In the Shadow of the Moon

Fifty years ago, people around the world stood in the streets and looked up at a trail of light moving across the night sky. They were marvelling at seeing Sputnik, the first vehicle to orbit the world in space. It seemed to be an extraordinary achievement.

Only twelve years later an estimated 400 million people watched the live broadcast of an astronaut setting foot on the moon. Only twenty-four human beings have flown to or around the moon, looked back, and seen Earth as a small blue sphere in the blackness of space. Their numbers are dwindling. Of the twelve who walked on the moon's surface, only nine are alive today, and the youngest is seventy-one.

In the Shadow of the Moon (David Sington, 2007) is a 96-minute documentary on the Apollo program that achieved the first moon landing in 1969. It comprises interviews with ten of the astronauts from the Apollo space program between 1961 and 1972. This includes eight of the nine men who are still alive and who walked on the moon.

The interviews are supported by amazing footage, much of it never seen before, shot by the Apollo astronauts or by fixed cameras within the spacecraft.

The film records a significant period of human history, and celebrates the magnificent achievements of humans, science and technology of that time.