'' For All Mankind '' is a 1989

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

made of original footage from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's Apollo program, which successfully prepared and landed the first humans on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

from 1968 to 1972. It was directed by

Al Reinert Al Reinert (1947 – December 31, 2018) was an American journalist, film director, screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Ron Howard film ''Apollo 13'' and '' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within'', but is best known for dir ...

, with music by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

. The film, consisting of footage from

Apollo 7 Apollo 7 (October 1122, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on Ja ...

through

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

, was assembled to depict what seems like a single trip to the Moon, highlighting the beauty and otherworldliness of the images by only using audio from the interviews Reinert conducted with Apollo crew members.

Production

The idea for this documentary film began in 1979 after Reinert researched a story about the Apollo program for ''Texas Monthly'' and learned that huge amounts of high-quality footage had been shot by the

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, only to be archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Although he initially thought that making a documentary about the missions would be relatively straightforward, it would be ten years before the final film was released. Reinert and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of footage and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary. To copy the original film held at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

, Reinert had to take an optical printer and scan each frame from the original 16mm film and enlarge to 35mm. It took him 18 months to copy the 80 minutes of film used in the documentary. Most of the footage used is of the astronauts and mission control during the Apollo program, but Reinert also used some footage from

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

, such as Ed White's spacewalk from

Gemini 4 Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the second crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth crewed American spaceflight (in ...

and a shot used to represent

Trans Lunar Injection A trans-lunar injection (TLI) is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory that will cause it to arrive at the Moon. History The first space probe to attempt TLI was the Soviet Union's Luna 1 on January 2, 1959 which w ...

(TLI) that is in fact footage of a Gemini mission

re-entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

. Thirteen of the original Apollo astronauts were interviewed by Reinert. Among those providing narration are

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of th ...

(

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...

and

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

(

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

), Charles Conrad (

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

), Jack Swigert (

), and

Ken Mattingly Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II (born March 17, 1936) is an American former aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, rear admiral in the United States Navy and astronaut who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. Mattingly had b ...

(

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

Title

The title of ''For All Mankind'' comes from the

lunar plaque The Lunar plaques are stainless steel commemorative plaques measuring attached to the ladders on the descent stages of the United States Apollo Lunar Modules flown on lunar landing missions Apollo 11 through Apollo 17, to be left permanently on t ...

left by the

astronauts:

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.

The excerpt of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

's Address to Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort on 12 September 1962 that is included in the film is slightly altered to better conform to this title. Kennedy said:

The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join it or not, and it is one of the greatest adventures of all time ... We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used ''for all people'' ... We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard ....

Reinert dubbed over "people" with "mankind", the audio of which was taken from a different Kennedy speech.

Specific views

Several unusual or memorable views are included: * The fires of the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

tribes in the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

desert, seen as dots of light in the extreme darkness. * Sunrise over the edge of the Earth. * A space-walk floating in silence over the Earth, despite travelling at 25,000 miles per hour. * A floating tape recorder providing music to the astronauts during periods of weightlessness, in particular when playing the theme from the 1968 film, '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. * The first picture of the Earth seen as a whole circle from space "floating in a blackness beyond perception". * Trying to prevent food from floating off during meals. * The first close-up pictures of the Moon. * Travelling around the far side of the Moon, including the "Earthrise" as our planet came back into view. * The

Apollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

calmly drifting down at a low angle to the surface of the Moon, then burning its engines for a more vertical landing. * Touchdown in the Sea of Tranquility: "The Eagle has landed." * The first footstep onto the Moon by

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

. *

David Scott David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and c ...

dropping a feather and a hammer on the Moon to prove

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

's prediction that, if there is no atmosphere, any two objects dropped from the same height at the same time will hit the ground together. * Erecting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the Moon. * Gathering rocks and soil samples from the surface of the Moon. * An astronaut tripping and speculating on his vulnerability should the suit be ruptured. * Astronauts singing and hopping around on the lunar surface.

Soundtrack

The film's original score was written, produced, and performed by

, his brother

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

and

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...

and released as an album entitled '' Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks'' in 1983 (at that time, the planned film project was named ''Apollo''). By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the tracks included on the album had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists. These additional tracks can be found on the album ''

Music for Films III ''Music for Films III'' is the third entry in Brian Eno's "Music for Films" series. Unlike entries in the past, this record features tracks credited to Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, and Harold Budd among others, with Brian Eno involved ...

''.

Home media

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

released ''For All Mankind'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in 2000 and on both DVD and

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

in 2009 and once again in 2022. Both releases feature two subtitle tracks, the first of which displays the name of the mission each shot came from and the name of each person shown on screen and the second of which also contains traditional

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

for the hard-of-hearing, which specify the name of each person heard on the soundtrack. They both also include a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of

and the last man to stand on the surface of the Moon. The 2009 release also includes a

making-of In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) vid ...

documentary and several other

featurettes In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

Awards and nominations

''For All Mankind'' was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

in 1990. At the 1989

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, ''For All Mankind'' won both the Grand Jury Prize Documentary and Audience Award Documentary. It won the International Documentary Association's Best Feature Award in 1989.

References

External links

* * * *
''For All Mankind: A Trip to the Moon''
an essay by

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

Interview with Al Reinert
in ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

''
Excerpt
{{end 1989 documentary films 1989 films American documentary films Collage film Documentary films about the space program of the United States Films about astronauts Films about the Apollo program Films shot in space Films shot in Texas Sundance Film Festival award winners 1980s English-language films 1980s American films