History Series / FromTheEarthToTheMoon

* Part 6: ''Mare Tranquilitatis''. The flight of Apollo 11, leading to man's first steps on the Moon.

* Part 9: ''For Miles and Miles''. Follows Alan Shepard, from being grounded after his first 15 minute Mercury flight because of an inner ear problem that gave him vertigo, to his return to flight status, and the flight of Apollo 14.

* AllThereInTheManual: Al Bean explains how he smuggled a self-timer onto the Apollo 12 mission so he could take pictures with both astronauts in them. However, no explanation is offered for why he didn't simply ask to take the self-timer along. In reality Al wanted to screw with the photo analysts; since he smuggled it aboard it didn't appear in the list of on-board equipment, so the analysts would have no idea how they managed to take the pictures.

** Pete Conrad was a consummate goof who made sure that everyone around him was laughing and having a good time. He was actually cut from the first pool of astronaut applicants because his flippant methods of coping with the stresses examiners put on him made him "unsuitable for long-duration flight". He was also a navy test pilot who, when he was younger, had learned to work around his dyslexia so well that he went to [[IvyLeagueForEveryone Princeton]] on a full scholarship. He became the inspiration for [[VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram Jeb Kerman]].

* BreatherEpisode: "That's All There Is," about Apollo 12, lacks the drama of either the previous episode ("Mare Tranquilitatis" about Apollo 11) or the following episode. ("We Interrupt This Program..." about Apollo 13) It helps that the flight was flown by three men who decidedly were ''not'' of the serious mold.

** The Lunar Rovers that flew with Apollos 15, 16 and 17.

* DangerDeadpan: Several examples, none of which are very surprising since most of the astronauts are military test pilots and therefore good at reacting calmly to unexpected problems. The astronauts have also gone through countless simulated emergencies on the ground before their missions ("Mare Tranquilitatis" depicts some of those simulations).

** Other episodes such as ''Apollo 1'' use monochrome to indicate a past event with the "present day" (1967) scenes being in colour.

* FamousForBeingFirst: In the episode dealing with Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin is shown as being very concerned with who will actually be the first to exit the LEM and stand on the surface of the moon. Deke Slayton eventually settles the matter by deciding on Neil Armstrong, he's the commander and based on where they'll be seated in the LEM, it makes the most sense for him to get out first.

** "Mare Tranquilitatus" introduces the episode with Emmet Seaborn interviewing the Apollo 11 crew and flashing back to the topics he questions them about (eg the lunar simulators, Collins being alone in the command module).

** Armstrong (cool, rational and unflappable) is the Superego.

** Collins (always friendly, encouraging and uncomplaining) is the Ego.
* GallowsHumor: Tom Kelly certainly tries once it becomes apparent the Lunar module is behind schedule and he'll likely face the wrath of NASA and his bosses for the delays, joking his team had better give him some good news or he'll taking money from the safe and fleeing to South America. Unfortunately, they can't and his humour fades. When his NumberTwo jokingly suggests Bolivia as an escape destination, a dejected Kelly replies things are so screwed up for them [[SubvertedTrope he can't even laugh about it]].
* HappilyEverBefore: "We Have Cleared the Tower" ends with the successful launch of Apollo 7, but doesn't depict the actual mission. Schirra's disagreements over equipment issues and the flight plan beforehand are shown, as are some of the interpersonal issues like Eisele's extramarital affair. What's left out is that Schirra developed a head cold while in orbit and his sour mood affected the other two to such an extent that after numerous arguments with Mission Control Chris Kraft vowed that none of them would ever go into space again. (Schirra had already planned to retire, but for Cunningham and Eisele, this would be their first and last flight.)

* KickedUpstairs: "Apollo 1" has Joe Shea, director of the Apollo Space Program, being "promoted" to Washington to assist in making policy in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire, but it's really a move to keep him out of the way of the congressional investigation into the accident.[[note]]Those reponsible feel terrible about this, but are legitimately worried about the congressional grilling driving the emotionally fragile Shea to suicide.[[/note]] Once he's in his new job, he realizes he has no responsibilities there and eventually moves on to the private sector.

* ManlyTears: After the Apollo 1 fire Harrison Storms, head of the team at North American Aviation that built the Command Module, is seen crying uncontrollably.

** He does the reverse later in the episode during a meeting to assess the readiness of the LM for the Apollo 8 flight (The LM stood no chance of being ready in time so Apollo 8 was reconfigured to be a CSM-only lunar orbit mission and the LM was bumped to Apollo 9). After starting the meeting with a joke about raiding the company's assets for money to use to flee to South America the various engineers start reporting in that they're just not ready and begin throwing in suggestions as to which country he ought to flee to.

** There was some concern at [=NASA=] that the Apollo 14 crew was made up ''entirely'' of rookies. (Many didn't think that Shepard's previous 15 minute Mercury flight qualified him as an experienced commander.)

* RealPersonCameo: The real Gunther Wendt, long-time pad leader and safety advocate for most of the flights during the race, appears as an anonymous flight controller in the background of a scene in "We Have Cleared the Tower," reviewing a flight plan with Deke Slayton, while his cinematic counterpart is busy closing out the spacecraft in preparation for launch. Wendt was also one of the series's advisors.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Stormy is removed from North American's aerospace division and moved to another, less prominent one after the failure of Apollo I and the CEO of the company deciding to take all the blame.

* RunningGag: Alan Bean and his trouble with cameras. First, he accidentally breaks the TV camera by pointing it at the sun. Then a plan to take a photo of both him and Pete Conrad on the Moon using an automatic timer (which would have befuddled the people back home, if both the astronauts are in the shot who took the photo?) is aborted when he loses the timer. When they do find the timer towards the end of the second moonwalk he's too exhausted to think to actually use it and just tosses it away. Finally, a camera he hadn't properly secured bangs into his head and briefly knocks him out upon splashdown. He takes up drawing and painting shortly after.

* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: Causes some anger in Buzz Aldrin, who is fully aware that whoever gets out of the LM first will go down in history. Neil Armstrong doesn't appear to care one way or the other and just follows Deke Slayton's orders. Ultimately Aldrin decides that whoever steps onto the planet first, he and Armstrong landed at the same time.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Admittedly the show takes pains to be as realistic as possible, but in ''We Interrupt This Program'' Emmett Seaborn (created especially for the show) is gruff and dismissive of his NewMedia bosses as he chases the Apollo 13 story. At the end they punish him by giving his interview with Gene Kranz to scummy new journalist Hutchings without telling him. How they do it is incredibly [[KickTheDog nasty]], but antagonizing your bosses needlessly, even if you're a respected veteran, is very unlikely to end well in just about any profession.

* XanatosGambit: When Armstrong and Aldrin are in the simulator and the training team decides to simulate a loss of altitude. Aldrin points out to Armstrong that they're losing altitude, but Armstrong doesn't report it to Houston. Finally they crash into the "moon", ''breaking the simulator''. Later that night, Aldrin is pissed that it will go down in the log as a crew failure, until Armstrong explains to him that he wanted to see what would happen if he didn't report on something he knew mission control had to be aware of: would they tell him anyway? If they had told him he could have responded, but since they didn't, they now know that they ought to.

* XanatosGambit: When Armstrong and Aldrin are in the simulator and the training team decides to make the simulator start losing height. Aldrin points out to Armstrong that they're losing height, but Armstrong doesn't report it to Houston. Finally they crash into the "moon", ''breaking the simulator''. Later that night, Aldrin is pissed that it will go down in the log as a crew failure, until Armstrong explains to him that he wanted to see what would happen if he didn't report on something he knew mission control had to be aware of: would they tell him anyway? If they had told him he could have responded, but since they didn't, they now know that they ought to.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Lee Silver and Farouk El-Baz to [=NASA=] actually trained the Apollo ''13'' crew, but they obviously had no chance to put their geology skills to use, and geology was not included in Apollo 14's mission due to Shepherd's disinterest. For the series, Jack Schmitt is shown contacting Silver specifically to prepare 15's crew.

* CharacterNarrator: In "That's All There Is", Al Bean serves as the narrator.

* ConspicuousCGI: On modern screens, the exterior shot of Apollo 7's capsule atop the Saturn IB looks like it's from a video game.

* MrSmith: "Can We Do This?" features a scene in which a series of newly recruited astronauts check into a hotel under an obvious pseudonym - [[RefugeInAudacity the same obvious pseudonym.]] Spoofed moments later when, after a round of introductions[[note]]using their real names[[/note]] the last person to go uses the alias and quips, "What good are code names if we don't get to use them?" Cue a second round of introductions, with everyone introducing themselves as "John Smith".

-->'''Deke:''' [''wryly''] [[DrowningMySorrows I'm drunk.]]

-->'''[=McDivitt=]''': But you guys are right: it's a lot for one mission, maybe too much. We get even half of it done, we can call it a success. I can't wait!

-->'''Pete Conrad:''' [on taking his first steps on the Moon] ''Yipee!'' That may have been a small one for Neil, but it was a big one for me![[note]]TruthInTelevision: Those were his ExactWords when he stepped on the Moon. And Pete Conrad is ''not'' a tall man; one of the reasons [[TheOtherDarrin they swapped Peter Scolari out for Paul McCrane]]. Conrad later claimed that he said those words as part of a bet with an Italian journalist to prove to her that astronauts weren't given scripted lines in advance. He also claimed that she never paid up.[[/note]]

--> '''Schmitt''': You've seen one Earth, you've seen them all.

---> '''Tom Kelly''': You know this is so bad I can't even joke about it.

--> "What the fuck happened up there?"

-->'''Emmett Seaborn''': Man has traversed the reaches of outer space, and that man is a Communist.

-->'''Armstrong''': Buzz, sims are for learning. We had four successful aborts before that one. I wanted to see what would happen if we waited for Houston. If it was anyone's failure, it was theirs, not ours. If you're worried we'll catch hell for it, I'll tell everyone the score, but there's no point in rubbing Gene's nose in it. He knows what happened.

-->'''Scott:''' A lens, ''and'' a hammer! [''big grin'']

* {{Expy}}: "Emmett Seaborn" is quite obviously supposed to be Creator/WalterCronkite, providing commentary and exposition in situations where using actual archival news footage wouldn't have been practical. An interesting variant in that the real Kronkite briefly appears a few times in actual news reports that segue into Seaborn's segments.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Admittedly the show takes pains to be as realistic as possible, but in ''We Interrupt This Program'' Cronkite {{Expy}} Emmett Seaborn (created especially for the show) is gruff and dismissive of his NewMedia bosses as he chases the Apollo 13 story. At the end they punish him by giving his interview with Gene Kranz to scummy new journalist Hutchings without telling him. How they do it is incredibly [[KickTheDog nasty]], but antagonizing your bosses needlessly, even if you're a respected veteran, is very unlikely to end well in just about any profession.

** Grumman builds the LM in sync with the music of ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', Tom Kelly jokes about digging a tunnel, likes to bounce balls against a wall and gets compared to Creator/SteveMcQueenActor by a colleague.

** As Apollo 13 nears re-entry, various officials argue about which politician will make the opeming statement of the post-mission press conference. PR rep Hal Deacon shuts them all down by asking who'll go first if the crew ''don't'' survive the landing.

** When Senator Mondale abruptly asks Frank Borman if Gus Grissom really hung a lemon on the Apollo 1 capsule, Borman stops dead in his testimony. It takes him a moment to answer with "You had to know Gus."

-->"You wouldn't know a regolithic basalt if it fell on your head!"

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: At a bar after the Apollo 1 fire, Deke Slayton says he's worried about how Joe Shea is handling it. Frank Borman's reply is to ask how ''Deke'' is handling it.

* GallowsHumor: Tom Kelly certainly tries once it becomes apparent the Lunar module is behind schedule and he'll likely face the wrath of NASA and his bosses for the delays, joking his team had better give him some good news or he'll taking money from the safe and fleeing to South America. Unfortunately, they can't and his humour fades. When his NumberTwo jokingly suggests Bolivia as an escape destination, a dejected Kelly replies things are so screwed up for them he can't even laugh about it.

* HappilyEverBefore: "We Have Cleared the Tower" ends with the successful launch of Apollo 7, but doesn't depict the actual mission. Schirra's disagreements over equipment issues and the flight plan beforehand are shown, as are some of the interpersonal issues like Eisele's extramarital affair. What's left out is that Schirra developed a head cold while in orbit and his sour mood affected the other two to such an extent that Chris Kraft vowed that none of them would ever go into space again. (Schirra had already planned to retire, but for Cunningham and Eisele, this would be their first and last flight.)

** Reporter Brett Howard ambushing Ma and Pa Swigert with questions when they're just off the plane in the middle of what for them is basically a family emergency.