The Open University

The Apollo 11 mission – when humans first set foot on the Moon – stunned the world to become an unforgettable global phenomenon. 8 Days: To the Moon and Back, co-produced by the BBC and The Open University’s Broadcast and Partnership Team airs on Wednesday 10th July at 9pm on BBC Two and follows the eight days, three hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds on board Apollo 11.

A small number of iconic stills and a fraction of footage is all that has previously been seen of the Apollo 11 mission. Now it’s time to discover the full story. Using never heard before cockpit audio, recorded by the astronauts themselves, original archive footage and cinematic CGI, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back portrays the experience from the point of view of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins. From the perils to the excitement, we live the event along with the astronauts that braved the mission.

OU Academic Consultant, Dr Mahesh Anand, Reader in Planetary Science and Exploration at The Open University has been involved in advising and shaping production, as well as helping to curate resources on the programme for the university’s free education resource, OpenLearn.

Dr Mahesh Anand commented:

“Apollo showed that humans can survive travelling through Space, land on the Moon and return safely to Earth – it was an iconic time in our history and changed the way we think about the universe forever. As the Apollo 11 Moon landing and The Open University both celebrate their 50th anniversary, we are thrilled to be involved in the production of this ground-breaking documentary, portraying the Moon landing as never-seen-before.

It paved the way for developing new technologies for supporting longer-term stays and lunar samples brought back to the Earth are still key to our research, helping us to understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System.”

8 Days: To the Moon and Back will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Wednesday 10^th July. It will be available to watch for 30 days from this date on iPlayer.