Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

   The passing of the first man on the moon caused me to think about how important Neil Armstrong was to motion pictures. The origins of cinema’s relationship to human space travel dates back to 1902, when Georges Melies created The Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune). The movie was loosely based on two popular novels of the time:  From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verneand H. G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon. It was named as one of the hundred greatest films of the 20th century byThe Village Voice.

   A Korean War veteran, Neil Armstrong was one of the initial test pilots tapped to become an astronaut. The exploits of these space pioneers are chronicled in the 1983 movie The Right Stuff. Though Neil was not personally featured, the story of his comrades called the Mercury Seven were chronicled. They included Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Wally Schirra, Gus Grissom, and Deke Slayton. 

   The Apollo 11 mission was the famous goal set by President Kennedy’s proclamation for an astronaut to set foot on the moon by the end of the decade  (1960s). When The Eagle landed on July 21st, 1969, the television and radio audience was estimated globally at 450 million at the moment when Armstrong made his famous walk.

                     NEIL ARMSTRONG

   Apollo 11’s flight to the moon has not been made into a Hollywood movie. However. the Apollo 13 mission became a cinematic classic. Neil Armstrong was portrayed as one of the astronauts supporting the combined efforts of NASA’s Mission Control.

   Like John Glenn, and other pioneering astronauts, Neil Armstrong will always be considered an American hero. He’s made one more flight to the heavens. His legacy is in tact.

   Neil Armstrong was 82.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2012 at 3:05 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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