“It took millions of steps to make one giant leap.”
Part of the PBS “American Experience” series, Robert Stone’s Chasing the Moon traces the space race from its earliest beginnings to the monumental achievement of the first lunar landing in 1969 and beyond. Scheduled in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Chasing the Moon will air in three, two-hour programs Monday-Wednesday, July 8-10 on SCETV.
Chasing the Moon thoroughly reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation. The series recasts the Space Age utilizing previously overlooked and lost archival material, and highlights many who played key roles in these historical events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Sergei Khrushchev, son of the former Soviet premier and a leading Soviet rocket engineer; Poppy Northcutt, a 25-year old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male NASA Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut.
SCETV in partnership with the ETV Endowment will host screener events across the state; some will feature renowned astronauts Charles Bolden and Charles Duke.
- Saturday, June 1 at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, Mount Pleasant, S.C., noon-4 p.m., a “Chasing the Moon Family Afternoon” will take place aboard the USS Yorktown, the recovery ship of the Apollo 8 space capsule. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration S.C. Space Grant Consortium will provide family activities, and a screening of Chasing the Moon will be shown throughout the day. The event is open to all museum patrons.
- Tuesday, June 18 at Aiken Technical College in Aiken, S.C. Addition details will be announced soon.
- Tuesday, July 16 at the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, S.C. Several screening will be presented throughout the day with public showings in the early afternoon for all museum visitors. Registration will be required for screenings at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. – both of which will be followed by a talk by Charles Bolden. Additional information to be announced soon.
- Thursday and Friday, June 25 and 26 at the SC State Museum in Columbia, S.C.; on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., ETV Endowment members and invited guests of the SC State Museum will participate in a screener and discussion with Charles Duke. On the following morning, SCETV’s Education team is partnering with TRIO and the Girl Scouts of South Carolina to host a similar event for students. Both events are closed to the public.
In addition to the airing of Chasing the Moon July 8-10, SCETV will also provide supplemental coverage on its radio, digital and other broadcast platforms.
“We’re excited to bring Chasing the Moon to the people of South Carolina by airing this extraordinary film in July and hosting these events across our state over the next few months. I look forward to the discussions that will take place as a new generation learns about one of mankind’s greatest achievements of the 20th century.” – SCETV President and CEO Anthony Padgett
For more information on Chasing the Moon, visit https://www.scetv.org/chasing-the-moon.