In 1965, after the Soviets complete the first extravehicular activity (EVA), Armstrong is informed that he will command Gemini 8, with David Scott as the pilot. Prior to the mission, See and Charles Bassett are killed in a T-38 crash, deepening Armstrong's grief at the string of recent losses. Armstrong and Scott successfully launch on Gemini 8 and dock with the Agena target vehicle, but soon afterward, a malfunction causes the spacecraft to roll at an increasingly dangerous rate. After nearly blacking out, Armstrong activates the RCS thrusters and safely aborts the mission. He initially faces criticism, but NASA determines the crew is not at fault and the mission is rated a "success".
Later, White reveals that he has been selected for the Apollo 1 mission, along with Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee. During a launch rehearsal test on January 27, 1967, a fire kills White and the Apollo 1 crew. Armstrong learns the news while representing NASA at the White House. The next year, after Armstrong ejects from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle in an accident that could have killed him, Slayton informs Armstrong that he has been selected to command Apollo 11, which will likely attempt the first lunar landing. As the mission nears, Neil becomes increasingly preoccupied and emotionally distant from his family. Prior to the launch, Janet confronts Armstrong about the possibility that he might not survive the flight and insists that he explain the risks of the mission to their young sons. After telling them about the risks he faces, Armstrong says goodbye to his family.
[Movie] First Man
The pressure suits used in the film were made by prop maker Ryan Nagata. His work on the film includes the A/P22S-2 worn in the beginning of the movie, the ejection seat harness on the Gemini suits, and the gloves used on the Lunar Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) scene along with the Communications Carrier Assembly or "Snoopy cap", and a urine collection device. The Gemini, Apollo I, and Apollo A7L suits were made by Global Effects Inc, and were used throughout the section of the movie devoted to Apollo 11.[25]
On August 31, 2018, it was reported that the film would not include a scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag on the Moon. Florida Senator Marco Rubio described the omission as "total lunacy". Chazelle responded with a statement, saying: "I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments [...] that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America's mission to the Moon."[63] United States President Donald Trump commented on the omission: "It's almost like they're embarrassed at the achievement coming from America, I think it's a terrible thing. When you think of Neil Armstrong and when you think of the landing on the moon, you think about the American flag. For that reason, I wouldn't even want to watch the movie."[64] Following the film's below-expectations opening of $16 million, some analysts speculated that the flag controversy was in part to blame.[40][41][65]
The movie depicts the cockpit, instrument panels and switches of both Gemini 8 and the Lunar Module to be grimy and even rusted. All early spacecraft were pristine, single-use ships that had never been flown before. According to Jim Lovell, they even had something of a new-car smell.[70]
Armstrong learns in the same conversation that he will command Apollo 11 and become the first man on the Moon. Apollo astronauts were assigned to their crews sometimes years in advance. For the two-plus years leading up to Apollo 11 it was assumed that the first lunar landing would not be attempted until Apollo 12, 13 or even 14.[70]
If you want to get an almost first-person sense of what it felt like to fly in one of the earliest supersonic planes or ride a rocket into orbit and beyond, "First Man" is the movie to see. More so than other films about the US space program, including "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13," it makes the experience seem more wild and scary than grand, like being in the cab of a runaway truck as it smashes through a guardrail and tumbles down the side of a mountain.
Every now and then, the movie lets you know that other things were going on in 1960s America besides a race to beat the Soviets to the moon. A brief sequence near the midpoint shows that many African-Americans (who were behind the scenes participants in the space program, as "Hidden Figures" showed, but weren't allowed in planes and rockets) thought the Apollo missions were an expensive distraction from the fight for racial and economic equality on the ground. Much of the white political left and some women felt the same, even when they were inspired by the astronauts' bravery. We get hints of this disquiet in conversations and TV images alluding to Vietnam and social protest, and in glimpses of astronauts' wives stewing in the shadows while their husbands claim the spotlight. Chazelle and Singer deserve credit for allowing notes of national unease to creep into the story; it helps make "First Man" feel truer to the period than other movies about the US space program (although, for its totality of vision, the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" is superior).
The only actor besides Gosling who makes a strong impression is Corey Stoll as Neil's future Apollo 11 capsule-mate Buzz Aldrin. The character is presented as a wry, talkative fellow who can access his own emotional interior, knows he's handsome and charming, and enjoys acting the role of the cocky space pilot when TV cameras are pointed at him. Neil respects Buzz but sometimes seems annoyed by how comfortable he is in his own skin. Whenever they share the screen, Chazelle and Singer veer a little too close to endorsing the idea that emotional constipation equals manly virtue. If the movie didn't suggest that Neil's stoic nature and suppressed grief make him resent anyone who seems happy, "First Man" might've come across as validating the notion that, after all these decades, the strong, silent type is still the masculine ideal. The first man was, after all, a caveman.
Chazelle is an extremely visceral director, more in the mold of a technically adept big-screen showman like Robert Zemeckis ("Contact," "Flight") than the gritty '70s character-driven filmmakers that he cites as heroes during interviews. The musical scenes in "Whiplash" were so intense that they sometimes made you feel as if you were trapped inside a drum during a solo. The large-scale action scenes in "First Man" play like the most hellish amusement park ride ever, so unrelenting that you'll wonder how long you'd have been able to endure the real thing without giving up and pressing the "Eject" button. The three stars at the top of this review are for Chazelle and Sandgren's visuals, Gosling's internalized but rarely mannered acting, the script's ability to communicate Neil's buried emotions without dialogue, and the bowel-rattling sound design. If you watch it in IMAX, add half a star but make sure not to eat beforehand. If you see the movie at night, you may glance up at the moon afterward and realize that it's nice to look at, but you'd never want to go there.
The film is based on the non-fiction book "First Man," which was published by Armstrong's official biographer James Hansen 13 years ago. Nearly everything chronicled in the film is true (aside from the Hollywood makeup, perhaps), including Armstrong's near-death experience while training to fly the moon lander and the death of a good friend who was chosen for the first Apollo mission.
The Russians launched Sputnik, the first satellite, in 1957. Then they sent dogs Belka and Strelka into space in 1960, and hit the moon first with the Luna probes. The nation was also the first to put people in space: Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. Alexei Lenov did the first spacewalk in 1965.
Parents need to know that First Man is Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle's (La La Land) serious, fact-based movie about legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong. It's set during the tumultuous decade leading up to Armstrong's historic Apollo 11 moon mission. Ryan Gosling stars as Armstrong, the smart, brave, determined, extremely stoic engineer-pilot-astronaut who persevered to eventually become the first person to walk on the moon. Along the way, he and NASA must weather life-threatening situations including mission failures, dangerous test flights, and even the death of valued team members -- but this is more of an artful character study than an Apollo 13-style thriller. Expect social drinking, chain smoking, infrequent but memorable swearing (including "s--t," "damn," and one "f---ing"), and several tense, sad scenes of characters in peril. A child's death isn't shown, but the impact is clear. Claire Foy co-stars as Armstrong's wife, Janet, who has a larger role here than many "NASA wives" in similarly themed films. Some scenes were shot with a handheld camera in a way that can be jarring.
FIRST MAN is Academy Award-winning Damien Chazelle's biopic about Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling). It takes place between 1961 and 1969, the years that took Armstrong from being a test pilot in California to a pioneering NASA astronaut in Houston to the first person to walk on the moon. While he's still flying planes in the Mojave desert, Neil and his wife, Janet (Claire Foy), experience the loss of their second child, Karen, who dies from brain cancer. Neil is then hired to officially join NASA's space program in Houston. There, he and Janet befriend the other astronauts, like Ed White (Jason Clarke), Elliott See (Patrick Fugit), and Jim Lovell (Pablo Schreiber), and their families as the men embark on often dangerous missions leading up to the race to the moon.
Gosling gives a fabulous performance as the thoughtful, intelligent space pioneer in this intimate, visceral, serious biopic. Chazelle's adaptation of James R. Hansen's First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is an up close and personal exploration of Armstrong's life in the 1960s. The movie opens with a bumpy, hair-raising, dizzying test flight on the rocket-powered X-15 -- a scene that's contrasted with a heartbreaking sequence in which it's clear that Neil's little girl is sick. After her death, Neil can't allow anyone to see him break down, and that stoicism about loss continues throughout the years as he survives the death of fellow pilots and astronauts who weren't just colleagues but close friends. Gosling is a masterful actor: one who never overacts and seems to truly understand the art of subtlety. It helps that Armstrong isn't an alpha male space cowboy or an ambitious extrovert like Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll); he's humble, hardworking, and at times emotionally distant. 2ff7e9595c
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