Minute 006: Let’s Sell the House

07/02/18 • 28 min

1 Listener

Apollo 13 Minute Podcast

Jim Lovell and the assembled guests witness Neil Armstrong’s descent to the lunar surface, on the family TV set.

“on this July 20th, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Nine,” intones Walter Cronkite on TV.

“It’s one small step for man,” says Armstrong, “One... giant leap for mankind.”

“His quote was, That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” repeats Cronkite.

Later, after the guests have left, Jim and Marilyn Lovell are standing in the moonlight in their backyard. Jim holds his thumb up at arm’s length, obscuring a waning gibbous Moon. He repeats the gesture several times. The song, “Beyond the Sea” sung by Bobby Darrin, plays in the background.

TITLE: “BASED ON THE BOOK ‘LOST MOON’ BY JIM LOVELL & JEFFREY KLUGER”

Marilyn, holding a paper bag, looks at her husband. “You’re drunk, Lovell,” she says.

“Yep,” he agrees. “I’m not used to the champagne.”

“Me neither,” says Marilyn.

TITLE: “SCREENPLAY BY WILLIAM BROYLES, JR. & AL REINERT”

Marilyn puts down a plate and drops the paper bag on the patio. “I can’t deal with cleaning up,” she says, “Let’s sell the house.”

“Alright,” says Jim, “Let’s sell the house.”

TITLE: “PRODUCED BY BRIAN GRAZER”

“They’re back inside now,” says Jim, still looking up at the Moon. “Looking up at us. Isn’t that something?”

TITLE: “DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD”

“I’ll be Janney Armstrong doesn’t get a wink of sleep tonight,” says Marilyn, leaning back on a chaise lounge chair.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Walter Cronkite: Himself
Neil Armstrong: Himself
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell: Max Elliott Slade

Jim Lovell and the assembled guests witness Neil Armstrong’s descent to the lunar surface, on the family TV set.

“on this July 20th, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Nine,” intones Walter Cronkite on TV.

“It’s one small step for man,” says Armstrong, “One... giant leap for mankind.”

“His quote was, That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” repeats Cronkite.

TITLE: “BASED ON THE BOOK ‘LOST MOON’ BY JIM LOVELL & JEFFREY KLUGER”

Marilyn, holding a paper bag, looks at her husband. “You’re drunk, Lovell,” she says.

“Yep,” he agrees. “I’m not used to the champagne.”

“Me neither,” says Marilyn.

TITLE: “SCREENPLAY BY WILLIAM BROYLES, JR. & AL REINERT”

Marilyn puts down a plate and drops the paper bag on the patio. “I can’t deal with cleaning up,” she says, “Let’s sell the house.”

“Alright,” says Jim, “Let’s sell the house.”

TITLE: “PRODUCED BY BRIAN GRAZER”

“They’re back inside now,” says Jim, still looking up at the Moon. “Looking up at us. Isn’t that something?”

TITLE: “DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD”

“I’ll be Janney Armstrong doesn’t get a wink of sleep tonight,” says Marilyn, leaning back on a chaise lounge chair.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Walter Cronkite: Himself
Neil Armstrong: Himself
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell: Max Elliott Slade

Previous Episode

Minute 005: Somebody to Wave Him Off

1 Recommendations

The house guests clap for Apollo Eleven’s backup crew.

On the screen, the upside-down image of the LM’s ladder appears.

“Ooh, there he is!” says Marilyn, carrying a tray of empty champagne flutes. “There he is, everybody! Quiet down – here he is!”

Lovell pulls a cigar out of his mouth. “Hey, kids!” he calls to his children, who are seated on the stairs. They join the guests near the TV set.

TITLE: “PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL CORENBLITH”

“Okay. Will you verify the position—the opening I ought to have on the camera?” says Buzz Aldrin, from the Moon.

The video image of Neil Armstrong is superimposed by the words “LIVE FROM THE SURFACE OF THE MOON” on the TV.

“Jim, do you think it’s too late for him to abort?” asks Pete Conrad.

TITLE: “DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN CUNDEY, A.S.C.

“No, no,” says Lovell,” he’s got time to get out of there. All he needs is for somebody to wave him off! Pull up Neil!” Conrad joins Lovell in giving the Go-Around signal. Marilyn signals for them to be quiet.

TITLE: “EXECUTIVE PRODUCER TODD HALLOWELL”

“Okay, Neil, ” says CapCom Bruce McCandless on TV, “We can see you coming down the ladder now.”

“Okay,” replies Armstrong.

“Boy, look at those pictures!” interjects Walter Cronkite. “Wow!”

“I’m at the foot of the ladder,” continues Armstrong. “The LM footpads are depressed in the surface only about one or two inches. — It’s almost like a powder.”

“ARMSTRONG ON MOON” flashes a title over Armstrong’s video.

“Armstrong is on the Moon, the thir-” continues Cronkite.

“– gonna step off the LM now-” says Armstrong.

“thirty-eight year old American,” continues Cronkite, “standing on the surface of the Moon, on this the-”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Walter Cronkite: Himself
Neil Armstrong: Himself
Buzz Aldrin: Himself
Bruce McCandless: Himself
Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Tracy: Karen Martin
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Ken Mattingly: Gary Sinese
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Jay Lovell: Max Elliott Slade
Pete Conrad: David Andrews
John Young: Ben Marley

Next Episode

Minute 007: Just Sixty Nautical Miles Down

1 Recommendations

Marilyn and Jim Lovell are in their backyard, after the Apollo XI Moonwalk party is over.

“When you were on far side on Eight, I didn’t sleep at all,” says Marilyn, leaning into her lawn chair, “I just vacuumed, over and over again.”

“Christopher Columbus,” says Jim, looking at the Moon, “Charles Lindbergh... and Neil Armstrong.” He laughs. “Neil Armstrong!”

Marilyn laughs, too. Jim climbs into his lawn chair.

Looking back at the Moon, Jim says, “From now on, we live in a world where Man has walked on the Moon.” He turns and looks at Marilyn. “And it’s not a miracle. We just decided to go.”

He looks back at the Moon. “On Apollo 8, we were so close,” he says. “Just sixty nautical miles down. And what’s it like to just – – step out, and walk on the face of it? I want to go back. ”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan