Earth to the Moon: The Bonus Disc

The fifth and final dvd to the set!  I can honestly say I loved this set. 

Tom Hanks who was the producer and beginning narrator of each disc and had an acting part in the 4th disc did a superb job!  

Unfortunately the Mercury and Gemini guys get the short end of the stick whereas the Apollo Astronauts get the most fame, but that's because they are the ones that went to the moon and landed on it. 

They all deserve recognition and before I end this post I will list all the Astronauts from the  Gemini, Mercury and Apollo missions.

This disc gives you some behind the scenes information about the making of the mini series.

Did you know that only 24 men journeyed to the moon.  And only 12 men walked on the moon.

Did you know that the Saturn 5 Rocket was 363 feet tall?

Or that he carried 550 lbs of fuel?

Something they mentioned and I found interesting is that this mini series took 3 years to make and during the 3 years of filming Astronaut, Dave Scott was a constant consultant.

  (Dave Scott August 2005/ photo by P.Neal)

Besides the set of dvds that I've reviewed, I've managed to collect a few space books that I've read over the years. (one not shown here because I haven't read it yet is Rocketman which is about Pete Conrad.)  

Of the books below I have to say my all time favorite is Moon Shot, which is about the race to the moon.  Gene Kranz's book of Failure is Not an Option was also good.  And so was Deke lol..  sorry, I'm laughing because of course I enjoyed these books! I love these men!

Mercury Astronauts were, in order of flights:

Al Shepard, (first American in space. deceased)

Gus Grissom, (deceased)

John Glen,

Scott Carpenter,

Wally Schirra, (deceased)

and Gordo Cooper.

Deke Slayton as one of the original 7, but he was bumped from the flight roster for cardiac anomalies. Slayton became an imprtant administrative head to the astronauts thoughout much of the early program. (deceased)

 

Gemini astronauts were, in order of flights :

Gus Grissom & John Young GT3, (deceased)

Jim McDivitt & Ed White GT4, (Ed White deceased)

Pete Conrad (deceased) & Gordo Cooper GT5, (deceased)

Frank Borman & Jim Lovell GT7,

Wally Schirra (deceased) & Tom Stafford GT6,

Neil Armstrong & Dave Scott GT8,

Tom Stafford & Gene Cernan GT9,

John Young & Mike Collins GT10,

Pete Conrad (deceased) & Richard Gordon GT11,

Jim Lovell & "Buzz" Aldrin GT12.

Gus Grissom & Ed White died later in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, along with Roger Chaffee, who never got to fly in space.

 

Apollo astronauts were, in order of flightsL

Wally Schirra, (deceased) Walt Cunningham, Donn Eisele (deceased) Apollo 7

Frank Borman, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell Apollo 8

Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott, Rusty Schweickart Apollo 9

Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, John Young Apollo 10

Neil Armstrong, "Buzz" Aldrin, Mike Collins Apollo 11

Pete Conrad,(deceased) Al Bean, Richard Gordon Apollo 12

Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, John Swigert (deceased) Apollo 13

Al Shepard (deceased), Stu Roosa, Ed Mitchell Apollo 14

Dave Scott, Jim Irwin (deceased), Al Worden Apollo 15

John Young, Charlie Duke, Tom Mattingly Apollo 16

Gene Cernan, Harry Schmitt, Ron Evans (deceased) Apollo 17

 

A small note of interest to myself is that two astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Rusty Schweickart were both born in New Jersey!  A small state but it looks as if we produced some might men!

If you ever have a chance to go to Nasa or to see a Shuttle Lift off, you should do it.  And if you ever are so fortunate as to meet an Astronaut, take a long hard look at him or her remember that they are putting their life on the line so that we might continue to make those great leaps into the future. 

They are hero's one and all.