Guest: Dr. James Hansen: Topics: The life of Neil Armstrong per Dr. Hansen's book "First Man" and the hit film by the same title released last year.
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We welcomed Dr. James Hansen back to the show to discuss both the new Revised Anniversary Edition of his great book "First Man" but also for his commentary on the 2018 big hit film by the same title. During our one segment 66 minute program, Dr. Hansen told us about the updates in the Revised Anniversary Edition including a new focus on the last seven years of Neil's life. During this discussion, our guest talked about how Neil was far more public during these years than he had been in the past. He mentioned talking before Congress and going to conferences and other forums. Listen to why he thought Neil was more outwardly focused in these later years.
Listeners began asking email questions about Neil per what they saw in the movie or from what they recalled having read in the first edition of the book. We spent a significant amount of time on his family life, his first wife, his sons, the death of his daughter Karen and the loss of his close astronaut friends and others. Dr. Hansen made the point that Neil had lots of personal losses in his life that did impact him.
There were several questions about factual errors in the movie, the feed back Dr. Hansen provided and what his thoughts were about movie errors. This was an ongoing discussion on and off during the balance of the show so don't miss it as it was interesting and certainly provide an insider view of the "artistic" liberties taken by those working on the film to tell the story the way they want it told. That said, one of the examples Jim gave us was the showing of Neil in the Multi-Access Trainer which was not used for Gemini but the film folks wanted it in the Gemini section to convey a certain feeling and understanding of what Neil and the astronauts might experience. Jim lost the argument with the film makers but listen to the story. One other thing Jim mentioned was his creating an annotated script with the script writer which was published by Titan Publishing, showing the script and the reality next to it. Don't miss this part of our discussion. The book can be found on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/First-Man-Screenplay-Josh-Singer/dp/1785659995/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1547605595&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=James+Hansn+First+Man.
Our friend Michelle both emailed and later called in regarding Neil and the X15 scenes. When she called, she wanted to know what they did with the X-15 mockup that was used in the Edwards scenes early in the movie. Listen to what Jim had to say about that. Another listener wanted to know if it was difficult to get Neil to agree to work with him on the book. Jim then told us the process he went through plus the amount of time it took to earn Neil's trust to do the book. In addition, listeners wanted to know about the circumstances surrounding Neil's death after bypass surgery, his funeral, and the way Buzz was portrayed in the movie. Don't miss what Dr. Hansen had to say regarding each of these questions. As the program was nearing an end, our guest was asked about the controversial omission of the flag planting on the Moon in that the film did not show that event. Again, don't miss what Jim said about the flag, the reality of the flag planting process, and showing the flag throughout the movie.
Please post your comments/question on TSS blog for this program. You can reach Dr. Hansen through me.
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