From the Earth to the Moon - "We interrupt this program"

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the eighth episode of the acclaimed twelve-part HBO television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon - - "We interrupt this program".

Apollo 13 Mission Patch

 

This episode covers the perilous flight of Apollo 13 entirely from the ground point of view; the astronauts are only heard on radio. Veteran TV spaceflight reporter Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith) is summoned to broadcast the breaking news of the in-flight failure, as young reporter Brett Hutchings (Jay Mohr) is pulled off of sports to help with the coverage. As the crisis unfolds, Seaborn finds himself at odds with Hutchings' style of sensationalizing its impact on the astronauts' families, and criticizing NASA. Seaborn starts to feel he is being marginalized when the network decides to leave Hutchings on location in Houston, while sending him back to headquarters to provide only background coverage. The last straw falls when, after the successful recovery of the astronauts, Hutchings horns in on his traditional post-flight interview with flight controller Gene Kranz. Seaborn leaves dejectedly, not to be seen again until the flight of Apollo 17 in the final episode.

Crew of Apollo 13 Left to right: Lovell, Swigert, Haise

Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the Moon, but a mid-mission oxygen tank rupture caused sufficient damage to force the lunar landing to be aborted. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell, with John L. "Jack" Swigert command module pilot, and Fred W. Haise lunar module pilot.

 

From The Earth to the Moon (the Signature Edition) is available on DVD from Amazon .com.

From the Earth to the Moon - "We interrupt this program"

from the earth to the moon e08 we interrupt... by lancegoodthrust19

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