Philip Gibson

When Men Walked On The Moon Philip Gibson

On 16 July, 1969, 500 million people worldwide watched in nervous anticipation as the three astronauts of Apollo 11 set off to attempt the first mission to put men on the Moon. The aim of this screenplay, and thus, hopefully, the eventual movie, is to put us back in time and present the drama of each crucial moment of the mission as if we are part of that global audience and are witnessing the events in real time. In 1969, most people following the mission were well aware that there was so much that could go catastrophically wrong at any stage of the mission. The pilot of the lunar module, Buzz Aldrin himself, rated the chances of the mission being successful at only 50/50. There has never been a full-length feature movie made about the Apollo 11 mission. Now that the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing is nearly upon us, wouldn't it be great if there were one? This is my modest attempt to instigate the making of such a movie. This screenplay is based on actual astronauts' accounts, NASA audio recordings of the fascinating continuing communications with the astronauts, broadcasts of all the major TV networks covering the mission, and the thoughts of many expert and laypeople observers.