VIDEO: NASA Helps Bring Story of Historic Moon Landing, Neil Armstrong to Younger Generations

By  //  October 14, 2018

'First Man' tells the story of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 moon landing

ABOVE VIDEO: The first steps on the Moon – fueled by a national will to excel – marked a turning point for America and humanity as a whole. At the core of that historic moment, however, lay the story of one man whose strength, perseverance and personal conviction brought him to the moment his foot would leave the indelible and iconic imprint on the lunar surface.

(NASA) – The first steps on the Moon – fueled by a national will to excel – marked a turning point for America and humanity as a whole. At the core of that historic moment, however, lay the story of one man whose strength, perseverance and personal conviction brought him to the moment his foot would leave the indelible and iconic imprint on the lunar surface.

The movie First Man tells the story of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 moon landing, one of NASA’s most notable figures and one of the agency’s crowning achievements, is the foundation of NASA’s legacy of monumental achievements in exploration and discovery.

NASA first began collaborating with the film’s screenwriter, Josh Singer, in December 2014. Since then, NASA provided technical expertise and access to agency facilities for research and filming in order to lend more accuracy and authenticity to the film. Some scenes were shot at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at historic sites like the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Operations and Checkout Building.

The crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, led by mission Commander Neil Armstrong, leave the Kennedy Space Center’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building during the prelaunch countdown on July 16, 1969. Armstrong is followed by crewmates Michael Collins, command module pilot, and Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot. (NASA image)

The First Man cast and production team also made several visits to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, to learn about Armstrong’s career as a test pilot, his role in the early days of human spaceflight, and NASA’s bold and determined efforts to put an American on the Moon.

NASA provided tours of facilities such as Mission Control Center and the Lunar Curation Facility at Johnson, where they learned about Moon rocks, and how they were collected and maintained. While at Johnson, they also tried on space suits and experienced weightlessness on the Active Response Gravity Offload System.

A still image from the 2018 Universal Pictures movie First Man, filmed at the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, depicts this scene with actor Ryan Gosling portraying Armstrong. (NASA image)

The production team spent time learning the historical aspects through one-on-one discussions with historians at Johnson and Armstrong, and NASA Chief Historian Bill Barry, as well as Apollo flight directors and current NASA employees and staff.

Both the cast and production team had the chance to interact with current and former astronauts who were able to provide first-hand accounts of their experiences in space.

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