Apollo 11 – Film Notes

50 Years Ago, Man Walked on Moon

Two Americans walked on the moon July 20, 1969. It was not the product of an internet start-up. No one Instagrammed the launch, and hashtags were not used to power the Saturn V rocket. Silicon Valley was just getting off the ground and mainly concerned with transistors. Well before all the “Making the world a better place” and “Do no evil” sideshows.

The Apollo 11 moon landing made the planet a better place by including the world’s population. It connected 14% of the earth’s population; all spellbound, in awe and looking up at the vastness of the universe. Not down, tapping endlessly on glass. For those nine days, time was suspended, and it only resumed once the crew had returned safely to earth.

Todd Douglas Miller’s latest film Apollo 11, compresses this historic mission into a 93 minute visual and audio experience that should not be missed. His work transported me back to that summer. The day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, our family was crowded around a small black and white television inside my uncle’s lake house cabin in Michigan. The film’s simplicity is what gives it such power. Mr. Miller fits together this impressive and what will prove to be durable work from 177 reels of 65-millimeter film NASA had given to the National Archives for safe keeping. Most of the footage were still only color negatives, never processed. There is no written dialogue in this script. The voices we hear are from news broadcasts and 11,000 hours of digitized recordings, meticulously curated by Ben Feist, a NASA researcher. Matt Morton provides the original score, that pounds out an adrenaline heartbeat when the Saturn V engines ignite and then into a spiritual refrain as the Eagle settles in on the Sea of Tranquility.

Apollo 11 begins it’s voyage to the moon

The space program was accelerated out of fear the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union with the launch of Sputnik. Once the U.S. got going there was no stopping us from claiming moon front real estate. President Kennedy’s visionary proclamation sealed the deal.

It wasn’t one rocket launch in a nice tidy package as shown in the film. The moon landing was a carefully designed process that began with the Mercury program, was continued by Gemini, and finally culminated with Apollo 11. Once the uncrewed Apollo missions were complete it was only two and a half years from Apollo 1, which tragically took the lives of astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee in a pre-launch fire, to the moon mission of Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collins. Astonishing that so much could happen so quickly. Apollo was a miracle orchestration of science, technology and human courage driven by the country’s character, and an authentic citizen collectiveness that was not perfect then, but now seems to have gone completely missing.

Crawler-transporter moves Apollo 11 into position

The picture opens with shots of the monstrous crawling machine slowly transporting the Saturn V rocket to launchpad 39A. The juxtaposition of the mechanical crawler carrying a space rocket with over two million computer systems gives us not only the sense of scale, but how far man had come.

There is helicopter footage of people jamming hotels, shopping center parking lots near Cape Kennedy and pitching tents by the water so they could bear witness to the event. America was not all happy and together. The Vietnam War was tearing at the fabric of the country, as was the civil rights struggle. Perhaps Apollo 11 played a significant role in keeping things from disintegrating further.

Damien Chazelle’s excellent film First Man released in 2018 focused primarily on Neil Armstrong and the impact the space program had on the astronauts and their families. It was underrated in my opinion. Taken together, First Man and Apollo 11 provide us with a fuller understanding of what was sacrificed as well as achieved.

The pre-flight scene when the astronauts are suiting up and then making their way to the launch pad gives us a sense of duty everyone was feeling, along with the massive burden. Doing one’s job was never more important than here. You can see in the astronaut’s faces they were fully aware of the seriousness of what they were about to embark on.

Mr. Miller doesn’t tinker with the footage. Instead he smartly lets the story tell itself by focusing on the key chapters of the mission. Superimposing data points like the velocity of the spacecraft, or how much fuel is left in the Lunar Module or the heart rates of the astronauts while descending are his dramatic contributions that remind us this was precise, dangerous and at times violent work.

The care and foresight NASA had to film and preserve that nine days is what made this documentary possible. Except for the clothes and haircuts, the look of the film doesn’t seem 50 years old. The filmmakers must have known immediately what they had when they got their first glimpse of the footage. To their credit, they continued the exactness, respect and creativity shown by all those who took part in the mission.

It might have been beneficial we did not see the footage immediately. We were all in shock for a while and probably would not have appreciated it’s importance. To experience it (re-experience in my case) 50 years later was moving. After seeing what we’ve done with data, digital devices and the internet of things, I am more confident than ever the moon landing achievement eclipses what Silicon Valley has wrought by light years.

Late in the film we see astronaut James Lovell, who was the back-up commander for Apollo 11. He appears several times watching intently at the screens in mission control. Probably reflecting on his Apollo 8 mission that was the first to enter lunar orbit, but unaware he would swap places with the Apollo 14 crew to lead the Apollo 13 mission. “Houston we have a problem.” I met Mr. Lovell several times at his restaurant in Lake Forest, IL. He was always willing to sit and chat. Amazing man.

James Lovell, Jr. (holding coffee cup) in the Control Room during Apollo 11

I was disappointed, but not surprised, the NASA footage did not show any people of color. Thanks to the film Hidden Figures, we know that women, especially African American women, played a significant role in the math behind the rocket science. Katherine Johnson along with many other or her contemporaries, were the “human computers” that propelled the space program. I did see one woman in the footage of Apollo 11. A young white woman, but hoped there would be a wider representation.

SpaceX has rekindled the romance for space travel with their Falcon Heavy rockets and Occupy Mars mantras. Their recent successful docking mission with the International Space Station offers hope. All their flights to date have been unmanned.

Apollo 11 is a valuable history lesson. It reminds us what can happen when a country comes together to tackle something very large. Highly recommended, especially for my millennial readers.

Visit the official Apollo 11 movie web site.

Apollo 11 film exclusive feature on YouTube.

POSTSCRIPT

Although not part of the film, a lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera captured a startling image of the Apollo 11 landing site years later. All of what the Apollo 11 crew left, including footprints, still remain. The astronauts ventured only a few city blocks away from their landing module.

Apollo 11 Landing Site (Image not in the film)

Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age: Book Review.

j9941A search on Amazon of “Nikola Tesla in books” will repaint your browser with 1,872 choices. A Viemo search on Nikola Tesla will yield 552 videos across 56 pages. That’s too much content for me to absorb with my busy schedule so I did what I always do when faced with so many choices. I chose carefully.

My choice was Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson. I selected this book because the author is a professor of science, technology and society and has a long history of being published and well regarded in the technology field. It was a bonus that his three areas of interest, science, technology and society are closely connected to my interests of society, media and technology.

Mr. Carlson is an academic with a strong research ethic and that seemed most appropriate to unpack some of the mysteries of Tesla. I wanted to read through the eyes of a historian who understands technology. I got that in this book.

The book is big at 500 pages including a thorough index. A good index is always a sign of a serious writer. If there is no index in a work of non-fiction then we have been given the right to label him or her as lazy.

I’ve come to realize through the reading of this book and the sampling many others, that Tesla had a magician’s flair trapped inside a brilliant, visionary mind of a meta-physical scientist. I’ll stop short of sorcerer, but part of me thinks he would have liked being placed in that category.

Tesla worked very hard his entire life, tirelessly pursuing his dream to bring wireless power to the world. He was his biggest fan, always looking for just a one more round of funding that would finally close the very narrow gap between his desire and reality. It’s been said that he was ahead of his time. Perhaps he even felt that way.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter – for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

He had a rare condition known as Synesthesia. Synesthesia is a perceptual condition of mixed sensations: a stimulus in one sensory modality (hearing) involuntarily elicits a sensation/experience in another sense (vision). Likewise, perception of a shape (number or letter) may cause an unusual perception in the same sense (color). This allowed him to fully design all the details of an invention in his mind and actually run the test or experiment. Since he was completely clear in his mind he often did not fully document his designs, and so the Tesla archive is not as complete as it is with other inventors.

It was an amazing life for sure, but not one any of us would likely want to lead. He made perhaps the biggest contributions to the world we share today with our indispensable soul mate, electricity. As I read through the book I jotted down a list of Tesla’s major accomplishments.

  • Mastering Alternating Current (AC). Tesla’s inventions drew interest from the likes of George Westinghouse and J.P. Morgan toward him for investment purposes. Edison was not a fan of AC after seeing men electrocuted by its power. Today’s world is electrified by alternating current.
  • Tesla’s input into the Niagara Falls power project led to that team adopting AC as their power choice to send large amounts of power over long distances.
  • Invented the photographic process for producing X-rays (X for unknown) weeks ahead of Wilhelm Roentgen who is officially credited with the invention. Tesla discovered X-ray photography, but failed to realize it at the time.
  • Tesla was the first investigator of electromagnetic waves which was then furthered by Marconi and resulted in the invention of the Radio. Tesla devised circuits using capacitors and coils that improved Marconi’s invention.
  • Other inventions: Induction motor, rotary transformers, high frequency alternators, the Tesla coil, the Tesla oscillator.

The writing of this book is thorough, but dense. The material is very well organized and written in a consistent style throughout, which for a book of this length and a life this diverse is quite an accomplishment. It’s not an breezy read. One must be determined to learn about Tesla to make it through to the end.

Tesla in France
Tesla lecturing at the French Physical Society and International Society of Electricians (Paris, March 1892)

Mr. Carlson takes us back to Tesla’s earliest years. He recounts a difficult childhood that included the tragic loss of a brother and a challenging sickness. Later Tesla began to blossom while attending Joanneum Polytechnic School in Graz, and his first introduction to electricity and motors. One of his professors said of Tesla.

Tesla was peculiar; it was said of him that he wore the same coat for twenty years. But what he lacked in personal magnetism he made up in the perfection of his exposition. I never saw him miss a word or gesture, and his demonstrations and experiments came off with clocklike precision.

From there Tesla never stopped studying and experimenting. It was the age of the dawning of the magician and he fit right in. He would organize elaborate stage productions to showcase his latest inventions, captivating the crowd with his prestidigitation skills and the magic of electricity. He was viewed as a showman. People didn’t fear him but they did consider him a genius which carries with it a certain amount of eccentricity.

Tesla Receiver
Receiver used by Tesla to detect electromagnetic waves (1890)

To the end, Tesla always believed that wireless power was possible. His work at a Colorado Springs laboratory brought him as close as he would ever be to achieving his dream. But he was not a particularly good businessman and despite his abilities for showmanship, it did not translate well into a cogent story or proposal. His genius just wasn’t taken serious.

He was never rich, but his inventions over the years meant he had ongoing but modest royalties that kept him going through the last decade of his life. Sadly he died nearly penniless in room 3327 of The New Yorker Hotel at the age of 86 in 1943. He never married and there is almost no record of his being involved with a woman at any point in his life.

It’s fitting that Tesla Motors, maker of the pre-eminent electric sedan is named for Nikola Tesla. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, is following in the footsteps of Tesla, but doing so with business smarts and Silicon Valley speed. If you want to know more about Nikola Tesla and have some time. I would recommend Mr. Carlson’s book.

Check out my experience as a Tesla Model S Driver here.

Bring on the Electric Car, Now

If you are not familiar with TED you should remedy that immediately. TED stands for technology, entertainment and design. It began in 1984 as an annual conference to bring the brightest minds from these three arenas together. It has mushroomed from there. The site is filled with videos of talks and a community. Check it out.

I was browsing the talks and saw this one by Shai Agassi. Mr. Agassi led the software powerhouse SAP but resigned in 2007 to commit himself to helping the world break it’s fossil fuel habit. He speaks about how it’s definitely possible to bring an electric car to the world. Fascinating viewing.

CERN to Send First Beam of Protons Through Collider

As mentioned in an earlier post here, the European Organization for Nuclear Research has been building a massive particle collider over the last 14 years at a cost of $8 billion. It is now complete and ready to be placed into service.

Some think these experiments could cause dark matter to envelope the earth and end life. Others are not so inclined. No matter. The collider is on line and will begin firing protons at 3:30 am Eastern time on September 10th.

The first beam is essentially a dress rehearsal, as protons will simply be sent around the track. Kind of like the Indy 500 time trials. Eventually scientists will ramp up the technology over the next few weeks to five trillion electron volts and cause them to collide. They are looking to recreate the temperature conditions as near to the Big Bang as possible. You can follow it here

Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist, has an interesting blog here about the goings on at CERN. Let the games begin.

Breaking News: Earth on Course to Destruction

Two stories about the possible destruction of earth caught my eye last week. Guess my brain was looking for something new to worry about. One story said the destruction could potentially be caused by man’s experiments, and the story documented that our planet’s death is inevitable, as nature and physics go about business as usual.

First Story: The End of the Earth
It seems that two men in Hawaii are trying to stop the European Center for Nuclear Research from making their giant particle accelerator operational. The men claim the proton smashing experiments could produce a black hole that would devour the earth. The other possible scenario (they only have two?) states a “strangelet” could be created, reducing the planet to “strange matter.” Strange matter indeed.

The collider has taken 14 years to design and build at a cost of over $8 billion. I don’t think a lawsuit is going to stop anyone at this point. Do we actually believe that responsible physicists would knowingly put our planet at risk so they could get published in Scientific American? Well, I guess we don’t know they’re responsible. Just good at smashing things on a way big scale.

collider.jpgPhoto Credit: Valerio Mezzanotti – The New York Times

Hello gentlemen in Hawaii. I have some questions for you guys who seem to have a handle on this issue.

  • How long would it take for the black hole to eat us? I mean how much time do I really have? A Day, years? I still haven’t visited Alaska.
  • Will it hurt or will death be instantaneous? Or, will it be a super rush?
  • Since the collider is in Geneva, does Europe go first?

If it does come about I’ll look pretty silly now won’t I. It will be a cool show for those orbiting in the International Space Station.

Second Story: The End of the Earth… Again
Our solar system has a basic problem. The sun is growing bigger and brighter over time. And by time I don’t mean a decade or two. In roughly a billion years from now the sun will be 10 percent brighter than it is today. May not sound like a lot, but it will be enough to boil the oceans away. The story went on to describe other details, but do we really need to know more than that?

105694main_sun1.jpg
Photo Credit: NASA

So there you have it. Just when we thought the war, the sub-prime crisis, Bear Stearns implosion and our depressed economic state wasn’t enough to get us down. It can always be worse.

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