Race to the Moon [Import]

As I write this it is the 36th anniversary of Armstrong and Aldrin's moonwalk. In honor of that I thought it would be a good time to review this fine DVD set from the History Channel. This set is really a conglomeration of four separate programs on space, but one of them shines above all the rest. There are programs on Project Orion and the Space Shuttle, which I found to be modestly interesting, a quite good special on Apollo 13 (from the "Modern Marvels" series), and the absolutely thrilling view of the Apollo program through the eyes of Flight Control legend Gene Kranz, "Failure is not an Option." If you haven't read the book of the same title by Kranz, by all means purchase it immediately; your next order of business should then be to watch this documentary.

Much of the documentary footage has been seen before, but the interview footage of Kranz and others involved in Apollo is extremely well done and is frequently more emotional than might be expected (especially when discussing Apollo 1 and Apollo 13.) The Apollo 11 landing (program alarm) drama is told better here than anywhere else I have ever seen, and really underscores the value of the training program NASA had in place for Apollo (especially the simulator training.)

There is no doubt that the Kranz piece is the reason to buy this set, though the rest of the material is also interesting. If you have any interest in manned spaceflight whatsoever, you will love this set, especially "Failure is not an Option."

For anyone who is interested in learning more about the space program you can't go wrong with this 2 DVD set. There are 4 programs on this DVD. "Failure is not an Option"-a wonderful documentary from the perspective of those great engineers who worked in mission control during the sixties and seventies..It's fascinating listening to their stories and seeing the history of the space program through their eyes! Tons of great historical footage! The Space Shuttle, Apollo 13 and Project Orion are the other 3 programs. Project Orion is a documentary about a group of scientists back in the early sixties who had a idea about flying to Saturn by 1970..It's interesting listening to their theories..However, the program that best illustrates the space program in my opinion is "Failure is not an Option"..It's a wonderfully moving documentary and gives you a great deal of insight into Project Mercury, the Gemini program and the Apollo space program to the moon..It's very comprehensive and has great historical footage! Gene Kranz is interviewed quite a bit during this documentary and it's quite interesting listening to his viewpoint..It's amazing how much these engineers on the ground did..they were brains of the program..they had to know how to troubleshoot whatever problems arose and they were tested quite often! This is a well thought out and historically accurate depiction of the space race...Highly recommended!

First off let me say that the price is extremely low considering that the History Channel and A&E sells their videos at ridiculously high prices. Failure is not an Option is the whole reason that I bought it 'cuz I loved it so much when it was on TV. It's very different from other spaceflight documentaries in the sense that it relates the stories of the flights through the flight controllers on the ground and the drama they went through. I really recommend listening to the commentary track as well because it is just as informative as the regular program. Apollo 13 was equally good and is very distinct and clear about what happened - something alot of other documentaries do not do. Project Orion was almost too ambitious to be real (for example, humans traveling to the outer planets) and interesting simply because of how ludicris the whole idea is. I am not really into the space shuttle that much so that program was just alright and average. If you like this I highly recommend Nova's "To the Moon" or the PBS mini-series "Spaceflight" (currently only on VHS) and the movies "Apollo 13" and "The Right Stuff."