posted 01-09-2024 08:50 PM               

"Galileo's Moon: The Story of Apollo 15" debuts online here on Wednesday (Jan. 10) at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT).

Per Woods: "The film includes music that was carefully selected by Scott as part of his desire to give this a wider appeal."

posted 01-11-2024 12:26 PM               

Some of the song choices were interesting. Setting 1980s music to Apollo footage can be a bit jarring, but at the same time I did not feel any of the selections were inappropriate. I agree with David's comment, though, that some of the transitions between the audio tracks were a bit abrupt (at least for my own ear).

The on screen graphics are quite helpful in keeping track of where the footage is from and offers just the right amount of explanation when archival audio or film was not available.

posted 01-11-2024 01:52 PM               

I would have preferred a bit more commentary (either via audio or additional notes on the screen) from Scott about the SEVA, since that was the only one performed during Apollo. I would have also liked to hear Scott's conversation with Lee Silver during the return trip to Earth.

posted 01-11-2024 03:45 PM            

If Dave Scott can be persuaded to release this movie on DVD, I’ll be the first in the queue to buy a copy. This was a worthy extended version of the piece put together for the 50th anniversary.

There was rarely seen, excellent footage particularly covering training for the mission, neatly intertwined with stills. I chuckled at the theme music from the film “Charriots of Fire”: perhaps I thought a reflection on Dave Scott’s British sensibilities having lived in the UK for a number of years. But I too found the chopping and changing of the soundtrack a little distracting.

I thought the film too short to be honest: there were so many scenes that I would have liked to have seen, particularly transposition and docking, and the EVAs. But then again, I don’t suppose a 20 hour documentary was ever going to be an option.

In all honesty, I don’t think this documentary was aimed at your common or garden, hardcore space nerd (like me), so I’ve concluded my expectations were unrealistically high. I was hoping for fresh revelations and new nuggets from history: hec, I expected to learn Dave Scott’s inside leg measurement!

I was disappointed that Dave did not feature with recently shot interviews: an opportunity for greater perspective, in so doing setting the record straight on a number of issues.

I must confess to feeling a little disappointed overall (for the reasons above). That said, I am grateful to Dave Scott, David Woods, Ken MacTaggart and everybody else involved in putting this film together. You can, as far as I am concerned, never have enough Apollo 15. I am so appreciative of an opportunity to revisit a momentous period in my childhood.

Thanks guys!

posted 01-11-2024 08:07 PM               

For example the reference to 'APEX JETT' is the jettison of the Command Module Apex Cover to allow deployment of the parachutes. There are also references to the Drogue and Main parachutes, the Stable I (upright) and Stable II (upside down) landing configurations, the ELS (Earth Landing System) and other steps pre and post 'landing' (splashdown).

posted 01-18-2024 06:09 PM            

As I watched, I thought of the NASA movie about Apollo 15, "In the Mountains of the Moon" and how much better "Galileo's Moon" is. I loved all of the little details: the view of the speedometer on the Crawler Transporter; the sole example of live TV showing a LRV being driven on the Moon; the "hammer and feather" experiment; the onboard view at lunar liftoff showing a large piece of insulation material being bowled across the Moon and almost hitting the ALSEP... and so much more.

The EVA TV looks like it's been digitally enhanced (to reveal the quality seen on Apollos 16 and 17) and I laughed out loud to hear the lively debate between Dave and Jim about whether they had found genuinely green material at Spur Crater.

posted 01-31-2024 04:18 AM            

A bit of background. David Scott wanted to make a short film for the event he was arranging for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15 but he needed an editor. Dave knew me from my Apollo work as an author and the curator of the Apollo Flight Journal. What he didn't know until the summer of 2021 was my background as a broadcast video editor — until it was pointed out to him. I was hired!

In a short time, via email, we pulled together a 36-minute film for Dave to show at his event. The success of the film at the event led Dave to ask if we could take it further. 2.5 years later, and we have "Galileo's Moon."

Dave arranged for quite a few reels of archive film to be transferred to digital video. He had very particular ideas for music, some of which took a lot of time and effort to acquire licences for. My input was twofold. As a professional editor, I could pace the film appropriately and suggest to Dave when something wasn't working. But as an Apollo historian, I knew his mission very well and could pull together sections myself without needing direction, sections that we could later adjust together.

On a few occasions, I could make contributions that leaned heavily on my knowledge of the Apollo 15 photographic archive. One example is the movie of the receding Moon built from images taken by the mapping camera post-TEI.

Another is the lunar orbit sequence. All of the 3,000+ mapping camera images are available online and I had extensively perused that archive. From these, I could build huge panoramas and digitally 'fly' over them. Further, with help from Phil Bearman, a video graphics expert, we used an elevation model of the Moon that is available online and 'draped' these panoramas over it to add the third dimension to these otherwise flat images. Phil could then 'fly' a virtual camera over them to suggest the way that Apollo crews would pitch the CSM to track landmarks. Music by Rodrigo completed what is one of my favourite passages in the film.

"Galileo's Moon" was very much a collaboration between Dave and I. There are aspects of it I would have done different by myself but it was vitally important to me that it be Dave's expression of that period in his life.

posted 01-31-2024 02:27 PM               

My thanks and congratulations to you both, David and Dave Scott, for being committed to making this documentary commemorating this important mission, and as a record of human exploration and achievement. Thanks and congratulations too to Ken MacTaggart and everyone else who had a hand in it.

If I have one minor wish for a Director's Cut*, it would be to have a minute or so to explain the scientific results of both the surface exploration and the orbital and satellite surveys - about anorthosite, mascons, and that sort of thing that laypeople will be able to grasp without needing a geology degree.

But 5 stars, all around. Kudos.