Chapter 1 | Part 1 | Chasing the Moon | American Experience | PBS

“Chasing the Moon,” a film by Robert Stone, reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama. Utilizing a visual feast of previously overlooked and lost archival material — much of which has never before been seen by the public — the film features a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Sergei Khrushchev, son of the former Soviet premier and a leading Soviet rocket engineer; Poppy Northcutt, a 25-year old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male bastion of NASA’s Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut.

[rocknrollcraftstar]

The song captures the grandeur of the moment so well. I try to imagine my parents and grandparents watching this on tv as it happened. Chills.

[tperk]

Fascinating how these historical moments are updated to fit with modern perspectives. A high schooler in the 2020s sees the moon landings as distant as the Great Depression was to kids born during the space race.

[stalri]

60's people where more advanced thans us. We try hard to do the same today.
The music is nice.

[akperson]

Perfect music during the launch scene.

[itsconnorjon]

This was so beautifully done. Chills every time.

[lennypike]

Thank you for the long cuts! So rare these days!

[snoopylovez]

The music is amazing..suits the film perfectly

[Simpleburger]

This was a superb documentary series, fascinating, profound and at times very moving. I liked the voice-overs (doubling as interviews) did not take away from the images onscreen. It was appreciated that the background music was just that still did the job !  Wonderful.

[dominictant]

I must have watched the whole thing at least 20 times.... It's spellbinding.

[jamesthewineguy]

The quotes are incredible and so well suited: "“I had a press pass — and so I was there and had access at 3-4 am and stood by the operations building and watch these three guys walk by on the way to the moon —It is like watching Columbus sail out of port”


“This is just a beginning perhaps of a new stage of the evolution of the species something comparable to crawling of the first amphibian creature out of the primeval swamp on to dry land” - I wish we had some excitement about something--what great language and imagination and helped frame the significance of this epic historical journey.

[coasti]

07:47 the Saturn V really was a beast ! and just how the music fits sooo perfect :)

[smb]

Perhaps the best general presentation of the space program ever! It is hard to conceive of the vision, work and sheer genius that went into this incredible feat. I wondered why they included so much from the "why spend money on space when folks are poor" crowd until I realized this was the foundation for the quick demise of manned space flights. History will look back and shake its head at the ease with which emotion, fear and guilt won out. As long as people exist, there will be poor and rich, those with glamorous lives and those with boring ones, those curious about the universe and those who couldn't care less.

[Cooley]

American Moon is an amazing documentary

[gaspanda]

One thing I found personally quite moving was the footage of the sci fi magazines, and artwork of bases on the moon and Mars that really seemed imminent when I was a kid. A time when you could dream about these things being possible. Ah well...

[bruce]

If we still had the mentalilty of Warner von Braun (and the other German scientists) and all the 400k engineers technicians who were all part of Mercury Gemini Apollo era -- if we kept carrying over their knowledge intellect and never had let that all fall by the wayside because of the shuttle, well, there's no telling where we'd be today in aerospace. I highly doubt we'd STILL be trying to get the SLS off the ground. We never should have stopped advancing the Saturn V. I shudder to think what the Saturn would be like today had we kept going, or what it could do.

[sheboygan]

Dr Wernher Von Braun put first man to the moon. thank you.

[jamesthewineguy]

Love this series one of AmericaExperiences best! Great footage, editing, thrilling to watch--we have never matched this as a nation--a shame to lose momentum. Awe inspiring--tear producing!

[coco_lev]

thank you very much for sharing this documentary. I bought the french version but couldn't disfrute of the original sound version which were not included in the DVD :(

[bpt]

What is the song playing during the launch?

[GTB]

This Great Ocean

The NASA publication....

J.C.