A documentary about the various U.S. missions to the moon, The Wonder of It All screens tonight at 7 and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 at the Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. Here is our review of the movie.

The_Wonder_of_it_all.jpg

The Wonder of It All (U.S., 2007) In 1961, with the Cold War creating international tensions, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to send someone to the moon. At the time, the Russians had already been to outer space and were well ahead of the United States. But NASA accelerated its program and recruited several of the Air Force’s top pilots for its Apollo missions. This documentary includes interviews with seven astronauts who walked on the moon. They recount their training routines and go into great detail describing the moon’s dusty surface as well as the intense sunlight. “We were not a particularly, exuberant, extroverted group” says Buzz Aldrin, emphasizing that the astronauts were so focused, they didn’t think about much else. As an oral history, The Wonder of It All is a highly successful chronicle of the lunar experience. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. *** (Jeff Niesel)

This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.