The Other Side of the Moon

Between 1969 and 1972, twelve Apollo astronauts walked on the moon. Of these people, only Neil Armstrong, who had the honour of making the first step, has actually retained his fame. What has happened to the other astronauts since then? In THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON, made on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary (in 1989) of the first moon landing, director Mickey Lemle visits eight of them. He asks them various personal questions, and is especially curious about the influence that their visits to the moon have had on their later lives. This influence appears to be quite considerable; some of the ex-astronauts interviewed admit that their sojourn in space – and particularly the sight of the earth as a small and vulnerable marble in the distance – has reinforced their faith in God. One of them, Jim Irwin, has dedicated his life since then to God and is looking for the remains of Noah’s Ark in the Turkish mountains. But the journeys into space also had negative consequences. The astronauts had to learn how to deal with their sudden fame, which often waned just as abruptly. And for all eight of them, it turned out to be quite hard to find a new goal in life, after having achieved at a young age what until shortly before had seemed impossible.