More hoax peddling by Hollywood?

[Dalhousie]

Fly me to the Moon (2024)

During the 1960s Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, a relationship develops between the NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 launch and the marketing specialist brought in to fix NASA's public image and stage a "back-up" fake Moon landing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Me_to_the_Moon_(2024_film)

Anyone seen it?

[bknight]

No I haven't but I found this description.

Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, FLY ME TO THE MOON is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA's historic Apollo 11 moon landing.

[onebigmonkey]

The loons are all over it already, simultaneously claiming that it's a dripfeed of the truth preparing the people for the ultimate revelation of a hoax, and yet another NASA sponsored hit job on conspiracy theorists.

There are already numerous movies using faking the mission as a theme, this is just a bigger budget version.

[beedarko]

There are already numerous movies using faking the mission as a theme, this is just a bigger budget version.

And none of them can nullify the significance of Charlie Duke's simple, poignant comment at the end of this fantastic documentary:

[Dalhousie]

anyone prepared to take one for the team and watch this thing?

[onebigmonkey]

Jarrah 'took one for the team' (his words on facebook). He was unimpressed, because it turns our they actually flew to the moon:

[JayUtah]

I'll probably go see it as soon as I find the time. People are going to tell these stories no matter what. We might as well enjoy creative storytelling too, otherwise we run the risk of taking it all too seriously from the other side of the hoax debate.

For other reasons, I need to see the movie eventually. My friend Fon Davis worked on the space suit costumes and tried very hard to make them look authentic. From what I see in the trailers, he did a fantastic job.

[Obviousman]

My friend Fon Davis worked on the space suit costumes and tried very hard to make them look authentic. From what I see in the trailers, he did a fantastic job.

Could you ask if he has any tips for low-cost additions to a replica A7L? I want to improve the overshoes / boots, and the gloves on my A7L; mine are not very good, either visually or it is too delicate. I'm getting rid of the helmet cover altogether; when the suit gets used as a costume, I'm rigging a Soviet GSh6A pressure suit helmet to the suit. It looks quite good; I was inspired by the Soviet and NK lunar suits from 'For All Mankind', which also use the GSh6A.

[raven]

My friend Fon Davis worked on the space suit costumes and tried very hard to make them look authentic. From what I see in the trailers, he did a fantastic job.

Could you ask if he has any tips for low-cost additions to a replica A7L? I want to improve the overshoes / boots, and the gloves on my A7L; mine are not very good, either visually or it is too delicate. I'm getting rid of the helmet cover altogether; when the suit gets used as a costume, I'm rigging a Soviet GSh6A pressure suit helmet to the suit. It looks quite good; I was inspired by the Soviet and NK lunar suits from 'For All Mankind', which also use the GSh6A.

Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame is well known for his love of spacesuits of all flavours and has  a bunch of video on the Tested YouTube channel on his replica A7L. Some of those may provide inspiration.

[Obviousman]

Thank you!

[JayUtah]

I too would have to defer to Adam. There may be better authorities than he on the suit proper, but Adam is by far your best resource for how to build modern replicas of anything Apollo related. Adam worked with Fon on the latest suits.

The problems you typically encounter with A7L gloves and boots start with Chromel-R mesh. There is simply no other material like it, visually or texturally. It was $1300 a yard back in 1965, and it's all but priceless today. Most suit replicas today use a silver nylon fabric, or try to coat a woven fabric with silver. But it ends up being too thick and not flexible enough. Chromel-R is as finely textured as a wedding dress, but tough enough to take the paint off your car. Literally my only available sample is the thermal/micrometeoroid shell on display at Clarke Planetarium, which I have to pull strings to inspect. It has no PGA, and it was pieced together from bits and pieces from early Apollo to Skylab.

Your next problem is the Beta cloth. The material you get today is considerably thicker and harder to sew into a proper Apollo glove shape.

The silicone bits seem to be the easiest to replicate, except for getting the color right. Are they blue? Are they grey? The answer is a qualified, "yes."

[Dalhousie]

The problems you typically encounter with A7L gloves and boots start with Chromel-R mesh. There is simply no other material like it, visually or texturally. It was $1300 a yard back in 1965, and it's all but priceless today. Most suit replicas today use a silver nylon fabric, or try to coat a woven fabric with silver. But it ends up being too thick and not flexible enough. Chromel-R is as finely textured as a wedding dress, but tough enough to take the paint off your car. Literally my only available sample is the thermal/micrometeoroid shell on display at Clarke Planetarium, which I have to pull strings to inspect. It has no PGA, and it was pieced together from bits and pieces from early Apollo to Skylab.

Your next problem is the Beta cloth. The material you get today is considerably thicker and harder to sew into a proper Apollo glove shape.

What do modern US suit gloves use instead?

[raven]

Oh! And another resource to look into would be the Replica Prop Forum. They may be of some help.
https://www.therpf.com/

[Obviousman]

Oh! And another resource to look into would be the Replica Prop Forum. They may be of some help.
https://www.therpf.com/

Great - thanks again!

[JayUtah]

What do modern US suit gloves use instead?

"Modern" is a bit tongue-in-cheek. U.S. space suits are decades old. Only about a dozen remain in the inventory, and the bid to replace them has been fraught with the typical NASA-industrial dysfunction.

The current over-gloves have an outer layer of Ortho-fabric, a weave of Nomex, Teflon, and Kevlar; insulation made of aluminized film alternating with polyester interliners; and an inner layer of Neoprene coated nylon. The pressure assembly is a Dacron restraint layer over polyurethane coated nylon.

You can still get Beta cloth, but the weave and Teflon coatings are different now than back in the Apollo days. So the appearance is somewhat different when seen close up. The replica suits made with modern Beta cloth look a little rougher than Apollo suits, because the Teflon coating back then tended to fill the weave a little more.