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| VisionTV celebrates the anniversary of the first moon landing |
| Posted
on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 05:28 PM |
Just before 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 20, 1969, a 38-year-old father of two from Wapakoneta, Ohio climbed to the bottom of a metal ladder, spoke a few words, and changed the course of human history forever.
The Apollo 11 lunar landing was more than a triumph of science and technology. When astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot upon the moon, he became the first human being ever to look upon earth from the surface of an alien world. To the millions watching at home, the flickering images on the screen revealed an inescapable truth: our blue-green home planet is just one of many millions of lights in the sky - small, fragile and infinitely precious.
VisionTV celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing in July with a series of special prime time presentations that will include documentaries and feature films.
Celebrating the First Moon Landing - VisionTV Premiere Presentations
Documentary
Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?
Monday, July 20, 9 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. ET / 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. PT
The landing of a manned mission on the moon was a defining moment in human history - a feat of technological prowess that helped us to understand humanity's place in the cosmos. But what if it never happened?
40 years after the fact, there are still hardcore conspiracy theorists - among them rocket engineers, investigative journalists and a former astronaut - who insist that the lunar landing was faked to secure "victory" for the U.S. in its space race with the Soviet Union. They claim that the footage of astronauts walking on the moon was actually filmed on soundstages at the American military's top-secret Area 51 facility in Nevada.
Could it all be true? In this far-fetched but immensely entertaining FOX Television special, narrated by actor Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files, Supernatural), the conspiracy theorists present the "facts" and let you decide.
Their evidence: the absence of a blast crater beneath the lunar lander, some apparent inconsistencies in the photographs from the moon missions, film footage in which an American flag planted on the airless surface of the moon appears to flap in the breeze, and a host of other seemingly innocuous details that, to an imaginative few, suggest a massive hoax. What's more, some theorists, point to the large number of accidental deaths associated with NASA's astronaut program as proof that the conspirators were knocking off those who "knew too much."
So who's crazier? Those who believe humankind conquered seemingly insurmountable technological challenges and succeeded in placing a man on the moon? Or those who suspect we were really watching history's most expensive science fiction film?
To learn more about the lunar landing conspiracy theory and the various rebuttals, check out some of these Web pages:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23Feb_2.htm
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_moon_landing_hoax_accusations
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Documentary
Apollo: Race to the Moon
Monday, July 20, Midnight ET / 9 p.m. PT
Neil Armstrong's "one small step" on July 20, 1969 was the culmination of a 10-year effort involving nearly half a million people. This 90-minute documentary tells the story of the missions that took humankind to the moon - a monumental and often perilous endeavour that stands to this day as one of history's great achievements.
Drawing on NASA's vast store of archival footage - images that still rouse the emotions even decades later - Apollo: Race to the Moon traces the American lunar quest from the earliest Mercury mission (piloted by an obliging chimpanzee named Ham) to the world-changing flight of Apollo 11, and beyond.
The film recalls all triumphs and tragedies of those years, from John Glenn's historic 88-minute orbital journey aboard Friendship 7, to the nerve-wracking crisis that brought Apollo 13 to the very edge of disaster, and on to the poignant final moments of the Apollo 17 mission, as Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the last astronauts to look upon the desolate alien beauty of our celestial neighbour.
For more on the official history of the Apollo program, please visit the NASA Web site: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/index.html
Celebrating the First Moon Landing - Additional VisionTV Highlights
Sci-Fi Drama Series
Quantum Leap: "The Wrong Stuff"
Tuesday, July 14, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT
This classic sci-fi drama stars Scott Bakula (American Beauty, Enterprise) as Sam Beckett, a scientist trapped in the past by a time travel experiment gone wrong. Sam can leap into any person's life, at any point within his own lifetime - but he can't predict where he's going to land next. Tonight: It's 1961, and Sam finds himself in the body of Bobo, a chimpanzee selected as a candidate for the space program.
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Documentary - Encore Presentation
Galileo's Sons
Tuesday, July 14, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
Repeats Monday, July 20, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
Founded in 1891, The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. Today, nearly four centuries after the Roman Catholic Church condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth moves around the sun, a team of Jesuit researchers spend their days probing the mysteries of the heavens. This award-winning hour-long documentary is a portrait of a remarkable institution, and a meditation on the complex relationship between science and religion.
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Documentary
I Prophesy: Journey From Earth
Wednesday, July 15, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
The 1969 moon landing was a "giant leap" for humankind. Will the colonization of other worlds be our next step into the universe? Some scientists and astronauts believe humanity's future will depend upon the revitalization of our manned space exploration programs and the creation of permanent settlements on the moon and planet Mars. This documentary asks: are we ready at last to explore the final frontier?
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Documentary
Supernatural Investigator: Life From Other Planets
Wednesday, July 15, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Are we alone in the universe? Or have we already been visited by life from other worlds? These questions burn in the mind of author and futurist Mac Tonnies (After the Martian Apocalypse: Extraterrestrial Artifacts and the Case for Mars Exploration). In this documentary, Tonnies investigates the work of the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), debates the notion of life on other planets with a Vatican astronomer, and tracks the progress of the Mars polar mission.
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Feature Film
Space Cowboys
Thursday, July 16, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT
Clint Eastwood is the director and star of this thoroughly entertaining geezers-in-space adventure from 2000. When a Cold War-era Russian satellite threatens to plunge from the sky, geriatric engineer Frank Corvin (Eastwood), a relic of the early space program, is the only man on earth with the old-school know-how to avert disaster. Coaxed from retirement, Frank assembles his grizzled former colleagues (Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner) for a dangerous orbital mission. But there's something about the satellite that Frank's bosses are keeping hidden. A breezily satisfying summer movie blend of action and comedy, Space Cowboys features the visual wizardry of Industrial Light & Magic - but the film's best special effects are the performances of its crusty leading men. With James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane and a cameo appearance by Jay Leno.
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Feature Film
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Thursday, July 16, Midnight ET / 9 p.m. PT
Say it all together now: Klaatu barada nikto! Based on the Harry Bates short story "Farewell to the Master," this 1951 sci-fi classic is an elegant parable of Cold War paranoia dressed up as flying saucer flick. Michael Rennie stars as Klaatu, a Christ-like alien who arrives on earth to help humans change their self-destructive ways. And just to make sure we get with the program, he brings along a giant robot capable of frying the whole planet to a crisp. Patricia Neal and Sam Jaffe also star. Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) directed.
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