Space Race

NASA was created in 1958 with a mandate to inform the public, and it took that seriously: every programme had a film unit, and everything those units made is a U.S. Government work in the public domain. Add the Universal newsreels of the same years and you can watch the entire race as its audience did.

The shock comes first. "Moon" Is Born (July 1957) proudly previews America's Project Vanguard; three months later New Moon reports the launch of Sputnik, and by 1958 the Russians are exhibiting it abroad. Project Mercury answers: Freedom 7 (1961) covers Alan Shepard's fifteen-minute suborbital hop and Friendship 7 (1962) John Glenn's three orbits. In September 1962 the newsreel Kennedy Tour records the President telling Houston that the nation will go to the Moon.

The middle years belong to Gemini and to the test flights. Assignment: Shoot the Moon (1967) explains the unmanned Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter missions that mapped the landing sites; The Flight of Apollo 7 (1968) is the first crewed Apollo flight; Apollo 8: Go for TLI and Debrief: Apollo 8 (1969) cover the Christmas 1968 circumnavigation and the Genesis reading.

Then the landing. The Eagle Has Landed: The Flight of Apollo 11 (1969) is NASA's official account; the Apollo 11 16 mm onboard film is the raw magazine footage from the Data Acquisition Camera, including the descent seen through Aldrin's window. Moonwalk One (1970), Theo Kamecke's feature-length documentary commissioned by NASA, is the artistic response, and Houston, We've Got a Problem (1972) the official retelling of Apollo 13.

The Reel closes with the onboard film of Apollo 15 and 16, Skylab: Space Station I (1973), and The Time of Apollo (1975), NASA's own retrospective, narrated by Burgess Meredith. The Mercury/Gemini/Apollo overview reel is included for editors who need a single summary.