This 24-minute documentary is about the life and career of Mr. Collins and the gifted team of people who responded to his leadership. It explores the company culture that lead to so many technical “firsts”.
Episode I, Steps to the Moon: The Collins Story – Connecting the Moon to the Earth depicts Collins leadership in early space communication. This leads to the company’s groundbreaking communication equipment and systems for Mercury and Gemini astronauts.
Episode II, Moon Talk: The Collins Story – Connecting the Moon to the Earth celebrates the 1968 Apollo 8 mission — the first manned space flight to leave Earth’s orbit and fly to the moon. The only link the astronauts have to Earth is through equipment and a pioneering communication system developed by Collins Radio. This documentary features rare 16-millimeter film footage and photos, and interviews with Collins employees who worked on the Apollo program.
Episode III, Live from the Moon: The Collins Story – Connecting the Moon to the Earth features interviews with the Collins employees who engineered communication, telemetry and navigation systems that were critical to the historic first moon landing in 1969. Millions of people on Earth were able to see Neil Armstrong’s first step and hear his first words from the surface of the moon thanks largely to the engineering expertise by this Iowa-based company.
Episode I, Steps To The Moon Episode II, Moon Talk Episode III, Live From The Moon
This box set of DVDs tells the complete story of a small Iowa-based radio communication technology company that becomes a giant in the industry. Its prowess enables citizens of Earth to hear the words of America’s first space explorers.