Apollo 18

There's just a lot at stake here, you know?

We're talkin' nation versus nation,

and the race is still on.

There's lots to discover out there, man.

I guess the call came in on a Friday.

Nate and I were at Ben's for a barbecue.

Um... Just a few beers, you know, maybe more than a few.

With Ben's cooking, you definitely need a few.

Nate took the call. It was Milton,

and Milton said 18 was back on,

but it was classified, DOD, top secret.

Asked, you know, "Are you OK with that?"

And he was like, "Are you kidding me?"

I come from a family of military pilots.

Duty can sometimes outbalance a private life.

Make choices, keep moving forward.

NASA already has something like 800 pounds of rocks.

So why we need more, I don't know, but, hey, if it means a trip to the moon...

Placing cameras. We got these Westinghouses all over the place.

Well, I think the way it's being explained is they're using

a Saturn V to launch a classified DOD payload, uh,

which is meant to be very large, very heavy, and, uh...

...apparently unmanned.

Apparently.

Placing these high-frequency transmitters.

Part of some early warning antimissile defense system

against the Soviet Union.

These PSD5s are kind of like high-tech radar scanners,

they should pick up and track anything we can't.

Gotta keep a little eye on the Russians, there.

Would've been nice to tell my wife.

Laura had been by my side the whole time, and, uh...

...she thinks I'm off doing a training exercise with the Japanese space agency.

Ryan, my boy, would've been nice to tell him his old man's goin' to the moon.

I would've loved to have brought him a souvenir.

Maybe a moon rock. I don't know. Maybe one day.

Ben was always first in class,

and I was always right at his heels.

Yeah, I'll admit, I'm a little jealous that he'll be moon-walkin' with Nate

while I'll be all by my lonesome, piloting the orbiter.

My job is, essentially, to make sure I bring us home safely.

Look, let's face it, these missions are result-oriented,

and, uh, we can't afford to fail here, now can we?

Things can go wrong, things do go wrong, it happens,

but you just gotta push that out of your mind.

It's just not an option.

I'm proud to do it for these guys.

And I'm proud to do it for my country.

T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three...

...two, one.

Apollo 18, you're looking good.

Christmas lights.

- Bring any Christmas lights, Ben? - Nope, not me.

You ever see anything like that before?

No, sir.

It's amazing.

Earth in all her glory.

That's a good-lookin' boy. You sure he's yours?

Watch it. He's a good kid.

He's got big shoes to fill now.

Big ol' moon boots.

So, Nate, you wait all this time to put your foot on the moon,

and you get to be number 13. How you feel about that?

You gonna be OK with staying behind, John?

Oh, you know, it'd be nice to have some alone time.

It's gettin' crowded in here.

I'll keep a light on for you, boys. Don't stay out too late now.

See you in a couple of days, partner.

- Roger that. - See you in a couple days.

Houston, this is Freedom preparing to undock Liberty. Over.

OK, 18, you're go for undock in four minutes.

John, is the tunnel vented?

Roger that. Tunnel is vented.

OK, Liberty, we're ready to send you

an updated state vector and REFSMMAT.

Roger, Houston. We're pooling data. Computer is all yours.

Wish you were comin' with us, John.

Now, you boys be careful down there.

You, too, buddy.

Got a good visual on you.

OK, 18, you are go for landing.

We're go for the moon!

Fourteen hundred feet.

Forty-four down, lookin' good.

Down to a thousand feet.

We're right on profile.

Fifty-four LPD. Dropping off.

Seven hundred feet. Down 20. Looking good.

Mission Elapsed Time: four days, six hours, 33 minutes.

Roger.

Leveling off. Take her down.

- Gonna have to land long. - Where?

- Over that next crater. - Twelve o'clock.

Next to the rim. It's a pretty rocky area. Mark it.

Four hundred and 30 feet. Down 15, 25 forward.

Houston, we have

a program alarm. Twelve-oh-one.

You are go on the twelve-oh-one, Liberty.

Roger. Go twelve-oh-one.

Liberty, position vector mark one-eight.

Watch those suppression boosters.

You wanna think about revisiting that approach?

Negative, we'll miss our window.

Those boulders are some big mothers.

Sub boosters on my three, two, one, mark.

- Liberty status? - We're comin' in too fast.

Liberty, you stabilize.

Liberty to Houston, range is long. Going manual.

- Contact light. - Standby for T1 stay/no stay.

- Engine arm off. - Stay for T1, Liberty.

Houston, you give that man a cigar.

From up here, that looked very pretty.

Excellent touchdown.

Oh, are you talkin' to me or Nate?

Well, I'm talking to you both, Ben.

December 25th, 1974.

Four days, nine hours, 23 minutes.

Commander Nathan Walker. DOD Mission Report One-A.

We're day one of our two-day mission. Prepping for EVA-One and payload setup.

This is Thomas Young at Apollo Mission Control.

In addition to the Mauer 16-millimeter cameras,

- this mission will mark... - Looks like five reels,

- 10,000 feet Kodachrome. - The RCA module

data acquisition cameras inside the lunar module

record all facets of the mission.

Houston, we are prepped for EVA-One.

- Copy, Liberty. - You are go for cabin depress.

Button up good, boys. We don't want anyone catching cold.

Roger that.

Can you check me over?

It'd help if you were a little smaller.

- Check my PLSS. - Yup.

Houston...

...we're taking our first steps on the south pole.

I prepared a speech, but no one but us would hear it anyway.

No words can describe how it feels to be here.

Rock formations everywhere.

The sun is low, on the horizon.

It's amazing.

Freedom, do you read?

...Do you read?

Freedom reads you loud and clear, Liberty. Over.

- Yeah, yeah. Perfect. - You call that a salute?

OK, let me get a shot of you with the LM in the background.

That looks like a Navy salute to me.

- Wait a minute, wait a minute. - I gotta get this.

Promised Laura and Ryan I'd spend Christmas with them.

This is all goin' back to the Department of Defense.

No one's ever gonna...

Completing Westinghouse setup.

- Sounds good, Nate. - Standing by.

Motion sensor is tracking you perfectly, Nate.

Captain Video says first round is on him when you get back.

I'm checking the payload in the MESA unit.

Shit!

What was that?

Houston, can you track that power flux?

I'd like to get a fix on the interference.

Roger, Nate. Looks like you're ready to proceed to location one

- and initiate setup procedures. - Copy. We're on our way.

Will you take a look at that?

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Damn, it's dusty.

I'm leaving the camera up here so you can get a better view, Tommy.

And for your information,

we're about three hours and 20 minutes...

it's hard to believe the sun never shines in some of these places. Ever.

- Careful, now, fellas. - You drop into any of those craters,

you'll get cold in a hurry.

PSD5 in place.

- Roger. - Proceed with startup.

Did you record the signal frequency on the PSD5 during training?

- It was ALSEP, wasn't it? - Thought it was.

I think they changed it.

Set astral coordinates, four-eight-point-three on the Z

and eight-niner-point-eight on... Record.

Initiation sequence complete.

Houston, we're getting some noise on the high-gain again.

Collecting geological samples near what appears to be a... impact crater.

The sample feels...

...strange.

It's great to get out of that gear.

Four days, 14 hours, 48 minutes.

Commander Nathan Walker. DOD Mission Report Three-Charlie.

Day one, EVA-One complete.

- I am starving. - What's on the menu tonight?

Carrots or peas?

I'll take carrots.

- No. You get the peas. - Perfect.

I'm mighty proud of you, boys.

- You have a good time out there? - You know it.

I'm gettin' a lot of noise on this frequency.

I'm gonna see if I can isolate it, maybe clean it up a bit.

Roger that.

Astronaut Ryan Anderson with his dad, flying through space.

- Ryan, what are you doing? - Just playing, Mom.

Don't play with your dad's stuff.

Baby, is that recording?

Sorry, Dad. Love you.