SPIDER
------
an original screenplay
by
Paul Fjeld
(c) 1997 all rights reserved
FADE IN:
EXT. NASA LANGLEY -- DAY
MOVING
We DRIVE through the winding roads of a pleasant campus
scene, passing several quaint red brick buildings from the
1930's. Unseen nearby, a compressor HOWLS until there is a
sharp BANG and SHRIEKING: some new jet aircraft is beginning
a test run.
HOLD
On a weird building with a curving metal growth that reaches
three stories. From it comes the deeper SOUND of enormous
power slowly winding up - a wind tunnel in action.
CAPTION: "NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER -- SUMMER 1960"
INT. NASA LANGLEY WORKROOM -- DAY
C.U. CHALKBOARD
We still HEAR, very faintly now, the sound of jet aircraft
beyond the walls. A hand is carefully drawing a circle that
fills the view.
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
This...
finishing the circle --
RESEARCHER (O.S.) (CONT.)
... is the Moon.
We PULL BACK a bit, but stay on the board and the
disembodied hand and chalk. By the sound of the voice, we
know we are the audience to a rehearsed presentation.
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
(speaking deliberately)
The NASA Space Task Group thinks they
can land a man on the moon by going from
the earth, straight in.
(gesturing)
Imagine a great big ship with all the
fuel needed to get back home, slowly
settling, tail first, -- on the lunar
surface.
The chalk wiggles down until it touches the "moon's" curve.
YOUNG RESEARCHER (O.S)
(helpfully)
Like in science fiction movies!
We follow the chalk as it weaves in an obviously
choreographed and mesmerizing way about the board. We still
don't see its agent.
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
We would need an enormous rocket called
"Nova" to hoist the ship straight up and
out from Earth.
There is a pause for effect. This is maybe too rehearsed.
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
Now Von Braun says he can get this same
big ship to the moon with the smaller
Saturn rocket they're designing at
Marshall.
YOUNG RESEARCHER (O.S.)
By smaller he means merely huge as
opposed to gargantuan!
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
He says they can launch the moonship in
halves on two "Saturn" rockets into
Earth orbit. Then they rendezvous, grab
onto each other -- seal hatches and
stuff -- and then zoom off to the moon
and, again, go straight in.
There are many curves and blobs on the board now.
HOUBOLT (O.S.)
It sounds impossible!
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
(surprised by the
interruption)
Well the delta V plots show..
HOUBOLT (O.S)
Stop!!
ON JOHN HOUBOLT
Looking up and to the left. He is an early middle-aged man
with a deceptively serious look.
HOUBOLT
Remember the audience here is not
supposed to be an engineer or a
scientist.
(grimaces)
But don't be too condescending. You're
making me feel a bit like an idiot.
ON CHALKBOARD
Back to the dancing chalk.
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
Well it is difficult. But we have a
better idea. We call it L.O.R.
HOUBOLT (O.S.)
L.O.R.? What the hell is that?
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
(chuckles)
I'll tell you.
(serious again)
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. You launch two
much smaller spacecraft on a single
Saturn. One craft is the Command Ship
which has the fuel to get you there and
back. It also has a heat shield to
return you through the atmosphere in one
piece.
Shows a crudely drawn Command Ship, done earlier.
RESEARCHER (O.S.) (CONT.)
The other is a small Lunar Landing
Craft.
Shows the Command Ship's neighbor.
RESEARCHER (O.S.) (CONT.)
Instead of going straight in, you park
yourself in orbit around the moon. Then
you jump in the lander...
Snaps chalk in half --
RESEARCHER (O.S.) (CONT.)
... and go to the surface.
Wiggles the little piece to the arc of the "moon."
HOUBOLT (O.S.)
That sounds easy. What's the catch?
RESEARCHER (O.S.)
You have to rendezvous with the Command
Ship and link back up.
YOUNG RESEARCHER (O.S.)
(enthusiastically)
And that is easy!
ON YOUNG RESEARCHER
He is fresh out of university and confident. He knows just
enough to get himself into trouble.
YOUNG RESEARCHER
Any asshole can rendezvous! You just
have to track your target and point.
The math is two hundred years old! It's
a freshman test at M.I.T for gosh sakes!
HOUBOLT
It's not that easy! Jesus!
THE WORKROOM
We see them all for the first time. Charts and graphs with
complex equations and simple schematics are strewn on top of
a table. Researcher is roughing out the shape of a second,
smaller lunar craft, then a third which looks like a tiny
moon-scooter. Houbolt takes a deep breath.
HOUBOLT
(letting it out)
No.
(pauses)
I think I'll stick to selling this to
other engineers. The numbers are so
obviously in our favor.
(pleading)
I'd feel like "Howdy Doody" wiggling
chalk like that!
A last line is added to his masterpiece, and Researcher
steps away from the board.
RESEARCHER
How are you gonna talk to the newspapers
or politicians?
HOUBOLT
Maybe I won't.
YOUNG RESEARCHER
This is just common sense, John!
HOUBOLT
(looking at the chalk
drawings)
No. The numbers will save us.
Young Researcher probes his agile brain for a reply.
Nothing.
RESEARCHER
The numbers are good. Space Task Group
has a choice of three Lunar Lander
models --
ON CHALKBOARD
As we focus on the first of the simple shapes of moonships,
then slowly pan across in time with:
RESEARCHER (O.S.) (CONT.)
-- Plush... Economy... and Budget.
THE MEN
stand together with the "CHALK" LANDERS behind them.
RESEARCHER
(handing Houbolt the chalk)
Don't forget it has a name now. Abe
calls it Apollo. The NASA Apollo
Program.
EXT. MOON AND SKY -- DAY
SKY
The waxing moon is just visible in the daytime sky.
THE SERIES TITLE SEQUENCE begins and continues through the
next scene.
Against the moon and sky appears an A-6 Intruder attack jet,
coming in on final approach, which we FOLLOW. Its scream
pierces the gentle Long Island suburb.
INT. GRUMMAN WALKWAY -- SAME
With the ROAR from the A-6 still audible, we MOVE with
ENGINEER as he strides down an open walkway past large
PHOTOS of Grumman aircraft. There are hangar sounds echoing
around him. He reaches a small office with a name plate that
says "TOM KELLY" and stands at the doorway looking in.
END SERIES TITLE SEQUENCE
We see, through the door, TOM KELLY look up from a desk
covered in paper data.
ENGINEER
Okay Tom, I'll join your little space
club.
KELLY
Terrific!
INT. GRUMMAN SMALL OFFICE -- SAME
Engineer moves into the office and drops his voice a bit --
ENGINEER
I don't know how they let you do it.
We're practically building every single
Navy aircraft. We're in deep on the
Intruder, the Hawkeye -- and now this
new supersonic fighter!
KELLY
Wouldn't you rather go to the Moon?
Kelly leans back from his desk.
ENGINEER
Sure, but is the Pentagon going to let
us play in that sandpile?
Engineer half sits on the edge of the desk, careful not to
move any paper.
KELLY
The future of this company might be
space, you know.
Kelly looks intently at Engineer.
KELLY (CONT.)
We're going to bid on the Apollo
spacecraft, probably team up with
General Electric's group.
ENGINEER
Not as Prime Contractor?
KELLY
Not yet -- we don't know enough.
ENGINEER
Nobody does!!
Kelly nods, thoughtfully.
KELLY
You took a course in Space Navigation,
right?
ENGINEER
Yup. A short course.
KELLY
Okay. You can be our Guidance and
Navigation specialist.
ENGINEER
(Laughs on his way out)
Until we get a real one!
CUT TO:
INT. NASA HQ PRESENTATION ROOM -- DAY
CLOSE ON FAGET
A short man with a brush cut, red-faced.
FAGET
(shouting)
Your numbers LIE!!
ON HOUBOLT
At a dais with a big L.O.R CHART on an easel. No chalk.
He is visibly stunned. Engineers don't usually shout at
presentations.
HOUBOLT
It's common sense! Why take down all
that weight?
THE ROOM
A small one for presentations. There is a table covered in
CHARTS and the small dais and easel where Houbolt is
defending himself. Everything is done in cheap '50's
government issue.
We see the other participants of the meeting: MAX FAGET,
WERNHER VON BRAUN, OWEN MAYNARD, and NASA BRASS among
others.
HOUBOLT (O.S.)
(still shocked)
Why land your heat shield on the moon,
for Chrissakes?! You need another
spacecraft!
FAGET
What if you can't rendezvous with your
heat shield? You're stuck a quarter of
a million miles from home!
VON BRAUN
(thick German accent)
This is all crazy. We can't build a
"Nova" for a long time anyway.
FAGET
(looking at Von Braun)
You need rendezvous too!
The argument degenerates between Faget and Von Braun.
Houbolt moves away from the easel taking his charts with
him.
ON HOUBOLT
HOUBOLT
(to himself)
Rendezvous is easy. Any asshole can
rendezvous.
(sees NASA Brass)
Please.
HOUBOLT, NASA BRASS, MAYNARD
Houbolt intercepts NASA Brass
HOUBOLT
This is important! We'll never get to
the moon that way.
He gestures towards Faget and Von Braun.
NASA BRASS
(looking Houbolt in the eye)
We're selecting the Prime Contractor on
Apollo right now, Dr. Houbolt. One big
spacecraft that does everything.
Maynard, eavesdropping, edges closer.
MAYNARD
(to NASA Brass)
You know, Bob, we're having trouble
figuring out how to design a large
vehicle that can do the lunar landing.
NASA BRASS
(To Houbolt)
Do you know Owen Maynard, our Chief of
Spacecraft Integration?
Houbolt nods at Maynard. Another short man -- this one with
a funny accent. He seems earnest, without trepidation.
NASA BRASS
All right Owen, include L.O.R in your
design studies in case we've missed
something.
INT. GRUMMAN EXECUTIVE OFFICE -- NIGHT
The V.P.'s office is less Spartan than those at NASA. There
are models of Grumman aircraft all around the main desk and,
in one spacious corner, a substantial coffee table. Three
men, Kelly, EXEC, and MANAGER sit around the table in
comfortable chairs. On the table lies a single, thick
document with a swoopy space motif cover and the General
Electric logo.
EXEC
(looking at the document)
General Electric lost the spacecraft.
(lets it sink in)
We lost Apollo!
KELLY
It's not over Joe. I think we should
put more effort into this.
MANAGER
(evenly)
We've just spent two million dollars on
a losing team-up.
KELLY
Listen. Every company on the team was
assigned to study a different mode of
how to get to the Moon. By chance we
got Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. We found
out that L.O.R. is the right way to go.
The whole team agreed and we recommended
that in the General Electric proposal.
EXEC
NASA didn't agree.
KELLY
Well they're wrong. But they'll come
around.
He waits for everybody to make the connection.
KELLY
They need another spacecraft.
MANAGER
What should we do? Fund studies on our
own?
KELLY
Kind of. NASA has contracted for a new
study.
MANAGER
(miffed)
Well I guess they didn't pick us.
KELLY
That's true, but we'll do it anyway.
Submit it anyway. NASA will find out
that we really know this stuff and then
we'll bid when they request proposals
for the lunar craft.
EXEC
Under whom should we work this time?
KELLY
Under nobody. We'll be Prime.
INT. NASA MARSHALL PRESENTATION ROOM -- DAY
This would be another bland, government room were it not for
the impression of Teutonic correctness. Some old-world
esthetic insinuates itself in the placement of wall charts
and pictures. The government chairs, as well, are arranged
in a certain deliberate pattern.
Maynard is standing at the requisite NASA-standard dais. He
is just concluding another presentation on a topic that has
become officially boring. It shows in his voice.
MAYNARD
.. and so the performance analysis is
pretty conclusive, ah, in our eyes, at
least, that Lunar Orbit Rendezvous has
many great advantages. So what do you
think fellas?
(pleading)
We can't keep postponing the mode
decision.
Maynard looks around the quiet room. There is Faget nodding
silently and Von Braun staring ahead. Suddenly a voice from
the back rings out:
VOICE (O.S.)
Who's the son of a bitch that doesn't
think this is the right way to get to
the moon?!!
INT. NASA LANGLEY SMALL OFFICE -- DAY
Researcher strides into Houbolt's office waving a formal
NASA book.
RESEARCHER
Look what the Apollo office just
released. A "Request For Proposals"!
He hands the document to Houbolt.
HOUBOLT
(reading the cover)
A Lunar Excursion Module!
Houbolt starts flipping quickly through pages until he finds
what he's looking for. He looks up at Researcher.
HOUBOLT
(grinning, incredulous)
Twenty two thousand pounds!
RESEARCHER
Super Plush!
INT. GRUMMAN HALLWAY -- NIGHT
We FOLLOW a teenager as he wheels a trolley through a
deserted hallway. Two boxes, fresh from a printer, balance
one on top of the other on the metal lip.
INT. GRUMMAN DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
The design room is dominated by a long center table. Upon it
sit two models, one big and one small, of a "thing" with
five little legs surrounding a lower stage. A pursed
"fishmouth" sticks out from a helicopter-like bubble canopy
on the upper stage. For a spaceship it looks... ridiculous!
There are large "vellums" of this craft covering the walls
and we pan around them. Drawings of two astronauts, done in
a stiff engineering style, illustrate the seated control
stations and the contortions that would be necessary to get
in or out of the "bug."
Several men in shirts and ties including Kelly, Manager and
YOUNG ENGINEER are milling about, looking worried. Suddenly
the teenager wheels through the door and tips over the
trolley. Kelly tears open a box and takes out a small,
cerlox-bound book.
KELLY
Finally!
(riffling through a book)
Fifty pages of a clean proposal.
He holds one up, announcing to the room:
KELLY (CONT.)
The Lunar Excursion Module. The LEM!
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering
Corporation will land America on the
moon!
MANAGER
If we win.
(pointing at the wall)
Do you think we'll get away with it,
those little legs?
We see the drawing in detail now. Tiny little feet are
attached by short struts to the base of the LEM.
Kelly picks up the small model, looking at it as though it
were a newborn child.
KELLY
You know it meets the spec.
MANAGER
The spec isn't serious and we also know
that. This is a rule-beater.
YOUNG ENGINEER
If Thomas Gold is right, we'll sink into
moondust up to here.
His hand sweeps up over the drawing, covering the canopy.
KELLY
If Dr. Gold is right, everybody's
screwed.
(looks at his watch)
Okay, the airplane leaves in thirty
minutes. Take care of our little future
here.
(hands Manager the small
model)
MANAGER
For the whole flight I'm going to stare
at the boxes. When I get to Houston I'm
going to stay in my hotel room until
it's time to go to NASA.
KELLY
When you cross the street you're going
to look both ways.
INT. NASA HOUSTON DESIGN ROOM -- DAY
This is the final design room we have to see. Center table,
government issue, etc. A scowling man, CALDWELL JOHNSON,is
running through a fat publication called "CSM DESIGN
REQUIREMENTS". Johnson is a legend at NASA for his intuitive
grasp of design and his remarkable draftsmanship. Owen
Maynard enters the room with an armful of his own paper.
MAYNARD
Hi Caldwell. Did you bring your old
lander stuff?
JOHNSON
It's still in boxes! I'm Command Module
Manager now, Owen!
Johnson practically spits this out. The Virginian has not
yet found management and Houston to his liking.
MAYNARD
I thought we'd show them the leg design
we worked up at Langley. Give them some
ideas anyway. Haven't you unpacked yet?
JOHNSON
No.
He grabs a sheet of white bond, takes out his pencil and
starts to quickly block out a sketch. As he draws, his
shoulders begin to unclench.
They are interrupted by a knock on the frame of the open
door. Kelly and Young Engineer have arrived.
INT. NASA HOUSTON DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
Kelly and Young Engineer sit across from the two NASA men.
There is a palpable respect that crosses between Kelly and
Maynard.
MAYNARD
Those little landing pads and fixed
gear.. that was pretty sneaky, Kelly!
You cheated.
KELLY
(grins)
It was within the rules.
MAYNARD
You won anyway.
He smiles. The cheat didn't matter. He has a little
surprise.
MAYNARD
Now we all have to start from scratch
and do a real design.
(pauses, judging Kelly)
And you'll design to our requirements.
(checks Kelly again)
Such as, we need more redundancy, so the
weight will go up, and the legs...
YOUNG ENGINEER
What about Dr. Gold?
JOHNSON
(looks up from his work)
Gold is full of shit! The moon's
surface is like Arizona.
Johnson tosses the drawing across to Young Engineer who
looks at it unbelievingly. There, in the hand of an artist,
is a workable design for folding legs.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN WORK AREA -- DAY
ON GRUMMIE'S BUTT
It is jeans-clad and, out over the belt, pokes a plaid
shirt. Its owner is on his hands and knees. A crude boxy
pack is strapped to his back and he is crawling in reverse
gear. As we PULL BACK we see that he is trying to "egress"
the front tube of a plywood LEM mockup. It looks like a
giant grouper fish spitting out a fat man.
GRUMMIE
I'm stuck.
ON MOCKUP INTERIOR
The other side, which is just the LEM face roughed out in
wood. We are in a work bay that feels like a big garage for
weekend do-it-yourself-ers. In the mockup, two complicated
chairs face four large curving window frames. Between the
seats we see the inboard side of the tunnel Grummie is
trying to escape. Young Engineer is leaning on the left
chair, carefully noting the proceedings. OLD GRUMMIE is
perched awkwardly in the right seat.
OLD GRUMMIE
Keep going Tony. You'll squeeze out!
(turns to Young Engineer)
So how was NASA?
YOUNG ENGINEER
Neat! We had the run of the place.
We're working with Caldwell Johnson and
Owen Maynard, sometimes even Max
Faget... Bunch of other crackerjacks.
OLD GRUMMIE
(fidgeting)
That's a big deal?
YOUNG ENGINEER
They did Mercury! They've done this.
He notices OLD GRUMMIE's fight to coordinate butt, backpack
and chair
YOUNG ENGINEER (CONT.)
I bet that seat will work better in
lunar gravity.
OLD GRUMMIE
Yup. Relax and enjoy a panoramic view
on the moon.
takes out a cigarette, lights it, and looks around the
widescreen window framework --
OLD GRUMMIE (CONT.)
I wonder what it will feel like? Can you
imagine?
Young Engineer's gaze is unfocused, his attention lost in
that comfortable, creative place in his mind.
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM -- DAY
We are in a very large, well lighted room with rows of
drafting tables. Tom Kelly is in a hurry but notices a group
of ten or so engineers, all in short-sleeved white shirts
and ties, milling about one table. This looks interesting.
Kelly changes course and, as he walks towards the gathering,
we HEAR the sound of earnest chatter.
ON YOUNG ENGINEER
YOUNG ENGINEER
Let me do something, Phil.
THE TABLE
He reaches over his friend and takes the knob of the
drafting machine, angling up a sightline. This drawing, on
the left, shows a man standing in front of a control panel
with a small triangular window at eye level. It will be the
finished version of a Caldwell Johnson-style sketch that
lies above it. To the right is the official seats/canopy
"fishface" configuration.
THE GROUP
Kelly is fixated on the drawing as he approaches.
YOUNG ENGINEER
(looking up)
Tom! We just got back from Houston.
We're sketching up something for your
preliminary design meeting.
Kelly is staring intently at the drawing
KELLY
The seats are gone!
THE DRAWING
YOUNG ENGINEER (O.S.)
Yes sir! We think the astronauts will be
just as comfortable standing up.
KELLY (O.S.)
That changes the front face geometry
completely... the windows!
ON YOUNG ENGINEER
YOUNG ENGINEER
We just need small ones,
(gesturing)
right up to your face!
THE GROUP
KELLY
How many square feet of window are we
talking about?
One of the young men, CIRCULAR, takes out his circular slide
rule and starts spinning it around. A second young man,
STICK, grabs his stick slide rule and the race is on.
CIRCULAR
Two point two!!
Stick acknowledges defeat and playfully bonks Circular with
his instrument.
KELLY
Amazing! How many pounds do we save?
Stick starts off quickly this time.
CIRCULAR
(not bothering to calculate)
A zillion!
STICK
(sarcastically)
A zillion point seven!
Everyone is giddy. This is it! Kelly beams at his boys,
ecstatic.
CUT TO:
EXT. LEM LANDING TEST PIT -- DAY
MUSIC
A contraption with legs is being flung into a bright sky. In
SLOW MOTION we see it being released from its tether.
FROM THE SIDE
It's three legs plow into the angled surface, but a turning
force, imparted by the slope, flips it over in a cloud of
flying sand.
INTERCUT CLOSE-UPS:
A four-legged version crashes, its legs too close to the
body...
...The same model impacts but pauses before slowly going
over...
...A tumbling wreck...
...A model with slightly wider legs, tips, hangs on two
legs, then starts to come back. Before it does we --
FAST INTERCUT:
-- FOUR different angles of the rebounding, then we --
HOLD
On the craft successfully achieving a stable stance,
straddling the slope.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM -- NIGHT
We are looking at the Grumman Design Room from the darkened
and empty Drafting Room. It is obviously very late. There
are windows into the room through which we see nine men
including Manager, Engineer and Young Engineer, sitting
around the large central table.
INT. GRUMMAN DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
Kelly is standing at the front of the room by the BLACKBOARD
listening to Manager talking technical. In big letters on
the board is scrawled "S.W.I.P." Taped to the wall is an
enormous GRAPH that plots the LEM weight growth.
ON GRAPH
As we slowly PAN across it, following the rising trend line,
we HEAR:
MANAGER (O.S.)
... so we found another six and a half
pounds we can shave off the skins by
chem-milling a better pattern.
ON KELLY
At the blackboard.
KELLY
(smiling ruefully)
Don't go too far!
POV KELLY
Scanning the room. Shirts and ties are shuffling paper.
They are listening, though.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Frank found he could sculpt out about a
pound and a quarter from the SLA support
fittings.
There are sarcastic calls of "great"
ENGINEER
(To Young Engineer,
skeptically)
Those have to carry the entire load of
the LEM at nine gees. Ultimate.
YOUNG ENGINEER
(Shrugs)
Talk to Frank.
A silence settles on the group. They are running out of
things to cut.
KELLY
(Looking at Engineer)
Didn't you say you were doing something.
ENGINEER
It's an idea that our thermal group is
playing with. We haven't done all the
numbers just yet.
KELLY
Tell us.
ENGINEER
Well, we want to store the Helium at
Supercritical temperatures.
His colleagues don't react.
ENGINEER (CONT.)
That's minus four hundred and fifty
degrees for you mechs. The Helium
becomes a weird "liquid" gas.
The men, blank, can't seem to get in gear. Engineer goes to
the blackboard.
ENGINEER (CONT.)
Right now we're storing high pressure
Helium gas in two big tanks at ambient
temperature.
(looking at this bunch of
numskulls)
It's the gas we use to pressurize the
propellants.
They're stuck trying to make a weight connection
ENGINEER (CONT.)
(teasing)
You know.
(waits)
We have to push the fuel and oxidizer
out of their tanks to burn them... To
make thrust in the Descent Engine!
KELLY
(working the gag)
We are "Rocket Scientists." Remember
that.
MANAGER
(To Engineer)
So what?
ENGINEER
(smiling)
Well, if we can keep the Helium cold, at
supercritical temperatures, we just need
one tank.
Engineer draws a tank with "SHe" written in it
YOUNG ENGINEER
What if you can't keep it cold?
MANAGER
(announcer's voice)
Grumman's Supercritical Anti-Personnel
Device!!
Everyone chuckles.
KELLY
How much weight would it save?
ENGINEER
(deadpan)
Two fifty, maybe three hundred pounds.
Silent gaping.
CUT TO:
THE ROOM
From a distance. It ERUPTS with laughter.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. MOCK-UP HANGER -- NIGHT
THE PORCH/WINDOW
A space-suited ED WHITE hangs suspended from a support
contraption. It is completely dark, save for the very bright
pool of light that illuminates his immediate surroundings: a
flat PORCH and the mocked-up front FACE of the new,
"standup" LEM. His buddy, ROGER CHAFFEE, is just visible
through the Commander's window to the right.
CHAFFEE (RADIO)
Hey Ed, just jump.
White looks to the side and down, eyeing what seems to be a
thick, knotted rope bought from a "Fixit" place. It hangs
from a tall strut off the descent stage top deck. This is
his only way down to the "lunar" surface. He addresses Young
Engineer, unseen to us on the darkened floor below.
WHITE (RADIO)
You know this is a rope? This is a rope
on a spacecraft. Are you gonna sub-
contract for it, or get it at the "Space
Hardware Store"?
YOUNG ENGINEER (O.S.) (RADIO)
Let's see what happens.
CHAFFEE (RADIO)
Swing Ed! Do the monkey man!
WHITE (RADIO)
Okay, Houston. I will now fall off the
LEM.
POV CHAFFEE
Looking at White through his window as White disappears down
into the murk. There are grunting NOISES over the intercom
which we slowly begin to tune out.
COMMANDER'S STATION
Chaffee pretends to land, exercising "air" hand controllers.
CHAFFEE
(barely audible)
Shooooooo, Psshhh, Psshhh... Thump!
(To himself, dramatically)
Houston, Apollo.
He looks out the window at the "lunar" vista.
CHAFFEE (CONT.)
Man has landed on the Moon!
He stops abruptly and gazes at the paper console. He
reaches up and slowly runs his hand along the drawing for an
attitude indicator.
CHAFFEE
(softly)
Jesus...
EXT. WHITE SANDS -- DAY
From a distance we see three men, JACK PROCTOR, CONTRACTOR
and LYNN RADCLIFFE, coming together on a desert HILLTOP
overlooking a bleak arrangement of TUNNELS and large
CHAMBERS. They begin to exchange greetings.
THE MEN
Proctor is at the end of his introductions.
PROCTOR
(to Contractor)
... Lynn Radcliffe is Grumman's Site
Manager here, Dick.
(to Radcliffe)
Welcome to White Sands!
Radcliffe, smiling, does a short bow.
PROCTOR
Are your people finding houses?
RADCLIFFE
Everybody is helping us, thank you very
much Jack. I hope North Amercan will
find us to be good neighbors.
He looks over the scene. Desert, mountains... nothing like
green Long Island.
RADCLIFFE (CONT.)
We could have tested the propulsion
systems on Long Island but some guy
tells me Nitrogen Tetroxide is toxic.
Can you believe it?
PROCTOR
Don't tell the folks in town okay? I
have nightmares of brown clouds oozing
out over the landscape.
(hustles them up the hill)
We're gonna try this special demo of the
Hypergols -- see if it's scary.
CONTRACTOR
At the Cape they do it for everybody
new.
He starts handing out helmet-sized bags.
EXT. WHITE SANDS HILL -- SAME.
The three men have now donned hard-hats, goggles and huge
ear-protectors. They observe a yellow SUITED man in the
distance arrange two tiny containers around a metal cup.
Radcliffe stands flush to the demo with his hands on his
hips -- a spinnaker waiting for a gust of wind.
PROCTOR
(demo voice)
A couple of tablespoons of oxidizer --
Nitrogen Tetroxide -- and a bit less of
fuel -- Aerozine Fifty -- ... don't need
a spark for this...
he turns slightly bending his knees
PROCTOR (CONT.)
... now --
sees Radcliffe and tries not to smile. He exaggerates his
stance. Radcliffe, surprised, braces himself.
PROCTOR (CONT.)
..Ladies and Gentlemen --
CUT TO:
FLAME
Huge and orange, that shoots twenty feet straight up. There
is a sharp CONCUSSION.
ON RADCLIFFE
You know Jack, we're already smart
enough to be scared out of our pants.
(thinks, shakes his head)
We're gonna squeeze that stuff out
through complicated plumbing and ignite
it a few feet behind live astronauts?
PROCTOR
(laughing)
You bet!
INT. GRUMMAN WORKROOM -- DAY
CLOSE ON HAND SILHOUETTE
Backlit through thin aluminum sheet. It evokes the primitive
hand print painted on the cave walls at Lascaux.
MACHINIST (O.S)
Shit! I can see my hand. We burned a
couple too many molecules off that one
George.
We are in another workroom. Machinist and FITTER are
standing at a waist high table, with various thin sheets of
aluminum. Machinist picks up another one.
MACHINIST
God! This is a cabin skin. Look. You on
this side --
(holds it edgewise)
-- on this side: Space... Vacuum!
(flips his hand over)
Vacuum... You! That's twelve mils.
Twelve thousandths of an inch of
aluminum between you and vacuum. That's
three sheets of my wife's aluminum foil!
FITTER
I get it.
MACHINIST
We're building this thing out of tissue
paper!
INT. MOCKUP HANGAR -- DAY
CAPTION: "MOCKUP REVIEW DAY"
There are many people wandering about the large hangar area,
all looking and pointing at something off-screen. The
atmosphere is "cocktail party" except that, here, they serve
data packages and performance graphs. It is the final NASA
Mockup Review, Chairman Owen Maynard, presiding.
MAYNARD and KELLY
Both looking slightly upwards, their eyes shifting with
purpose.
KELLY
Well, Owen. Does it finally look like
that design you've always had in your
desk?
MAYNARD
Ha, right!
(searches about)
Have you seen Herr Doctor Von Braun?
KELLY
He's up in the cabin playing.
Kelly nods his head at the unseen focus of this gathering.
Behind them approaches a man, GEORGE MUELLER, in a severe
suit. Maynard, turning back, sees him and prepares an
introduction.
MAYNARD
(arranging himself)
Here comes Dr. Mueller.
Kelly moves towards MUELLER.
KELLY
Dr. Mueller, I'm Tom Kelly, LEM Project
Engineer.
The two men shake hands.
MUELLER
Of course I know who you are.
KELLY
(glances upwards)
Well, what do you think?
ON MUELLER
We move around him until we see over his shoulder and, at
last, behold the LUNAR EXCURSION MODULE MOCKUP.
POV MUELLER
As we look over the strange craft --
MUELLER (O.S.)
It's Ugly...
We examine the LEM mockup in detail now. See the landing
gear and.. a ladder!.. going to a new porch. The triangular
windows give the vehicle a scowling appearance as if it is
not too happy to be a thing of many bumps. The lack of
symmetry doesn't help.
MUELLER (O.S.) (CONT.)
It's cock-eyed... lopsided... and
unaerodynamic!
ON MUELLER
MUELLER (CONT.)
-- It's ugly.
KELLY (O.S.)
Yes sir --
ON KELLY
KELLY (CONT.)
(smiling)
Let me show you the details.
MOCKUP HANGAR and MEN
We FOLLOW them from behind as they get closer to the LEM.
Suddenly the figure of Von Braun appears, backing out of its
"mouth." He turns around on the porch, his hands gripping
the railings, and spots Mueller.
VON BRAUN
George! You have to go inside. It's
great!
As MUELLER grabs the ladder, Maynard and Kelly hang back.
MAYNARD
(to Kelly)
It's the best mockup I've ever seen.
Textbook.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN MOCKUP HANGER -- SAME
Engineer is standing with Chaffee and White at Quad IV, the
right front face of the Descent Stage. He is holding two
large sheets of shiny material, one silver and one gold.
ENGINEER
(answering a question)
This silver-looking stuff is Mylar. We
make a blanket of twenty five layers of
it, then wrap the entire vehicle with
the blanket, on the inside, to isolate
it from the temperature extremes of
space.
CHAFFEE
Is that other one real gold?
ENGINEER
(putting down the Mylar)
No. It's just a plastic film called
"Kapton", or "H-film." We deposit
aluminum on one side.
He crinkles the Kapton.
ENGINEER
Wherever we get high heat we'll put
this, or maybe "Inconel" or "Pyromark"
paint... maybe something else.
WHITE
On the outside?
THE LEM QUAD IV THRUSTERS
ENGINEER (O.S.)
We don't know yet. We're doing shock
tunnel tests to find out where all the
jets will burn holes in us.
CHAFFEE (O.S)
So it won't look slick like that?
ON ENGINEER
ENGINEER
When we're through with the
spacecraft... it'll probably look like
an unmade bed.
INT. GRUMMAN MOCKUP HANGAR -- SAME
We intrude on an argument near Quad III: SHe tank territory.
Faget is relentless. Kelly, calm, still with a smile on his
face, expected this.
FAGET
... know what that SHe tank will do if
you loose thermal control?!
KELLY
We're engineering the problem, Max.
FAGET
Hey! This is NASA. Do the ambient tanks!
KELLY
This is Grumman. We'll do the ambient
tanks.
(loses his smile for a second)
If the SHe Tank doesn't work.
Faget turns to Maynard, one of several onlookers to this
action.
FAGET
What do you think, Maynard?
MAYNARD
Faget, let's do the engineering!
FAGET
It's crappy engineering. This is gonna
be such a pain in the ass!
Faget and Maynard walk away, engaged in Round Four of an old
fight. Mueller moves forward and extends his hand to Kelly.
MUELLER
Very nice Mockup.
(shaking hands)
Now you have two years to build real
ones.
Kelly is still smiling.
INT. WHITE SANDS ALTITUDE CHAMBER -- NIGHT
C.U. A MAN'S FACE
Through the face-plate of a strange, YELLOW SUIT. A large
bib extends downward from the viewport of the headgear to
about mid-chest.
We PULL BACK to reveal the altitude chamber in which he is
working. The man, HENRY ICKSTADT, is carefully breaking down
a piece of Oxidizer feed line in a LEM Propulsion Rig.
Suddenly, a brown gas sprays from the connector.
ICKSTADT
There's pressure on that line! En2-Oh4
is in the chamber!!
ON GAS
We see a brown, gaseous ooze that's rising near his belly.
He leans forward and the helmet bib opens up into the gas
cloud.
ICKSTADT
WHA' ... ?
SHIT!!... Ah. AAA!!
ICKSTADT screams. He backpedals towards the chamber door
but, before he can get there, he is overwhelmed. He tears
off his helmet just as two men, in similar suits, enter and
grab him.
EXT. WHITE SANDS CHAMBER APRON -- SAME
CLOSE ON ICKSTADT
His face red, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, as he screams
--
ICKSTADT
MY EYES!!..
A jet of water from the SHOWER station hits him full in the
face. The other men pry his eyes open, letting the water
spray dilute the poison that attacks him. He continues his
screaming.
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE SANDS OFFICE -- DAY
Radcliffe is in a chair in a corner of his office. ASSISTANT
arrives and sits down opposite his boss.
RADCLIFFE
(morose)
How is he now?
ASSISTANT
He's probably lost his sight in one eye.
(looking at a report)
This nasty shit just leaks. It eats out
through everything!
Radcliffe says nothing.
ASSISTANT
We're turning everything inside out to
find out why there was pressure in that
line, Lynn.
(taking a deep breath)
And we still have to do the test
sequence to support the first flight!
The deadline is Christmas or we'll delay
the mission.
Radcliffe holds his head in his hands.
ASSISTANT
(misunderstanding)
I'm sure we can do it.
RADCLIFFE
(shakes his head)
We hurt a man very badly today...
We're lucky it wasn't worse.
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM NIGHT
Young Engineer is working by himself at a drafting table.
Outside his circle of light, the drafting room is dark and
abandoned.
YOUNG ENGINEER
(flat)
My God...
He looks desperately at the sheets of drawings and figures
that surround him. They show a complex spaghetti pattern of
plumbing. In the bottom right corner of the big DRAWING is
a number beginning with "LDW-280," the LEM Ascent Stage
drawing code.
YOUNG ENGINEER
(slowly, as the first tingle
of shock begins to settle in)
That can't be.
(staring blankly at the
blunder before him)
You stupid... stupid jerk!
Young Engineer picks up a phone and rotary dials a number,
still staring at his mess.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Could you come to the plant and check
something for me?
(checks his watch)
Ten twenty... Yeah, it's serious...
Thanks.
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM -- SAME
Stick is working his slide rule looking up occasionally at
Young Engineer's drafting table.
STICK
That's a big one. How did we miss that
in the review?
YOUNG ENGINEER
I don't understand. All the details are
perfect!
STICK
Except the whole thing's wrong.
(pointing at a part in the
drawing)
That flange isn't strong enough. When we
fire the Ascent Engine the pipe could
rupture from this resonant frequency.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Well that's what's in the test chamber
at White Sands.
(struggles)
I have to call Kelly.
STICK
Now?
YOUNG ENGINEER
If they fire the engine before we fix
this, it could cost us a week... weeks!
Young Engineer begins dialing
STICK
That's a million bucks!
(a bad idea comes to him)
How much do you make?
YOUNG ENGINEER
(listening on the phone)
Seven thousand... crap! Not there.
(He sees into the abyss)
I'd better call the V. P.
Stick nods sympathetically.
C.U. FINGER
-- Young Engineer's, poised, trembling over the dialer. It
goes in...
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM -- SAME
ON EXEC
Casually dressed, eyes boring --
EXEC
Who's mistake was it?
YOUNG ENGINEER (O.S.)
Mine Sir. Do you want to check the
numbers?
ON YOUNG ENGINEER
EXEC (O.S.)
I believe you. I'll call White Sands. I
think we can work this problem tomorrow.
He spots Kelly
EXEC
There's Tom now..
Tom Kelly comes running towards the group. EXEC takes him
abruptly aside.
EXEC
Tom, I need to speak with you.
Kelly looks at Young Engineer, who is obviously stricken.
EXEC pulls him away from the two junior men.
EXEC
The LEM's in trouble Tommy.
KELLY
The design is good.
EXEC
Yes, but we have to build it and verify
your design.
(pausing, taking real stock)
You know we have to build fifteen
perfect LEMs to support the missions.
But right now, Spacecraft Assembly and
Test is bogged down. We'd like you to
get the line moving.
KELLY
No more fun, huh?
EXEC
(there is a tiny hint of
panic in the strong man)
I'm not sure we can pull this off in
time.
Kelly manages a curt nod.
EXEC
You'd better take care of this kid.
INT. GRUMMAN DRAFTING ROOM -- SAME
YOUNG ENGINEER
I made a real screw up.
KELLY
Okay.
(looks at Young Engineer with
concern)
YOUNG ENGINEER
Do you... want me off the project?
The words trigger a strange kind of catatonic panic in the
young man. Bursting into tears would be better.
KELLY
Did you call it or did you try and save
your ass?
Young Engineer tries to speak but has no response to the
absurd notion.
KELLY
There's your answer.
(looking into Young Engineer's
eyes)
Go home!
Young Engineer is numb.
KELLY (CONT.)
Get some sleep!
(more softly)
We'll start a complete design review
first thing... tomorrow morning. See you
then.
He doesn't see Kelly leave. Somehow Young Engineer begins to
integrate a new data point. He has reached his nadir. It
will make him able to handle what's coming up.
INT. WHITE SANDS BLOCK HOUSE -- DAY
C.U. MONITOR
Showing the backside of a LEM Ascent Stage test rig, its
engine poised over a nine foot diameter gate. We HEAR the
muffled vibration of the high pressure Steam System as it
sucks the air out of the test chamber, two hundred feet
away.
ON TEST CONDUCTOR
TEST CONDUCTOR
Three Two One, ..okay.. IGNITION!
C.U. MONITOR
The base of the engine bell shakes slightly, then emits a
pale brownish plume into the steam of the vacuum gate.
INTERCUT BETWEEN:
the consoles, monitors, and several men wearing headsets, as
they check systems and do their serious, all-consuming ten
seconds.
CONTROLLER
HUNDRED PERCENT!!
TEST CONDUCTOR
okay.. okay.. STOP!!
CONTROLLER
SHUTDOWN!!
TEST CONDUCTOR
..'kay let's get this baby safed.
RADCLIFFE
How are we doing Bill?
TEST CONDUCTOR
Vehicle is safe.
RADCLIFFE
All right. Alright! Good job.
(looking at his schedule)
We're getting there!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. GRUMMAN S/CAT -- EVENING
CAPTION: "GRUMMAN S/CAT: JANUARY 27, 1967"
White walls, white smocks, and white scaffolding define this
area -- the Spacecraft Assembly and Test Bay. Here is where
the star of our piece is being built and checked. The faint
ECHOS of great activity all around give us a feel for the
size of the place. Kelly and Radcliffe, in hats and smocks,
are walking near a test cell.
KELLY
Everything is late Lynn. We're supposed
to test LEM One in orbit in three
months. If it works, then we fly LEM Two
in the summer... with astronauts
onboard!
RADCLIFFE
Who'll fly it first?
KELLY
Probably McDivitt.
He spots some activity nearby and shakes his head.
KELLY
(annoyed)
We've got people wasting time in these
complicated procedures. Everybody's
working on each vehicle like we're
building cars in a factory.
Radcliffe is silent, strolling beside his friend.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN S/CAT -- SAME
C.U. LEM WINDOW
Through its protective plastic we can see a GRID painted on
both panes of glass. We PULL BACK as a pair of white-gloved
hands remove the black cheek panel. Crinkled, bright yellow
Kapton, covers everything beneath. TECH starts digging
around the thermal blanket, unable to locate a fitting.
TECH
Damn blankets...
CABIN TECH (O.S.)
Hi, Clayton.
Tech looks up --
POV TECH
-- just as a pair of feet begin to disappear into the LEM's
front hatch.
C.U. CABIN TECH'S FEET
-- clad in big boots! The required bootie covers can't hide
the serious nature of this footwear.
TECH
Are those BOOTS?!! Are those boots you
got on?
CABIN TECH (O.S.)
It's winter!
TECH
You may as well bring a pair of
sledgehammers into the cabin. You could
kick in the walls with those
clodhoppers!
CABIN TECH
I'm careful.
TECH
(sees someone)
Well, just stay there. Here comes
Kelly!
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN S/CAT -- SAME
Kelly and Radcliffe, absorbed in conversation, wander over
to the "guard" DESK of the Test Cell. We see a sign - "LM-3
THIS IS A MANNED VEHICLE." White girders envelop the
spacecraft and, where braces extend below head height, they
are covered in red "goalpost" cushions. The LEM looks like
it has been torn into by a shark. Kapton and Mylar blankets
are taped back from holes in the thin aluminum structure.
There are DESKS running down the side of the cell, on which
rest massive VOLUMES about how to fit the million LEM bits
and pieces together. Behind the desks, buried within GROUND
SUPPORT EQUIPMENT, is a little nook -- with a COT. Kelly
spies a body, fully smocked, lying asleep on the cot. Kelly
goes to DESK TECH nearby.
KELLY
Who the hell's that?
DESK TECH
We're doing tests and, ah.. that's "Bed
Bug." The astronaut.
KELLY
Fred Haise? Nobody goes home around
here!
(goes over to HAISE)
Freddo! Hey Fred!
Haise looks up.
KELLY
Go home!
HAISE
We're not going to make it Tommy.
KELLY
We'll get you to the moon.
A phone RINGS somewhere, then several others. There begins a
MURMURING that swells to a COMMOTION thoughout the Bay. The
phone near Desk Tech RINGS.
DESK TECH
Oh, God! Just a second.
(looking up)
Tom? There was a bad fire at the Cape.
They think the Apollo 1 crew is dead!
Everyone is stunned. Haise, grim, throws his hat off and
runs out.
INT. NASA HOUSTON EXECUTIVE OFFICE -- DAY
Kelly and Young Engineer are sitting in front of APOLLO
BRASS, NASA Brass, and Maynard. This is the government
version of Grumman's executive office -- less cozy. Maynard
is to one side of his NASA bosses. His center of gravity is
more with Kelly.
APOLLO BRASS
You're late! But... because of the
fire, you are no longer officially
holding us up. However. Once we get the
Command Module fixed and fire-proof, I
still see you preventing us from landing
on the moon within the deadline.
KELLY
(calmly)
Listen. Let's keep LEMs One and Two in
flow and forget about doing all the fire
protection to them. We can do the
changes starting with LEM Three. Man-
rate it, and on down the line. That way
we'll fly the unmanned test with LEM One
at the beginning of next year and have
LEM Two ready if we need a second test.
APOLLO BRASS
I'm very unhappy.
NASA BRASS
(looking at Kelly and Maynard)
One more thing: We don't call it the
Lunar Excursion Module anymore. It's
just the Lunar Module. El Em. There will
be no excursion. It will land.
EXT. NASA HOUSTON WALKWAY -- DAY
Kelly and Young Engineer are hustling through the winding
cobble WALKWAYS of the Manned Spacecraft Center "campus."
Their goal is straight ahead but there are no beelines here.
YOUNG ENGINEER
What the hell do they want? We got
started more than a year after everybody
else.
(he gets no reply)
Man! The fire saved our asses!
KELLY
It saved the program..
(looks at Young Engineer)
..and don't ever say that again!
INT. NASA HOUSTON SPAN -- DAY
ON KELLY
wearing an old-fashioned gray HEADSET, mike boom swiveled
up, listening intently to the Mission Control loop.
ON MAYNARD
intent, listening. His HEADSET is a new, lightweight sexy
number.
SPAN ROOM
We see the two men sitting on swivel chairs. They are in
ANOTHER big design room with tables except that everyone has
HEADSETS. It seems to be a poor man's Mission Control.
CAPTION: "LM-1 -- FIRST FLIGHT -- UNMANNED"
CAPTION: "JANUARY 22, 1968"
MCC - HOUSTON (O.S.)(RADIO)
Are we ready on the DPS burn? Countdown!
Two seconds... okay we're burning!
Thrust is building... a bit too slow...
KELLY
Oh no, that damn...
MCC - HOUSTON (O.S.) (RADIO)
SHUTDOWN!
KELLY
Goddamn it!
CUT TO:
INT. NASA HOUSTON PRESENTATION ROOM -- DAY
POV KELLY
The somber faces of NASA senior engineering management greet
Kelly as he enters his judgment room. They include NASA
Brass, Apollo Brass, George Mueller, and Max Faget. Maynard
is at the front with Kelly.
ON MAYNARD
MAYNARD
I think that if you do the analysis you
will agree with us that Lunar Module One
passed all of its tests, except for the
first burn, and that we don't need to
fly Lunar Module Two.
APOLLO BRASS
Why don't you let us make up our own
minds. Give us your presentation.
POV KELLY
As he slowly scans the room of tough nuts and begins the
defense of his work, his "LEM":
KELLY (O.S.)
Well the onboard computer shut down the
first burn because the Supercritical
Helium tank, the SHe tank, didn't warm
up fast enough. Therefore it couldn't
pressurize the propellant and produce
thrust within the guidance computer's
programmed time window. If we'd had an
astronaut onboard he could have easily
overridden the computer and kept it
going. We've added a small ambient
Helium start bottle to solve that
problem and, as I'll explain, every
other burn and all of the systems worked
pretty well after that.
ON KELLY
Smiles.
ON ROOM
Cold stares back.
ON KELLY
KELLY
El Em Three is next.
ON KELLY
As we slowly pivot around him, he is hit by a barrage of:
VOICES (O.S.)
What about the:
...Ascent Engine Injector!
Stress Corrosion!
...Wire Gauge!
Autopilot Mismatch!
Thermal Blanket holes!
...Heat Exchanger!...
KELLY
(shouting over the hubbub)
LEM Three is next - with men!
INT. NASA HOUSTON BLDG. 5 -- DAY
We FOLLOW JIM MCDIVITT as he strides, as well as his space
suit will let him, down a sterile HALLWAY. He cuts through a
row of computer CABINETS and finally arrives at the COMMAND
MODULE simulator station. He is pissed.
MCDIVITT
(to TRAINER)
You're telling me that we still can't
run our procedures?
TRAINER
Jim, the Apollo Seven crew's still
workin' a problem.
MCDIVITT
(cold)
Very well.
POV TRAINER
We watch the back of McDivitt as he waddles away with a
purpose.
ON DEKE SLAYTON
rounding a corner. He stops.
SLAYTON
Jim!
ON MCDIVITT
MCDIVITT
Deke! Too bad you bumped into me.
MCDIVITT AND SLAYTON
SLAYTON
What do you mean?
MCDIVITT
(cold the whole way)
You are about to lose your Apollo 8
commander.
SLAYTON
What?
MCDIVITT
My crew can't get ready to fly our
mission. Schirra's keeping all the sim
time.
SLAYTON
It's a big flight, Jim. He's gonna get
us back on track.
MCDIVITT
(finally showing life)
Our flight is a big one. Complex! There
are two spacecraft to coordinate for the
first time! At this moment I can't
guarantee I'll deliver a competent crew.
SLAYTON
Okay.
(looks back)
I need to talk to you anyway. You may
get more time.
INT. NASA HOUSTON SUIT ROOM -- DAY
In the astronaut's "locker room" -- instead of sneakers and
towels there are bits of suit lying around as the three
astronauts clean up after their training session.
SCHWEICKART is a lean man with short, bright red bristles
for hair. He is still in his "space" underwear, flipping a
suit glove that has the name "SCOTT" on it.
SCOTT is perfect. If you could pick from God's bin of
attributes at birth, you would be this man. He has already
taken care of business -- he is clean and casually dressed.
MCDIVITT is still in his "pigga," minus helmet and gloves,
talking on a phone about the sim they managed to squeeze in.
He puts the receiver down and waits, assessing his crew.
MCDIVITT
We've got a choice guys. Do you want to
be the first around the moon or the
first to fly the LEM?
He gives his crew a couple of seconds to assimilate this
cryptic and threatening question.
MCDIVITT
We all know our LEM is late... So
they're bumping it back to Apollo Nine.
If Apollo Seven is successful they're
sending Dave's Command Module to the
Moon.
(with some trepidation)
The question I pose to each of you is:
do we want to go with it -- or give it
to Borman?
McDivitt's gaze goes straight through Scott.
ON SCOTT
SCOTT
Why are you looking at me?
MCDIVITT (O.S.)
(with feeling)
You've put your guts into that ship.
SCOTT
Well..
He takes a deep breath, running through the consequences:
Lovell probably has made a mess out of CSM 104. But perhaps
he has time to clean it up, make it like his ship, CSM 103.
Perfect.
SCOTT (CONT.)
... Borman is gonna be glad for that.
ON SCHWEICKART
grinning broadly, still an LMP!
SCHWEICKART
Yah!! He'll be famous!
MCDIVITT
Alright! We'll keep the test pilot's
dream flight and let Borman get the
glory.
They nod with satisfaction, but the mood needs a bit more of
a lift.
MCDIVITT
Why don't we settle our names?
This is their big joke of the mission.
MCDIVITT
Is "Gumdrop" still okay for the Command
Module?
SCOTT
Yep.
MCDIVITT
And the LEM?
SCHWEICKART and SCOTT
(in unison)
"SPIDER"!
SCHWEICKART
Jim, you know we'll be three spacecraft
at one point. When I'm in the suit on
the backpack and everything, I'm a
separate ship.
MCDIVITT
Oh I see. Who's your commander then?
SCHWEICKART
(chuckles)
No, we need one more name.
MCDIVITT
Ha! That's easy!! "Red One."
SCOTT
I got a good name for you, Rusty.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. NASA KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -- NIGHT
We are on a roadside leading to Pad 39A. We HEAR the sounds
of Merritt Island swamp-life as we look towards the Saturn 5
Launch Vehicle three miles away. Even the haze of mosquitoes
can't diminish this moment of Mystery. A shaft of clean
light fans upwards from the pad and casts a thin pencil
shadow on a passing cloud. A hundred such beams pause on the
pure white skin of the rocket, then bend out over the
horizon.
CAPTION: "LAUNCH VEHICLE CLOSE-OUT -- APOLLO 9"
CAPTION: "MARCH 2, 1969"
A car drives by with pad workers. Barely audible are the
constant echoing calls that hector them, even from this
distance:
VOICE (O.S.) (SPEAKERS)
... STAN WILKES, BOEING, call your OPS
at TWO FIVE FIVE... BILL DAVIS,
MCDONNELL, SEVEN TWO NINE...
CUT TO:
INT. PAD 39A, LEVEL 280 -- SAME
C.U. A MAN's LIPS
As they gently kiss a plastic BAG. We PULL BACK to reveal
Grumman KSC Manager GEORGE SKURLA in clean room attire.
Through its bagging, he touches the front HATCH for the
first manned Lunar Module.
SKURLA
(quietly)
Good luck...
We FOLLOW two Grumman Pad techs, PAD LEADER and PAD TECH, as
they take the hatch and carry it to a small open PORT on the
side of the Spacecraft/LM Adapter. PAD LEADER brushes a spot
on the bag.
PAD LEADER
George just kissed the hatch.
PAD TECH
Hope it helps.
SPEAKER (O.S.)
... GEORGE SKURLA, GRUMMAN, call NASA
ONE THREE EIGHT...
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SAME
POV LGC
From the back of the midsection, looking forward over the
engine cover, the LM Guidance Computer (LGC) has a "view" of
the final proceedings before launch. The two front windows
look out into the angled coppery walls of the adapter
section. The hatch opening is still without its hatch.
We stay here, sharing this PRESENCE that the entire machine
embodies. The years of great and careful effort by
thousands has congealed into this shape, this ability: to
fly our imagination to the moon.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SAME
POV SAME
Fred Haise in cap and coveralls is crawling through the
square hatch opening. In his hand is a small BOOK with three
silver rings. He sands up, stares at "us" and elsewhere,
obviously wishing to find a place he could stow himself
away.
BEAN (O.S.)
Hey Freddo! Fred! Do you have my Close-
Out Checklist?
HAISE
Yes, Al.
BEAN (O.S.)
Don't start setting any switches.
That's my job!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SAME
POV SAME
A white-gloved HAND, belonging to Pad Tech, is closing dome-
fasteners immediately to our right. The hand moves away to
reveal a man with a HASSELBLAD camera and flash unit,
PHOTOGRAPHER, who now aims it in our direction and FLASHES a
shot, blinding us. Pad Tech then pulls away the Flight Data
File covers, to our left, checks the BOOKS, and returns the
covers. Photographer shoots that and then moves away. When
Photographer's head is turned, Pad Tech sees something at
the File and smoothes it down. Photographer turns and looks
at Pad Tech.
PHOTOGRAPHER
(accusingly)
Did you touch that again?!
Pad Tech smiles sheepishly. Photographer focuses on the File
once more and FLASHES.
DISOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SAME
POV SAME
Pad Leader, on his hands and knees, is checking the lip of
the now installed front hatch. Satisfied, he slowly pulls
it tight against the frame gasket, leaving us in darkness.
We HEAR the door latch locking.
CUT TO:
INT. NASA HOUSTON SPAN -- DAY
Maynard is sitting at the table, plugged into the
controller's loop. He sees Kelly walk in and gets up to
greet him.
MAYNARD
Welcome back to SPAN, Tom!
KELLY
(ambivalently)
It's nice to be where the real action
is.
Maynard laughs. Kelly dumps a huge tome, the "Spacecraft
Operational Data Book," on the table beside Maynard and gets
himself hooked up.
KELLY
I need a better loop into Mission
Control this time, though.
MAYNARD
They'll call us if something blows up.
KELLY
If that happens I'll call Long Island.
We've got a great support room now.
MAYNARD
Hope we don't need it. I'd like to just
watch.
INT. GRUMMAN DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
Twelve engineers are sitting around the table, some with
comm HEADSETS, others just studying flight DOCUMENTATION.
The weight chart and other design-related wall dressing is
replaced by Apollo 9 mission SCHEMATICS. We HEAR the last
stages of the countdown coming from two small SPEAKERS:
SPEAKERS
".. will be handled by the onboard
computers.. twenty seconds.."
ENGINEER
(entering the room)
How's everything holding up?
MANAGER
Your SHe tank is right on the limit.
YOUNG ENGINEER
SHeee....
SPEAKERS
"fifteen... fourteen... thirteen..."
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN WORKROOM -- SAME
The blue collar Grummies are hunched around a T.V. set in
their "garage."
OLD GRUMMIE
C'mon bay-bee!!
T.V.
"twelve... eleven... ten..."
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN S/CAT -- SAME
The LM test stand is covered with "white smocks", sitting
anywhere they can. We HEAR the reverberations of the
Assembly Bay Speakers:
SPEAKERS
" ignition sequence start... the engines
are coming up to full power.. three.."
CUT TO:
INT. NASA HOUSTON SPAN -- SAME
ON MAYNARD
SPEAKERS
" two... one ... zero!!"
ON KELLY
SPEAKERS
" Liftoff !! .. Liftoff on Apollo
Nine!.."
CUT TO:
EXT. SKY OVER COAST OF FLORIDA -- SAME
We float peacefully at 22,000 feet. Time: Eleven hours,
zero minutes, fifty eight seconds, Eastern Standard.
Suddenly, one mile in the distance, the rising Saturn 5
rocket slashes the sky. Shrouded in a shock wave, trailing a
500 foot sun-bright FLAME, the great ship is just breaking
the sound barrier. Our view, reacting a bit late, TRACKS the
stangely QUIET rocket as it steaks by.
Immediately we are hit by the tremendous force of the shock
front and are overwhelmed by a CRACKLING ROAR. The noise
stays with us, even as the flame quickly dims to a small dot
high above.
MUSIC begins and continues through LM ACTIVATION.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- IN ORBIT -- DAY
The sky goes from deep blue, to black, in a matter of a few
seconds as we move, fast, through the layers of atmosphere.
We are 120 miles above the Atlantic going at 17,400 mph,
just ahead of the Apollo 9 stack. We see the Saturn Third
Stage which is still firing its single engine. It is
catching up.
We pan right to left, leaving the vehicle and crossing the
deep black background until the sun is directly overhead --
orbital noon.
HOLD
In seconds, Apollo 9 has caught up to us. It passes below
the sun, its engine emitting a thin rooster tail of white
exhaust. Just before it leaves our view, the engine shuts
down in a spray of fine particles.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- SEPARATION -- DAY
THE SIVB THRUSTERS
Jets of orange gas pop from the booster attitude control
module in a final correction to nudge Apollo 9 into place.
We PULL BACK, PAN and TRACK up the side of the Stage until
we HOLD, looking straight up the Radius Vector into deep
space -- the attached SLA Adapter and "Gumdrop" Command
Service Module is in the foreground, from an oblique angle.
There is an INAUDIBLE shake at the interface. A ring of
explosive bolts severs Gumdrop's grip on the adapter and the
spacecraft slowly moves away, aided by a three second burst
from its aft facing jets. We can see into the little
nozzles as they fire.
For several seconds the CSM creeps away at a half foot per
second. Just before this gets tedious, the foreground
EXPLODES in a frenzy of bright particles. The SLA PANELS
split into four and open up like a giant mechanical flower.
Each petal pivots about its base until it flips away from
the lower SLA section in slow motion.
Flakes of ice prism the sunlight into flashes of yellow, red
and blue. Through this spectacle, just over the lip of the
SLA section, we can see a bit of the silver and black skin
of "Spider."
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- 250 FEET FROM APOLLO 9 -- DAY
The spacecraft and Third Stage are in the distance.
Forty seconds after the SLA panel jettison, Gumdrop is
twenty feet from the stack and is pitching around. Suddenly,
it becomes obvious that something is coming at us!
Panel Two of the SLA, tumbling slowly, grows to fill the
view! It just passes beneath us, rotating to slide by on its
stately path to oblivion.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- DOCKING -- DAY
We are at the other side of the adapter section, looking
once more up the Radius Vector into space. Gumdrop is
gliding silently towards Spider with the probe on its nose
extended. Five feet from capture, we begin to TRACK up the
side of the SLA section, TILTING down as we go, to HOLD on a
C.U. of the SLA/Spider attach pad, waiting for impact.
C.U. SLA/LM INTERFACE
-- shaking from the insertion of Gumdrop's docking probe.
There is a pause. An unseen thruster plume impinges on the
edge of a thermal blanket nearby, causing it to ripple.
Again violent shaking occurs, this time evidence of a hard-
dock, out of view, between Spider and Gumdrop.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- EXTRACTION -- DAY
C.U. +Z SLA/LM PAD
-- at the front of the LM. We see the rim of the Adapter
Section and the pad, one of four at each apex of the LM's
outriggers which are tied to the rocket. The holddown strap
is explosively severed in a soundless concussion, and spring
thrusters gently push the two spacecraft away from the
Saturn. In the slanting sunlight we PULL BACK to gradually
reveal, for the first time, Lunar Module Number Three.
It looks serious, even menacing. The goofiness has been
burned away by years in the crucible. Anodized aluminum and
black inconel panels define the faceted Ascent Stage.
The Descent Stage indeed looks like an unmade bed. Pyromark
painted blankets, cover the sides and top deck. Taped to
some of these black sides are sheets of crinkled,
transparent Kapton which gleam in the setting sun.
Finally, its Descent Engine and its legs, tucked up beneath
it, come clear of the SLA, just as Spider fills our view.
We continue to PULL BACK until the entire connected ship,
Gumdrop and Spider, is visible against the dark of space.
The light dims, turning from golden to red. In an instant
the craft disappear... and yet...
Gradually the shape of the dual ship becomes apparent again.
Stars emerge through the dark until the sky is full, a
brilliant backdrop which silhouettes the spacecraft.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- NIGHT
POV LGC
We are with that PRESENCE again, looking past the engine
cover to the front windows. Moonlight streams into the cabin
giving it an eerie, cool glow. We HEAR a slow hiss that
becomes pronounced. Oxygen, from the Command Ship, fills
Spider's body.
MUSIC ENDS
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- LM ACTIVATION -- DAY
POV LGC
The cabin is bright and quiet. In this silence we slowly
INTERCUT static scenes of:
THE RIGHT HAND LMP STATION
-- the window with its crash bar mounted across it. To its
right, a wall of circuit breakers.
THE FLIGHT DATA FILE
-- as we HEAR, once more, the hissing of oxygen beginning to
repressurize Spider.
THE INTERIM STOWAGE BAG
-- clipped over the main instrument panel. A new SOUND of
electrical activity, followed by a loud BUZZING noise begins
to permeate the cabin.
THE LEFT HAND WINDOW
-- from the Design Eye, looking through the Landing Point
Designator grid. The blue glow of the earth's atmosphere
drifts up from the window's lower edge.
THE PORTABLE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM BACKPACK
-- clamped in its stowage behind the Commander. We HEAR
faint THUMPINGS and a barely audible pattern of a
CONVERSATION in the background.
THE TWO EVA HELMETS
-- enclosed in bags on the floor. A metallic SOUND back in
the tunnel comes through -- and a muffled VOICE:
SCHWEICKART (O.S)
...I've got it now Jim. Standby.
THE UPPER HATCH
It swings to the side, in front of the LGC and other
equipment mounted on the rear bulkhead. Schweickart floats
headfirst down through the open hatchway. He pauses,
inverted like a bat, with his head nearly touching the
engine cover. He begins to twist around.
POV SCHWEICKART
We are now a "weightless" viewpoint. We lazily roll 180
degrees while bouncing left and right, and move towards the
window.
THE LMP STATION
-- with a side view of Schweickart approaching his place. As
he nears the LMP window, he stretches his head to see below
the sill.
POV SCHWEICKART
The bright blue Earth horizon becomes visible... upside-
down!!
SCHWEICKART (O.S.)
Oops...
THE LMP STATION
Schweickart's brain sends him a panic alert: you're
poisoned! He flails about for a baggie, rearing back out of
our view.
SCHWEICKART (O.S)
MMMRAAAAAHH! BYYEEEEERRRKK!!
He tumbles, torqued by his throwing-up. His feet flip across
the wall of circuit breakers.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.)
(breathing hard, smacking his
lips)
Damn.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- CHECKLISTS --DAY
ON MCDIVITT
-- in his "office" at the Commander's Station. Our view is
gently drifting and turning. McDivitt is against a backdrop
of his own bank of circuit breakers. The window, crash bar
and controllers are to our right. In McDivitt's hand is a
small book with three rings titled "LM ACT. CHECKLIST."
MCDIVITT
Boy, it's really noisy in here! That's
gotta be more than the glycol pump.
No answer from his co-pilot. He turns to the breaker panel.
MCDIVITT
Okay, Circuit Breakers -- Pings: IMU
Operate -- open; EPS: cross tie bus --
open; ASC ECA Control -- open; Inverter
1 -- open and the FDAI power talk-backs
are -- off.
(takes a breath)
And Step 25 of the LM Activation
checklist is done.
(folds it)
Man am I hungry!
(turns to Schweickart)
Could you dig out a wet-pack for me,
Rusty?
Rusty's immediate reply is another rib-busting retch:
SCHWEICKART (O.S)
EEERRAAAACCKKKK!!
McDivitt's eyebrows raise up a notch.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- CONFERENCE -- SAME
We are "weightless" again, looking at Schweickart hovering
over the Ascent Engine cover.
ON SCHWEICKART
Gloomy.
MCDIVITT (O.S.)
Houston, Apollo Nine...
SCHWEICKART
You're going to cancel Red Rover aren't
you?
MCDIVITT (O.S)
You can't go out.
MCC-HOUSTON (O.S.)(Radio)
(Deet)
Go ahead, Jim...
(Deet)
SCHWEICKART
I'll feel better.
ON MCDIVITT
MCDIVITT
Ah, right now he wouldn't be able to go
out, Houston. I don't know how he'll
feel tomorrow.
ON SCHWEICKART
Expecting the bad words. It can't make him feel much worse
anyway.
MCC-HOUSTON (O.S.)(Radio)
(Deet)
Roger copy. Ah.. ah..
(Deet)(pause)
(Deet)
We'll get the Flight Surgeon, Jim.
(Deet)
ON MCDIVITT
Analyzing the situation, looking at his LMP.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.)
(without conviction)
I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- SUNRISE LEG DEPLOY -- MORNING
Against the shadowed earth, Gumdrop/Spider glides silently.
Very bright sunlight pulls the ship into high relief, its
folded legs sparkling. From the right, a pattern of cloud
decks, red and orange with the early sun, starts to reel by,
120 miles below.
Without warning, the LEM landing gear snaps open. After a
pause, four thin probes rotate down beneath the foot pads
and lock.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SPACEWALK -- DAY
CLOSE ON MCDIVITT
-- through his helmet.
MCDIVITT (I/C (intercom))
Red Rover!
(big grin)
Are you ready Red Rover?
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
Oh yeah.
MCDIVITT (I/C)
Should I call you Green Rover?
POV MCDIVITT
-- as he moves right up to check Schweickart's "gills." He
is intercepted by the snap of a sun visor coming down. It's
now his own face he sees reflected in Schweickart's mirrored
helmet.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
Jim, I feel great!
ON MCDIVITT
MCDIVITT (I/C)
We don't want you pukin' in your suit!
Okay,let's see if I can't get this hatch
open.
POV LGC
The astronauts, big in their pressurized suits, bang around
in the tiny area. Schweickart's backpack slaps into the
forward bulkhead as he gets ready to leave this little
burrow.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- RED ROVER -- SAME
THE HATCH
-- recently kissed, coming open. There is a little flurry of
ice flakes. Then a pair of legs emerge and flap around.
MCDIVITT (O.S.)(RADIO)
You okay, Red Rover?
THE PORCH/WINDOW
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
Just getting in the slippers.
The astronaut, connected by a thin tether, awkwardly slips
his feet into the gold painted foot restraints that are
bonded to the porch.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SPACEWALK -- LATER
POV MCDIVITT
-- looking at Schweickart through his window.
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
Dave! Come out, come out where ever you
are!
SCOTT (O.S.) (RADIO)
Just a minute. The camera's jammed.
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
(facing the window)
What do I do now boss?
MCDIVITT (O.S.)
Just look around.
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
That's not on the checklist!
We see Schweickart look back up for his playmate, then
return to face his Commander.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- RUSTY -- SAME
POV SCHWEICKART
-- inside his helmet, looking right at McDivitt. We HEAR
the hissing of oxygen and Schweickart's regular breathing.
"Our" gloved hand moves along the emergency transfer
handrail, stopping at a stanchion. There is a small
luminescent disk embedded in the rail, and down one side are
numbers: "LDW-280-23634."
Everywhere on this craft, every piece is stamped with this
pedigree: from drafting table, through machining and
assembly, to space. To here. These are the numbers that
will save Schweickart and his mates.
"Our" finger pokes the front shield panel by the C-band
antenna and it dimples. We look up slowly, see the
Rendezvous Radar still locked in place, see the Command
Module with its strips of shiny tape, and on, past the
cylinder of the Service Module to the EARTH...
The breathing catches.
We finally see the huge sphere.
ON SCHWEICKART
-- from the hatch, his body alone against the black of
space. He stretches back and looks to his right. Reflected
in his gold visor we can see the globe.
POV SCHWEICKART
-- on the curving Earth, brilliant against deep infinity. We
slowly pan across the entire horizon.
The Earth -- Nature -- has, ineffably, expressed a way to
see itself. Schweickart feels this awareness, as if he were
conscious for the first time. It shows in his breathing.
ON SCHWEICKART
-- Universe behind him, Home before him.
MCDIVITT (O.S.)(RADIO)
Hey, Rusty. You'd better start coming
back in.
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
(breathes again)
...Okay.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- BEAUTY SHOT -- DAY
From a distance, Gumdrop, Spider and Red Rover move across
the cloud patterns below.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SPIDER -- DAY
ON SCHWEICKART
He is in his suit, without visor and backpack, anchored by
restraint straps and Velcro to the floor of his station.
ON MCDIVITT
-- also wearing his suit. He scans the instruments and bends
backwards, looking up through the overhead rendezvous
window.
MCDIVITT (RADIO)
5 seconds undock...MARK! 3.. 2..
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- RELEASE -- SAME
Seen from the side, Gumdrop is ready to "drop" Spider to the
earth. Nothing. In the quiet we wait. Still nothing.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- RELEASE -- SAME
ON MCDIVITT
MCDIVITT (I/C)
Okay, we -- we're hanging on to the end
of the probe, Rusty.
POV LGC
SCOTT (O.S.) (RADIO)
Houston, got any suggestions?
MCC-HOUSTON (O.S) (RADIO)
(deet)
We're copying all that, Gumdrop and
Spider. Stand by.
(deet)
Schweickart and McDivitt look at each other.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
We're captured.
MCDIVITT (I/C)
We're all right.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
... we're - we're solid. You could
really..
There is a jarring.
SCOTT (O.S.) (RADIO)
(interrupting)
You're free!
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
I'm free?
SCOTT (O.S.)(RADIO)
Roger.
SCHWEICKART (RADIO)
What did you do?
SCOTT (O.S) (RADIO)
Oh... Went to the old memory and put a
cycle on the switch, and you look like
you're free.
MCDIVITT (RADIO)
Okay, great!
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- PIROUETTE -- DAY
Against the blue of the earth, we fly silently with the LEM
as it begins to pitch up. We revolve slowly around Spider
until we are behind it and see the Command Module 60 feet in
the distance.
After a moment, four sideways jets on Spider fire a half
second burst. Locked together, we turn with the spacecraft
as it pirouettes in front of Gumdrop.
The Command Ship rotates left, out of view, to be replaced
by a full moon coming into the scene from the right. As it
reaches near-center, we HOLD on the moon, releasing Spider
to spin delicately off-screen.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- BURN -- DAY
Small, quick jets of gas orient Spider into line with an
imaginary vector in space.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- BURN -- SAME
C.U. DSKY
-- the computer display is flashing green numerals in its
six windows. One number is counting down, passing 13..12..
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Ten seconds...
THE PLUS X BUTTON
-- McDivitt's gloved thumb ready.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
Eight.. Ullage -- ON.
The thumb goes in. Four jets thrust with a loud, high
frequency vibration that penetrates the thin walls.
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Okay.
THE DSKY
-- flashing "99 40" as the countdown passes 5..
Schweickart's finger pushes the "PRO" button firmly... 4
..3..
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
Okay, and Enter.
PANEL 3 SWITCH
-- with a silver knob, gripped in the thumb and forefinger
of McDivitt --
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Engine Gimbal -- Enable.
He throws it. We FOLLOW the hand as it moves up the panel,
past the "ABORT" buttons and rests near the "THRUST"
indicator. The two needles jiggle, one before the other,
accompanied by a low "thrumming" in the cabin.
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Okay. Light -- there it is.
The T/W indicator needle barely registers a "G" load.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
Okay, Ullage -- OFF.
THE PLUS X BUTTON
-- released. The steady vibration is replaced by the
occasional BANG of an attitude correction.
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Okay.
THE DSKY
-- as one number flashes the velocity gained and, another,
the velocity to go -- now dropping past "+00074."
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
71 feet per second remaining.
We HEAR a low rumbling.
MCDIVITT (O.S.) (I/C)
Little rough there.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.) (I/C)
Yes, wasn't it. I think it swallowed a
little helium.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- "DIPS" -- SAME.
QUAD III
-- where the SHe tank bulges the thermal blanket. Behind it,
buried in a nickel foil shield, the Descent Propulsion
System Engine, is burning at 40 per cent. It ejects a plume
that is transparent and orangish, with a bit of mistiness
spraying straight out from the sides of the large gray
nozzle. Occasionally, specks of the ablative throat wall,
tiny and luminous, streak out.
A few small pieces of foil tear off and flutter like chaff
in the wake of Spider. The engine glow dies abruptly,
releasing the spacecraft to follow a new path, arching above
the world.
We stay with the ripped foil sheets. Some engineer on Earth
will wonder about strange blips in the LEM's Landing Radar
signal.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- SKIMMING -- DAY
From a distance, Spider seems to skim the layered, blue
atmosphere as it zips by.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- ZOOMING -- SUNSET
Against the darkening Earth terminator, we TRACK the LEM
flying past us below. The camera twists to keep it in
sight, until Spider becomes a bright star that winks out
over the horizon.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- ABORT STAGE -- NIGHT
THE MOON
-- in Virgo, is full. Stars fill the deep sky beyond it.
We slowly zoom OUT, TILTING down as we go. Past the thin
airglow layer, the horizon, and past the ocean, reflecting
moonlight with a coppery sheen, we TILT until we see Spider
ascending towards us.
Four down-jets fire brilliant plumes onto the descent stage
which shudders and then breaks away. It tumbles, legs and
all, a derelict left behind the accelerating Ascent Stage.
From this quiet frenzy we --
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- ABORT STAGE -- SAME
ON MCDIVITT
-- in the noisy cabin.
MCDIVITT (RADIO)
... was a good burn Gumdrop. It was a
good burn!
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- ASCENT -- SAME
Quiet again as the LEM, half a Spider, pulls away in the
glow of the moon.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SPACE -- LIGHT -- NIGHT
THE PORCH/WINDOW
McDivitt, his helmet reflecting the control console, is seen
through the window grid again. To the left, barely visible,
is the LEM's front face with its central Tracking Light. Two
small docking lights, white and yellow on either side of the
Tracker go on. Then the big light starts to flash, every
second, illuminating the LEM parts nearby.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIDER -- SAME
ON MCDIVITT
-- looking with amusement at his window. There, between the
panes of glass, floats a half-inch washer.
ON WASHER
MCDIVITT (O.S.)(I/C)
I guess Grumman missed something when
they let you go, Spider.
ON SCHWEICKART
-- busy clicking switches.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
It's probably how they keep the windows
clean.
He chuckles, adjusts a floodlight, and returns to his
Rendezvous Checklist. In addition to the regular hum, we can
HEAR a steady PINGING sound from the Tracking Light
discharge tube. Suddenly it stops.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
Did we just loose our tracking light?
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
POV LGC
-- our PRESENCE, near the buzzing Glycol Pump, hears nothing
but a muffled conversation from the two bubble-headed men.
Schweickart glances back at "us" while saying something..
POV SCHWEICKART
Looking at the LGC at the back of the mid-section.
SCHWEICKART (O.S.)
... will have to work out a solution if
Dave can't see us.
ON MCDIVITT
-- looking back as well.
ON SCHWEICKART
-- turning to McDivitt.
MCDIVITT (O.S.)(I/C)
We're going to really be scrambling for
a ground solution for this mess.
SCOTT (O.S.) (RADIO)
I know you're out there. I just can't
see you in the dark.
Schweickart gets close to his window, peering over the
bottom edge.
SCHWEICKART (I/C)
Well here comes sunrise. That should
help.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- EMERGING -- MORNING
Blackness. Black Earth, no Spider.. until a shape oozes into
a reddish definition. Gold light, then bright hard sun
splashes off the face of the LEM, thrusters popping, as it
moves at us to fill the view.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE -- INTO SUN -- SAME
-- the back of Spider, eclipsing the sun, moving slowly away
above the beautiful thin crescent horizon. The outline of
the half-spacecraft shimmers, and the jets emit a fine
plume, backlit brilliantly.
A right down-jet fires, followed by a quick answering pop on
the left. Then the left fires and the right pops. They'll
have to fix that.
The two aft facing thrusters fire right at us for a second,
and Spider pulls away into the rising sun.
VERY SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. GRUMMAN DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
Engineer is at the chalkboard. There is a shadow line from a
horizon that intersects a LEM "Blob." The board is covered
with conic sections that describe the orbital ballet between
the two ships.
ENGINEER
If the LEM is here then Scott should see
him now through his optics. The sun
should be bouncing off those panels
pretty good!
YOUNG ENGINEER
The tracking light must be out. I
wonder how that happened?
SCOTT (SPEAKERS)
I've got you on the beam, Spider!
In triumph, Engineer slashes a line from the Command "Blob"
to the LEM "Blob."
ENGINEER
That's it!
MANAGER
Now he just has to brake. And fly... And
dock.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
You're about one degree from the
sextant.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN WORK ROOM -- SAME
The men are working around their tables with files and parts
and work sheets. They never look up, but are absorbing:
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
I just can't even see the COAS, Dave. I
don't know exactly where you are with
respect to it.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
Okay, want me to do it?
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
No, let me work my way in here a little
closer.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN S/CAT -- SAME
Here too, at LM-3's old stand, everyone is listening to the
Bay speakers as they continue their careful work -- getting
a new LEM, LM-9 ready for delivery.
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
Just can't see it.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
Doing fine. That's it.
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
Aw, that doesn't look like it to me.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN DESIGN ROOM -- SAME
Just listening. And fidgeting.
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
... This thing is really sporty.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
It sure is. I can tell. You're looking
good... Okay, you're about there.
Some of the engineers are just staring at their diagrams or
flight plans.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
I have capture!
Relief. Smiles and looks, but no big celebration. That will
happen when they get a LEM where it is designed to go!
Somebody throws a piece of paper in the air anyway.
CUT TO:
INT. GRUMMAN WORK ROOM -- DAY
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
We get the latches?
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
Hang on.
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
We got those latches, baby!
SCHWEICKART (SPEAKER)
Oh, did that sound good!
OLD GRUMMIE
Great!!
(looks around the room)
Now let's do that twelve more times!
INT. NASA HOUSTON SPAN -- DAY
The room is now filled with more people sitting on tables or
standing around. Faget and Apollo Brass are among them.
SCOTT (SPEAKER)
That was a pretty nice docking.
MCDIVITT (SPEAKER)
God dag, that wasn't a docking that was
an eye test!
Faget, grinning, approaches Kelly.
FAGET
It worked.
He shakes Kelly's hand. Apollo Brass is behind him. He
smiles at Kelly and gives a small thumbs up.
APOLLO BRASS
The El Em worked very well. Now get rid
of those window washers!
(laughs at his little pun)
MAYNARD
(raising his eyes)
"El Em."
He offers his hand to Kelly who shakes it firmly. They
absorb the moment... for a second.
KELLY
(back at his mission charts)
Can't wait to use the legs!
EXT. SPACE -- SAME
MUSIC
The Earth, Moon and Sun with Gumdrop and Spider locked
together. Moving away.
FADE OUT
THE END
|