Ep 8. We Interrupt This Program

From The Earth To The Moon was a 12-episode miniseries that was a dramatization of the United States' space program, specifically the Apollo missions. It aired in 1998 on HBO. The eighth episode, titled "We Interrupt This Program," follows the experiences of journalists covering the Apollo 12 mission in 1969.

The episode begins with a brief history of television news, up to the point where the networks have just started to use satellite technology to broadcast live events from around the world. The episode then introduces the journalists who will be covering the Apollo 12 mission: Ralph Morse (played by Tom Verica) of Life Magazine, Jules Bergman (played by Jay Mohr) of ABC News, and Emmett Seaborn (played by John Carroll Lynch) of the Associated Press. Each journalist has his own unique approach to covering the story, but all are excited to witness the historic event.

As the Apollo 12 mission gets underway, the journalists are stationed in a press room on the NASA campus. They are hooked up to a live feed from the Mission Control Center and can watch the events unfold as they happen. However, things take a turn when NASA experiences some technical difficulties and loses the live feed. The journalists are left in the dark about what is happening up in space.

However, the journalists' frustration is short-lived. NASA's public affairs office receives a call from the White House, requesting that the mission be put on hold because President Nixon wants to address the nation about the conflict in Vietnam. The journalists are stunned and disgusted that the President would interrupt such an important moment in history to address an unrelated matter.

The news stations cut away from their coverage of the Apollo mission to broadcast the President's address, and the journalists are forced to wait patiently for the mission to resume. They begin to speculate about what might be happening up in space and what the astronauts are feeling as they sit in the lunar module waiting for the mission to continue.

Eventually, NASA restores the live feed and the Apollo 12 mission continues. The journalists watch eagerly as the lunar module lands on the moon and the astronauts step out onto the lunar surface. They are elated by the success of the mission, but they are also acutely aware of the political landscape that surrounds it. They know that the success of the Apollo program rests not just on the technical achievements of the scientists and engineers at NASA, but also on the public's interest and investment in the space program.

As the episode concludes, the journalists reflect on the events of the day and their role in covering the Apollo mission. They are proud to have been a part of such a historic moment, but they also recognize the complexities and challenges of reporting on such a complex and politically charged subject. In the end, "We Interrupt This Program" is a reminder that the story of the Apollo missions is not just about the technical achievements of NASA, but also about the people who covered the story and the societal context in which it took place.