And as for a documentary, I suggest For All Mankind, which was up for an Academy award. In fact, I noted that many of the documentary segments in To The Moon cooberate these far better efforts.