In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)

Mike Collins: Self

Photos 

Quotes 

• Michael Collins : I think we were very aware of the situation in Vietnam, because a lot of our friends were flying airplanes in combat in Vietnam. And there would we have been, had we not been in the space program.

  Eugene Cernan : I guess I can sort of admit it now, I've admitted it a little bit to a few friends, I've always had a guilt complex, to some degree. That was my war, good or bad, whether it was a good war or a bad war, we're not discussing it, but that was my war, to fight for my country, and my buddies were getting shot at and shot down and in some cases captured, and I was getting my picture on the front page of the paper. And I've always felt that they fought my war for me. They look at it totally different. They said, "You were doing something that this country needed more than anything else at the time. You were part of a program, the only thing we had to hold our head high and be proud of."

• [first lines] 

  Michael Collins : I kind of have two moons in my head, I guess, whereas most people just have one moon. I look at the moon just like everybody else who's never been there, and you know, there it is, and I've always thought it was interesting. Whether it's full or a sliver, or what have you. But every once in a while, I do think of a second moon, you know, the one that I recall from up close. And yeah, it is kind of hard to believe that I was actually up there.

• Alan Bean : One thing I know about Buzz, he's one of these guys that's a lot smarter than most of us. He had a nickname, Dr. Rendezvous.

  Michael Collins : He loves to talk about technical stuff, particularly rendezvous. I mean, he'll get this orbit going this way, and that orbit going the other way, and he really grooved on those things.

  Alan Bean : You didn't want to sit near him at a party, because he would start talking about rendezvous, and you would want to be talking about the good-looking girl across the room. He could care less. He wanted to talk about rendezvous, and he'd been talking to you about it all week long.

• Michael Collins : When the sun is shining on the surface at a very shallow angle, the craters cast long shadows and the Moon's surface seems very inhospitable, forbidding almost. I did not sense any great invitation on the part of the Moon for us to come into its domain. I sensed more almost a hostile place, a scary place.

• Michael Collins : You go up into Earth orbit, and you go around the Earth once, and again that's a busy time, because you want to make sure that everything on board is working properly before you set sail for the Moon. And then you get the word you're go for TLI, and that means you can ignite the motor and head on off to the Moon. And you do. And you go. And that's it.

  [laughs] 

• Charlie Duke : Reentry is very critical in Apollo. The last time I looked at my computer, we were accelerating through 39,000 feet per second, which is, uh, translates to over 26,000 miles an hour.

  Alan Bean : A rifle bullet only goes 2,000 miles an hour.

  Michael Collins : You, you are literally on fire. Your, uh, your heat shield is on fire, and it's streaming, its fragments are streaming out behind you. It's like being inside a gigantic lightbulb.

  Charlie Duke : The reentry started at 400,000 feet, and by the time you got to 90,000 feet you're basically comin' straight down, free-fall.