Trivia

At about 1:30 we see footage of the crew section of the LEM blasting off from the moon. This was Apollo 17; the last time that man was on the moon, which was on December 14, 1972. This is a remarkable shot, as the camera was being controlled remotely from Houston, and powered by the lunar rover and with the transmission being beamed from the rover's antenna. As it takes approximately one and a half seconds for a radio signal to travel from the earth to the moon and another second and a half for the return signal, the camera operator had to start the camera moving a second and a half before the actual blast off. He then used the joystick to tilt the camera upwards at the same rate as the ascent of the spacecraft, but anticipate its location from moment to moment and do it one and a half seconds early. Thanks to his precise timing, he was able to capture the shot while keeping the spacecraft in the frame the entire time. See more