James Horner’s score begins.

Fade in.

The Universal logo animation, the word UNIVERSAL across a cloudless planet Earth, appears, and resolves into the title card “UNIVERSAL – AN MCA COMPANY.” The title fades to black.

TITLE: “Imagine Entertainment Presents”

TITLE: “A Brian Grazer Production”

TITLE: “A Ron Howard Film”

Over-exposed video appears, a step-framed image of astronaut boots walking across a gangway.

TITLE: “APOLLO 1 PRE-LAUNCH TEST, CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA, JANUARY 27, 1967”

Over an audio circuit, a voice says, “Flight, we have the crew crossing gantry for capsule ingress.”

“Roger that,” replies another voice on the audio circuit.

Narrator Walter Cronkite says, “Inspired by the late President Kennedy, in only seven years, America has risen to the challenge of what he called the most hazardous and dangerous, and greatest adventure -”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Narrator: Walter Cronkite

Narrator continues: ” on which Man has ever embarked.”

Gus Grissom reaches for the control panel of Apollo 1’s Command Module. A spark leaps out from the panel.

Narrator: “After trailing the Russians for years with our manned space program, and after that sudden and horrible fire on the launch pad during that routine test that killed American astronauts Gus Grissiom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, there were serious doubts as to whether we could beat the Russians to the Moon.”

Flames lick the walls of the cabin. Ed White reaches for the hatch, pounding an open hand on the hatch windows as flames engulf the interior of the ship.

The scene changes to a driver’s eye view of the streets of nighttime Houston.

TITLE: JULY 20, 1969 HOUSTON TEXAS

Narrator: “But tonight,  a mere eighteen months after the tragedy of Apollo One, the entire world watched in awe as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon.”

A red Corvette winds its way through traffic. Jim Lovell is at the wheel.

TITLE: TOM HANKS

1969 video footage of Walter Cronkite, saying “the big news came just a moment ago, Mission Control gave the spacecraft permission to go for the extra vehicular activity — that is, for the walk on the Moon — far earlier than anticipated: 9 PM, Eastern Daylight Time…”

Back at the Lovell household, Astronaut Jack Swigert is explaining docking procedures to a smiling blonde woman.

“Now the important thing when you’re penetrating the Lunar Module,” says Swigert, pointing the top of a long-necked Budweiser bottle at a tall glass, “is your attitude and your relative speed.” Swigert looks at the woman.  “Now, let’s say this is me here in the Command Module,” he continues, wiggling the beer bottle, “and let’s say this is you, in the LM,” he jiggles the glass.  “This thing that sticks out in front, that’s called –”

TITLE: KEVIN BACON

IN THIS MINUTE:

Narrator: Walter Cronkite
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Tracy: Karen Martin
Gus Grissom: Steve Bernie
Ed White: Steve Ruge
Roger Chaffee: Reed Rudy

Jack Swigert is explaining to Tracy how docking works in space.

“It’s called a probe,” says Swigert, waving the long neck of a beer bottle at a tall glass.

“Is that true?” asks Tracy, smiling.

TITLE: BILL PAXTON

“Absolutely,” says Swigert, “and, Tracy, I’ll tell you: when you feel that thing slide in, and everything’s clicking – – it’s like no other feeling in the world.” Tracy laughs.

TITLE: GARY SINESE

The front door opens, and Jim Lovell steps inside, carrying a box of Moet & Chandon Champagne. Astronaut Pete Conrad steps in behind him.

“A little liquid propulsion,” says Lovell to the partygoers. “What’s the big occasion?”

TITLE: ED HARRIS

“How’s it going over there at Mission Control?” asks Swigert.

“It’s a nervous time,” replies Lovell, “They’re pacing around, smoking like chimneys – – Gene Kranz is going to have puppies.” Lovell notices the blonde woman talking to Swigert. “Jim Lovell,” he says, holding out a hand. Tracy smiles and shakes his hand.

“Hi,” says Tracy.

“This is Tracy,” says Swigert.

“How do you do?” replies Lovell.

“This, this is the man,” explains Swigert to Tracy. “Gemini Seven, Gemini Twelve, Apollo Eight – – they were the first ones around the Moon, this guy did ten laps.”

“Wow,” says Tracy.

“… with one hand on the wheel,” remarks Lovell, laughing. “You guys make yourselves at home.” Lovell turns toward the kitchen. “Hey, Marilyn –”

TITLE: APOLLO 13

“This is the last champagne,” says Lovell, kissing his wife, “in the city of Houston.”

“Quite good, quite good,” says Marilyn.

TITLE: KATHLEEN QUINLAN

“Everything else alright?” asks Lovell. Marilyn is already out of earshot in the living room. “Looks okay,” he continues to himself.

“Hey, Cadet Lovell!” says Jim to his son, Jay, who’s wearing a St. John’s Military Academy t-shirt.

“Hey, Dad,” says his son.

“Put this on ice in the back and make sure it gets cold,” says Jim.

TITLE: DAVID ANDREWS, XANDER BERKELEY

“You gonna get a haircut this summer?” Jim asks his son.

“I’m on vacation,” replies his son.

“Oh, get a haircut!” replies Jim.

TITLE: CHRISTIAN CLEMENSON, BRETT CULLEN

In the Lovell study, Fred Haise looks at a framed cover of Time Magazine’s 1968 Men of the Year, Astronauts Anders, Borman, and Lovell.

Ken Mattingly walks into the study.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Tracy: Karen Martin
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Ken Mattingly: Gary Sinese
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell:  Max Elliott Slade
Pete Conrad: David Andrews

Ken Mattingly looks at photos of the Moon, hung in Jim Lovell’s study.

“I wouldn’t mind being up there tonight,” he says to Ken Haise.

“God, who wouldn’t?” replies Haise.

TITLES: “LOREN DEAN, CLINT HOWARD”

“Don’t worry, ” continues Haise, “Our day’s coming. They’re not gonna cut the program before Number Fourteen.”

“You know, my cousin called,” says Mattingly.

TITLES: “BEN MARLEY, MARC McCLURE”

“Uh-huh,” says Haise.

“He asked who we bribed to get on Jim Lovell’s crew,” says Mattingly.

TITLES: “TRACY REINER, JOE SPANO”

“I just told him, uh, they just wanted to make sure he got the best,” says Mattingly.

“Well, they got that right!” replies Haise, and shakes Mattingly’s hand.

In the Lovell living room, a large console TV is tuned to Frank Reynolds on ABC News.

“What network do we want?” asks John Young.

“Put on Walter!” replies Pete Conrad.  Young changes the channels, passing Chet Huntley on NBC, and stopping on Walter Cronkite at CBS.

TITLE: “CASTING BY JANE JENKINS C.S.A. , JANET HIRSHENSON C.S.A.”

“John, turn it up!” says Conrad. He turns down the music on the stereo.

“Everybody!” continues Conrad, signalling for quiet. “I appreciate you coming for this dress rehearsal for my Apollo Twelve landing.”

TITLE: “MUSIC BY JAMES HORNER”

TITLE: “VOCAL PERFORMANCES BY ANNIE LENNOX”

“Aw, sit down, Conrad!” laughs Lovell.

TITLE: “COSTUME DESIGNER RITA RYACK”

TITLE: “ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS ALDRIC LA’AULI PORTER, MICHAEL BOSTICK”

“I think we should all take a moment  to recognize the exemplary — hell, damn near heroic effort displayed by Neil Armstrong’s backup for this historic Moonwalk, and of course, his crew,” continues Conrad. The guest laugh. “Let’s hear it for Jim Lovell, Fred Haise!”

TITLE: “FILM EDITORS MIKE HILL, DAN HANLEY”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Tracy: Karen Martin
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Ken Mattingly: Gary Sinese
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell:  Max Elliott Slade
Pete Conrad: David Andrews
John Young: Ben Marley

The house guests clap for Apollo Eleven’s backup crew.

On the screen, the upside-down image of the LM’s ladder appears.

“Ooh, there he is!” says Marilyn, carrying a tray of empty champagne flutes. “There he is, everybody! Quiet down – here he is!”

Lovell pulls a cigar out of his mouth. “Hey, kids!” he calls to his children, who are seated on the stairs. They join the guests near the TV set.

TITLE: “PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL CORENBLITH”

“Okay. Will you verify the position—the opening I ought to have on the camera?” says Buzz Aldrin, from the Moon.

The video image of Neil Armstrong is superimposed by the words “LIVE FROM THE SURFACE OF THE MOON” on the TV.

“Jim, do you think it’s too late for him to abort?” asks Pete Conrad.

TITLE: “DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN CUNDEY, A.S.C.

“No, no,” says Lovell,” he’s got time to get out of there. All he needs is for somebody to wave him off! Pull up Neil!” Conrad joins Lovell in giving the Go-Around signal. Marilyn signals for them to be quiet.

TITLE: “EXECUTIVE PRODUCER TODD HALLOWELL”

“Okay, Neil, ” says CapCom Bruce McCandless on TV, “We can see you coming down the ladder now.”

“Okay,” replies Armstrong.

“Boy, look at those pictures!” interjects Walter Cronkite. “Wow!”

“I’m at the foot of the ladder,” continues Armstrong. “The LM footpads are depressed in the surface only about one or two inches. — It’s almost like a powder.”

“ARMSTRONG ON MOON” flashes a title over Armstrong’s video.

“Armstrong is on the Moon, the thir-” continues Cronkite.

“– gonna step off the LM now-” says Armstrong.

“thirty-eight year old American,”  continues Cronkite, “standing on the surface of the Moon, on this the-”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Walter Cronkite: Himself
Neil Armstrong: Himself
Buzz Aldrin: Himself
Bruce McCandless: Himself
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Tracy: Karen Martin
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Ken Mattingly: Gary Sinese
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell:  Max Elliott Slade
Pete Conrad: David Andrews
John Young: Ben Marley

Jim Lovell and the assembled guests witness Neil Armstrong’s descent to the lunar surface, on the family TV set.

“on this July 20th, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Nine,” intones Walter Cronkite on TV.

“It’s one small step for man,” says Armstrong, “One… giant leap for mankind.”

“His quote was, That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” repeats Cronkite.

Later, after the guests have left, Jim and Marilyn Lovell are standing in the moonlight in their backyard.  Jim holds his thumb up at arm’s length, obscuring a waning gibbous Moon.  He repeats the gesture several times. The song, “Beyond the Sea” sung by Bobby Darrin, plays in the background.

TITLE: “BASED ON THE BOOK ‘LOST MOON’ BY JIM LOVELL & JEFFREY KLUGER”

Marilyn, holding a paper bag, looks at her husband. “You’re drunk, Lovell,” she says.

“Yep,” he agrees. “I’m not used to the champagne.”

“Me neither,” says Marilyn.

TITLE: “SCREENPLAY BY WILLIAM BROYLES, JR. & AL REINERT”

Marilyn puts down a plate and drops the paper bag on the patio. “I can’t deal with cleaning up,” she says, “Let’s sell the house.”

“Alright,” says Jim, “Let’s sell the house.”

TITLE: “PRODUCED BY BRIAN GRAZER”

“They’re back inside now,” says Jim, still looking up at the Moon. “Looking up at us. Isn’t that something?”

TITLE: “DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD”

“I’ll be Janney Armstrong doesn’t get a wink of sleep tonight,” says Marilyn, leaning back on a chaise lounge chair.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Walter Cronkite: Himself
Neil Armstrong: Himself
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell:  Max Elliott Slade

Marilyn and Jim Lovell are in their backyard, after the Apollo XI Moonwalk party is over.

“When you were on far side on Eight, I didn’t sleep at all,” says Marilyn, leaning into her lawn chair, “I just vacuumed, over and over again.”

“Christopher Columbus,” says Jim, looking at the Moon, “Charles Lindbergh… and Neil Armstrong.” He laughs. “Neil Armstrong!”

Marilyn laughs, too. Jim climbs into his lawn chair.

Looking back at the Moon, Jim says, “From now on, we live in a world where Man has walked on the Moon.” He turns and looks at Marilyn. “And it’s not a miracle. We just decided to go.”

He looks back at the Moon. “On Apollo 8, we were so close,” he says. “Just sixty nautical miles down. And what’s it like to just  – – step out, and walk on the face of it? I want to go back. ”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan

Marilyn and Jim Lovell are in their backyard, in lounge chairs, after the Apollo XI Moonwalk party is over. Jim holds his thumb up, obscuring the distant Moon.

“Where’s my mountain?” asks Marilyn.

“Well, it -” begins Jim, “It’s right up by the — okay, you see where the shadow crosses — the white area there? That’s the Sea of Tranquility. And your mountain’s right there on the edge of that. Your mountain. Your mountain, Marilyn: Mount Marilyn.”

Marilyn looks up at the Moon. “I don’t see it,” she says, shaking her head.

Jim looks over at her. “Well, you’ve got to look harder,” he replies. “You – -look harder.” Jim rolls out of his chair and crawls into Marilyn’s chair. Marilyn starts laughing as he climbs on top of Marilyn.  The song “Cruisin'” by Smokey Robinson starts playing as the scene fades.

An aerial view of the Vehicle Assembly Building fills the scene.

TITLE: “VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING, CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA, OCTOBER 30, 1969”

Jim Lovell is narrating a tour.

“The astronaut,” he says, “is only the most visible member of a very large team, and all of us -”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan