Apollo 11’s impact on popular culture was evident 50 years ago in memorabilia, dishes and fashion. Its influence on movies and television would come later. In the 1960s, movies and TV offered stories that, although inspired by the whole space program, did not try to compete with the real drama.
“People understood in the moment that landing human beings on another world for the first was a remarkable landmark,” said Margaret Weitekamp, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. “This is unlike other events.”
The awareness was reflected in pins, patches, buttons, T-shirts, hats, mugs and matchbooks. Arthur C. Clarke, author of “2001: A Space Odyssey” and a commentator CBS News, kept The New York Times with the headline of man walking on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had landed on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.
“Even someone as distinguished as Arthur C. Clarke is keeping the copy of the newspaper. He recognizes this is really important and wants to hold on to memorabilia of the moment,” Weitekamp said. “You see it in pop culture in the creation of tangible souvenirs that people want to be able to mark their witness to this event, even if it is mostly mediated by television, which it was basically for everyone but the two men on the moon and astronaut Michael Collins going around it.”
The National Air and Space Museum has Apollo-influenced clothing, jewelry, stamps, toys and commemorative dishes in its collection, curator Teasel Muir-Harmony said. She cited a woman’s shiny silver purse, shaped like a command and service module, and a charm bracelet with space-related trinkets. The Smithsonian’s collection of toys includes little plastic astronaut figures and a lunar module.
“People also made their own Apollo-inspired gear,” Muir-Harmony said. She described a photo of a woman from Iceland wearing a shift dress with a Saturn V rocket.
“You see this around the world, this enthusiasm,” she added. “When you think about the way people dress up for sporting events, it’s a demonstration of participation and investment in the missions.” (Both museum curators are featured in the “Apollo’s Moon Shot” series on Smithsonian Channel.)
Television and the movies usually took paths far removed from news coverage of the day.
NBC’s “I Dream of Jeannie” was a sitcom about an astronaut (Larry Hagman) who is master to a 2,000-year-old genie (Barbara Eden). NBC’s “Star Trek” told amazing stories of the future and extraterrestrial life. Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” from 1968 depicted technological advances and a computer run amok. The CBS series “Lost in Space” and the 1968 film “Planet of the Apes” had space connections and fantastic plots.
Space lends itself to treatments that are more fictional, Muir-Harmony said. “People were quite familiar with astronauts’ stories,” she added. “Apollo 11 was the first live global broadcast. In the United States, 94 percent of households were watching. People did have that experience. They did watch it. It was something they had seen. It was not necessary to create movies based on it.”
Space movies could spin off into unusual directions. “In a twisted way, you get ‘Capricorn One,’ the whole sort of moon hoax thing comes into play,” said Robert Stone, director of PBS’ “Chasing the Moon” documentary. The 1977 “Capricorn One” presented a Mars landing as a hoax and O.J. Simpson as an astronaut.
“You also see a turning away, a rejection of science and an embrace of pseudoscience,” Stone said, pointing to the “Chariots of the Gods” documentary, which suggests extraterrestrials affected early human life.
“Capricorn One” reflects the time of Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, the Smithsonian’s Weitekamp said. “Public confidence is very shaken by these revelations of real deceptions that had been carried out by the U.S. government,” she said. “It fits in a moment where you have the ‘Planet of the Apes’ movies. By the end of the decade, you end up with ‘Alien’ in 1979. You’re looking at corporate corruption and a depiction of space flight that isn’t shiny or optimistic.”
Yet NASA’s stock has risen with other movies. Philip Kaufman directed “The Right Stuff,” a stirring 1983 film of Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book about the early space program. “The Right Stuff was an important part of the valorization of what happened in the 1960s and myth-confirming,” Weitekamp said.
“Apollo 13,” Ron Howard’s 1995 film, presented Tom Hanks as astronaut Jim Lovell and depicted the crippled 1970 mission powerfully.
“Apollo 13 was a unique dramatic event. It was about overcoming incredible technological obstacles and personal heroism and bringing these guys back safely,” Stone said. “It was kind of forgotten for a long time. It was brought back to life by Jim Lovell’s book and the Hollywood movie. That became a touchstone.”
Howard and Hanks would later produce “From the Earth to the Moon,” a 12-part HBO miniseries about the Apollo program. It won the Emmy for outstanding limited series.
In 2018’s “First Man” director Damien Chazelle depicted the Apollo 11 moon landing and presented Ryan Gosling as Armstrong. “It reflects the director wanting to create a good piece of filmmaking,” Weitekamp said. “He has a distinct take on it. It’s not a documentary.”
This year, for the 50th anniversary, the focus is on documentaries. The real version is just too good to duplicate.
hboedeker@orlandosentinel.com
This series
This story is part of the Orlando Sentinel’s “Countdown to Apollo 11: The First Moon Landing” – 30 days of stories leading up to 50th anniversary of the historic first steps on moon on July 20, 1969. More stories, photos and videos at OrlandoSentinel.com/Apollo11.
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