Moon Landings - Special Report
NASA's announcement of a re-make of the Apollo moon landings television series has re-ignited the activities of Internet conspiracy theorists who want to believe that man really did walk on the moon.
Despite the numerous scholarly Internet sites devoted to explaining how the original series, which aired between 1969 and 1972, was made in a top-secret television studio, a large proportion of Americans still believe that it actually happened. On behalf of www.cool.com.au I visited Washington DC in the United States to see some of the props from the Apollo moon landings television series first-hand.
The Apollo moon landings television series had a huge impact on the public’s consciousness worldwide. People looked skywards with new interest and the fledgling science fiction film and television genre grew in popularity. In recognition of the importance of the Apollo moon landings television series on popular culture, NASA donated some of its props to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
Set designers can make even the simplest of materials look like the real thing. The props used in the series looked convincing on television screens but seeing the props up close makes it absurd to believe that they are real. One of the principal exhibits at the museum is the command module from the first episode, Apollo 11. Up close, the first impression is that it is impossibly small. There is barely enough cabin space to fit three astronauts and the seating is too uncomfortable to contemplate spending five days inside on each leg of the journey. The outer shell of the command module is made from pieces of metal riveted together and there is an impressive array of buttons and switches within arm's; reach of the astronauts that give it a high-tech feel, but at the tip of the command module, the use of saucepans, garden hose and aluminium foil shatter the illusion of reality.
The set designers used Japanese origami as inspiration for the construction of the lunar modules which fitted with the storyline that parts of the lunar module needed to be unfolded prior to landing on the moon. The lunar module is larger than expected and perches on a thin metal frame. Its sharp metal edges and exposed wiring would be dangerous to the astronauts if actually used on the moon. The lunar module exhibited at the museum was not one that was used in the television series as those were destroyed during filming.
The space suits, which were supposed to be self-contained life support systems, were the most surprising to see up close. The costumes were designed so that the actors'; movements were cumbersome and to mimic the effects of the lower gravity expected on the moon. Costumes that looked dramatic on television looked flimsy and badly constructed upon closer inspection.
NASA's decision to donate props from the Apollo moon landings series to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was supposed to silence the Internet conspiracy theorists and seeing them up close leaves no doubt that flying to the moon in the props designed for the television series would be impossible.
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