Apollo 18 is a 2011 sci-fi horror film about the canceled Apollo 18 mission to the moon.Apollo 18 was a film written by Brian Miller and directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego. It was co-produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Michele Wolkoff.The film’s premise is that the Apollo 18 mission, which was canceled, actually landed on the moon in December 1974 but never really returned. As a result, the US has never launched any more moon missions. The movie is shot in a ’lost-footage’ format, with footage from the Apollo 18 mission that was only recently discovered.If you like reading about Apollo 18, you should read further to learn more about this space-based horror flick.If you enjoyed reading these facts, you must also check out these Apollo 12 facts and Apollo 10 facts here at Kidadl.Apollo 18 MissionIn July 1969, Apollo 18 was supposed to land in Schroter’s Valley, a river-like channel on the moon. When NASA canceled the Apollo 20 mission in January 1970, the Apollo 18 landing date was pushed out to February 1972. Due to congressional limitations in the NASA budget for FY 1971, Apollo 18 was canceled on September 2, 1970.In the movie, the three NASA astronauts in the footage, Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), Captain Ben Anderson (Warren Christie), and Lieutenant Colonel John Grey (Ryan Robbins), are launched to the moon to mainly check for signs of impending attacks by the Soviet Union.After the Apollo 13 disaster, there was also a fear that if a crew was lost on another Apollo mission, NASA’s entire manned space program would be canceled. The total cost of canceling the two flights was only $42.1 million (because the hardware had already been manufactured and the NASA team had to stay on for the Skylab program). Schmitt had pushed for a more ambitious landing at Tycho or on the lunar farside before the cancellation. Before the termination, it appears that Copernicus, the final program target initially slated for Apollos 19 and 20, was also contemplated. Due to pressure from the scientific community, geologist Schmitt was selected to fly on Apollo 17, the final lunar mission, replacing Joe Engle as the lunar module pilot.Apollo 18 CrewThe preparations for Apollo 18 were similarly hazy, even before it was aborted. According to most reports, it was supposed to go to the moon’s Copernicus Crater, while Tycho Crater and the lunar farside were also listed as possible (and potentially riskier) destinations. Pearlman owns a globe of the moon from 1970 depicting Apollo 18 flying to Tycho, near the Surveyor 7 probe’s landing site.According to most reports, Apollo 18 would have been commanded by Apollo 12 command module pilot Dick Gordon, with Vance Brand and Harrison Schmitt serving as crewmates. Schmitt’s job was transferred to Apollo 17 in the final days of the moon mission, making him the sole professional scientist to walk on the moon. Joe Engle, who was bumped from Apollo 17, may or may not have flown on Apollo 18.Gordon left NASA in 1972 before the Apollo program was completed. Meanwhile, Brand was assigned to the Apollo-Soyuz mission as the command module pilot (which is sometimes referred to as Apollo 18).Why did Apollo 18 get canceled?Technically, NASA says that Apollo 18 was never canceled. It was only ‘renumbered’ so that it could then be included in a modified schedule. NASA maintains that no crews were officially assigned to canceled missions.Instead, the usual crew rotation had a backup crew for a mission, and they would then move up to become the prime flight crew about three missions later. Based upon this pattern, the Apollo 18 astronauts would have indefinitely been the backup crew for Apollo 15, with Richard Gordon serving as the commander, Harrison Schmitt as the lunar module pilot, and Vance Brand as the command module pilot.That being said, the public was made aware that NASA canceled Apollo 18 and 19’s moon missions on September 2, 1970, because of congressional cuts in NASA’s budget for the fiscal year 1971.According to NASA, the unofficial backup crew of Apollo 16 would have gone on to fly on Apollo 19 with Fred Haise serving as commander, Gerald Carr as lunar module pilot, and William Pogue as the command module pilot.Why did NASA stop going to the moon after Apollo 17?Kennedy’s goal had been accomplished, and his timetable had been clearly met when the moon landing occurred in 1969. However, now that the goal had been met, NASA was facing significant financial cuts, making the Apollo missions’ future unsustainable.Originally, 20 Apollo missions were planned, but technology and research missions were deemed less critical than achieving the moon landing, and the remaining three missions were canceled. The space race also received less support from the rest of the country and the air force. The Apollo missions all took place against the backdrop of civil unrest in the United States, and the massive amount of money spent on space flight became a topic of contention for the general population in the United States.Also, the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) meant that missile production, particularly those used for space flights, would be drastically cut as the Cold War eased.Money was also driving future efforts to go to the moon. While astronauts on the Apollo missions only spent a few days on the lunar surface, travel to the moon in the 21st century would be more focused on the construction of lunar bases or satellites. According to sources, the future of lunar travel is about maintaining a long-term presence on the moon and exploring the solar system.Did You Know…The dead cosmonaut was killed when an alien smashed his helmet visor on a secret mission.Captain Ben Anderson (Christie) and Commander Nate Walker (Owen) had been chosen to pilot the Lunar Module to the moon’s surface.Could the space agency NASA have undertaken a covert human spaceflight during the Apollo era that went unnoticed? The answer is certainly not. The Apollo 18 film only claims to have found authentic NASA lunar film footage, whereas the last mission that the US government would ever pay for was Apollo 17.Apollo 18 was being marketed as a ‘found footage’ film with ’no actors’. Although it was centered around a sci-fi Apollo 18 story, it was in no way an actual Apollo 18 documentary about the canceled Apollo 18 moon program.The space agency imposed a 21-day quarantine on astronauts returning from lunar orbit.Using the lunar rover, the Apollo 15 astronauts spent 18 and a half hours on the moon’s surface and reached a distance of nearly 17.3 mi (27.9 km). Despite the fact that Apollo’s lunar landing wouldn’t be possible on the moon’s south pole due to a lack of fuel, they only show one spacecraft launch. They could have used the lunar lander to launch another one, but this one has the fuel.Apollo 11 was the manned mission that made astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin the first people to walk on the lunar surface.The Saturn IB, not the Saturn V, was used to launch the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. The Apollo 18 and 19 Saturn V vehicles are on exhibit at Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Apollo 18 facts, then why not take a look at Apollo 15 facts, or Apollo 1 facts.
Apollo 18 is a 2011 sci-fi horror film about the canceled Apollo 18 mission to the moon.
