Trama

On 27 January 1967, the disastrous failure of Apollo 1 risked the cancellation of America's space program altogether. Within two years of the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to escape the Earth's gravity and orbit the moon.

Spanning the years of the U.S. space program from 1964 to 1968, this episode covers the end of the Gemini years (docking maneuvers and extra-vehicular activities - aka "spacewalks") through the disastrous Apollo 1 capsule fire that tragically claimed the lives of Astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White, and the aftermath that led to a complete redesign of the capsule, to the amazing story of how Apollo 8's mission was suddenly changed to include orbiting the moon. The episode's title "Earthrise" is shared with the historic and well-known picture taken by William Anders as he, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell orbited the moon in late December, 1968. Beginning with clips of President Lyndon B. Johnson continuing the call of the late John F. Kennedy to pursue the moon, highlights include news clips featuring Jules Bergman and Walter Cronkite, interview segments with Werner Von Braun and Walter Cronkite, narrations by Gemini and Apollo astronauts (including Frank Borman and Michael Collins), Neil Armstrong's amazing recovery from a tumbling orbit in the Gemini program, Ed White deciding to extend a test EVA and not to come back in when mission control wanted him to, a clip from the game show "I've Got a Secret" where host Garry Moore interviews Neil Armstrong's parents, the congressional hearings into the Apollo 1 disaster, the key role women played (although, curiously, no women of color are shown as depicted in the major motion picture "Hidden Figures"). The final segment of the episode is a lengthy and fascinating recap of the Apollo 8 mission, largely narrated by Frank Borman, which includes video shot inside astronauts' homes showing families watching televised coverage of the mission. The segment references something not publicly disclosed at the time, that of Borman suffering from an intestinal ailment which caused him to vomit for several hours during the mission. There is even part of a "Tang" commercial and a discussion of the "fecal containment unit," which is exactly what it sounds like. (Borman said he went the whole mission without defecating.) The Apollo 8 segment concludes with the circumstances surrounding the captivating "Earthrise" picture: "and suddenly, here was this beautiful shot, only color in the universe;" how the astronauts determined what to read back to the Earth on Christmas Eve, 1968, the astronauts' families visiting church on Christmas, 1968 and the night splashdown and recovery of the astronauts. As the episode concludes, it returns to President Johnson thanking and congratulating the astronauts on their accomplishment, the celebratory atmosphere and parades greeting their return, and an interview with the astronauts hosted by George Alexander of Newsweek Magazine.