For All Mankind
Encyclopedia
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
. It was directed by Al Reinert
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
, Michael Collins
, Charles Conrad
, Jack Swigert
, and Ken Mattingly
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
in 1990.
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
is in fact footage of re-entry
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
on a Region 1 DVD-video
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
. It was directed by Al Reinert
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
, Michael Collins
, Charles Conrad
, Jack Swigert
, and Ken Mattingly
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
in 1990.
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
is in fact footage of re-entry
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
on a Region 1 DVD-video
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
. It was directed by Al Reinert
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
, Michael Collins
, Charles Conrad
, Jack Swigert
, and Ken Mattingly
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
in 1990.
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
is in fact footage of re-entry
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
on a Region 1 DVD-video
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. It was directed by Al Reinert
Al Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
-Credits:* Musicians: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno* Cover Art : Russel Mills* Mastered by Greg Calbi, at Sterling Sound-Versions:-Chart performance:-Uses in other media:* "An Ending ":** TV - James May on the Moon - opening sequence...
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
Music for Films III
Music for Films III is the third entry in Brian Eno's "Music for Films" series. It features tracks by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, and Harold Budd among others....
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
, Michael Collins
Michael Collins (astronaut)
Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins...
, Charles Conrad
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with command pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission...
, Jack Swigert
Jack Swigert
He later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
, and Ken Mattingly
Ken Mattingly
Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness...
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
in 1990.
Specific Views
Several unusual or memorable views are included:-- The fires of the BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribes in the SaharaSaharaThe Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
desert, seen as dots of light in the extreme darkness. - Sunrise over the edge of the earth.
- A space-walk floating in silence over the earth, despite travelling at 25,000 miles per hour.
- A floating tape recorder providing music to the astronauts during periods of weightlessness... in particular when playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- The first picture of the earth seen as a whole circle from space...as a live television transmission... a blue planet "floating in a blackness beyond perception".
- Trying to prevent food from floating off during meals.
- The first close-up pictures of the moon.
- Travelling around the dark side of the moon, including the "earth-rise" as our planet came back into view.
- The lunar module calmly drifting down at a low angle to the surface of the moon, then burning its engines for a more vertical landing.
- Touchdown in the Sea of Tranquility: "The Eagle has landed*.
- The first footstep onto the moon by Neil ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
. - Dropping a feather and a hammer together to prove Galileo correct, that both hit the ground together if there is no atmosphere.
- Erecting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the moon.
- Gathering rocks and soil samples from the surface of the moon.
- An astronaut tripping and speculating on his vulnerability should the suit be ruptured.
Source material
In the DVD commentary, Reinert explains that he made the film after learning that huge amounts of footage shot by astronauts had been archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Al ReinertAl Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
Trans Lunar Injection
A Trans Lunar Injection is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will arrive at the Moon.Typical lunar transfer trajectories approximate Hohmann transfers, although low energy transfers have also been used in some cases, as with the Hiten probe...
is in fact footage of re-entry
Re-Entry
"Re-Entry" was the second album released by UK R&B / Hip Hop collective Big Brovaz. After the album was delayed in May 2006, the band finally release the follow-up to "Nu Flow" on 9 April 2007...
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
Home theater releases
For All Mankind has been released by The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
on a Region 1 DVD-video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Al Reinert
- Interview with Al Reinert in The Austin Chronicle
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. It was directed by Al Reinert
Al Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
-Credits:* Musicians: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno* Cover Art : Russel Mills* Mastered by Greg Calbi, at Sterling Sound-Versions:-Chart performance:-Uses in other media:* "An Ending ":** TV - James May on the Moon - opening sequence...
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
Music for Films III
Music for Films III is the third entry in Brian Eno's "Music for Films" series. It features tracks by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, and Harold Budd among others....
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
, Michael Collins
Michael Collins (astronaut)
Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins...
, Charles Conrad
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with command pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission...
, Jack Swigert
Jack Swigert
He later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
, and Ken Mattingly
Ken Mattingly
Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness...
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
in 1990.
Specific Views
Several unusual or memorable views are included:-- The fires of the BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribes in the SaharaSaharaThe Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
desert, seen as dots of light in the extreme darkness. - Sunrise over the edge of the earth.
- A space-walk floating in silence over the earth, despite travelling at 25,000 miles per hour.
- A floating tape recorder providing music to the astronauts during periods of weightlessness... in particular when playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- The first picture of the earth seen as a whole circle from space...as a live television transmission... a blue planet "floating in a blackness beyond perception".
- Trying to prevent food from floating off during meals.
- The first close-up pictures of the moon.
- Travelling around the dark side of the moon, including the "earth-rise" as our planet came back into view.
- The lunar module calmly drifting down at a low angle to the surface of the moon, then burning its engines for a more vertical landing.
- Touchdown in the Sea of Tranquility: "The Eagle has landed*.
- The first footstep onto the moon by Neil ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
. - Dropping a feather and a hammer together to prove Galileo correct, that both hit the ground together if there is no atmosphere.
- Erecting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the moon.
- Gathering rocks and soil samples from the surface of the moon.
- An astronaut tripping and speculating on his vulnerability should the suit be ruptured.
Source material
In the DVD commentary, Reinert explains that he made the film after learning that huge amounts of footage shot by astronauts had been archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Al ReinertAl Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
Trans Lunar Injection
A Trans Lunar Injection is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will arrive at the Moon.Typical lunar transfer trajectories approximate Hohmann transfers, although low energy transfers have also been used in some cases, as with the Hiten probe...
is in fact footage of re-entry
Re-Entry
"Re-Entry" was the second album released by UK R&B / Hip Hop collective Big Brovaz. After the album was delayed in May 2006, the band finally release the follow-up to "Nu Flow" on 9 April 2007...
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
Home theater releases
For All Mankind has been released by The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
on a Region 1 DVD-video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Al Reinert
- Interview with Al Reinert in The Austin Chronicle
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
documenting the Apollo missions of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. It was directed by Al Reinert
Al Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
.
Music for the film was originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
-Credits:* Musicians: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno* Cover Art : Russel Mills* Mastered by Greg Calbi, at Sterling Sound-Versions:-Chart performance:-Uses in other media:* "An Ending ":** TV - James May on the Moon - opening sequence...
. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists, which can be found on the album Music for Films III
Music for Films III
Music for Films III is the third entry in Brian Eno's "Music for Films" series. It features tracks by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, and Harold Budd among others....
.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
, Michael Collins
Michael Collins (astronaut)
Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins...
, Charles Conrad
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with command pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission...
, Jack Swigert
Jack Swigert
He later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
, and Ken Mattingly
Ken Mattingly
Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness...
.
The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space,
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
in 1990.
Specific Views
Several unusual or memorable views are included:-- The fires of the BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribes in the SaharaSaharaThe Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
desert, seen as dots of light in the extreme darkness. - Sunrise over the edge of the earth.
- A space-walk floating in silence over the earth, despite travelling at 25,000 miles per hour.
- A floating tape recorder providing music to the astronauts during periods of weightlessness... in particular when playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- The first picture of the earth seen as a whole circle from space...as a live television transmission... a blue planet "floating in a blackness beyond perception".
- Trying to prevent food from floating off during meals.
- The first close-up pictures of the moon.
- Travelling around the dark side of the moon, including the "earth-rise" as our planet came back into view.
- The lunar module calmly drifting down at a low angle to the surface of the moon, then burning its engines for a more vertical landing.
- Touchdown in the Sea of Tranquility: "The Eagle has landed*.
- The first footstep onto the moon by Neil ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
. - Dropping a feather and a hammer together to prove Galileo correct, that both hit the ground together if there is no atmosphere.
- Erecting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the moon.
- Gathering rocks and soil samples from the surface of the moon.
- An astronaut tripping and speculating on his vulnerability should the suit be ruptured.
Source material
In the DVD commentary, Reinert explains that he made the film after learning that huge amounts of footage shot by astronauts had been archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Al ReinertAl Reinert
Al Reinert is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but is best known for directing and producing For All Mankind, an Award-winning documentary about NASA's Apollo program.-Awards...
and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection
Trans Lunar Injection
A Trans Lunar Injection is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will arrive at the Moon.Typical lunar transfer trajectories approximate Hohmann transfers, although low energy transfers have also been used in some cases, as with the Hiten probe...
is in fact footage of re-entry
Re-Entry
"Re-Entry" was the second album released by UK R&B / Hip Hop collective Big Brovaz. After the album was delayed in May 2006, the band finally release the follow-up to "Nu Flow" on 9 April 2007...
; and the images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
Home theater releases
For All Mankind has been released by The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
on a Region 1 DVD-video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
disc and on a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...
. The Blu-ray Disc version also has behind the scenes footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Al Reinert
- Interview with Al Reinert in The Austin Chronicle