The Collins Story - Connecting the Moon to the Earth: Steps to the Moon

In the days before personal computers, before the Internet and the worldwide web connected us to global information, before smartphones connected us to one another, before GPS guided our journeys…Before this technology was a part of everyday life, American astronauts explored new frontiers in space and on the moon. A half century ago, men on board the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space capsules talked to earth, navigated in space and to the moon and back, and exchanged critical data with mission control. How was this accomplished five decades ago? By the ingenuity and dedication of a company founded in the heartland of America – The Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 3-part series tells the little-known story of the people who designed the space communication systems and how they did it. These systems were technical feats that had never been done before, and played a crucial role in America’s race to be first to land a man on the moon.

This first chapter of the series (but third to be completed) tells the story of young Arthur Collins, and how he grew his company into a significant contributor to the American space program. The other two chapters are 2 - "Moon Talk" (https://filmfreeway.com/projects/1871219) and 3 - "Live from the Moon" (https://filmfreeway.com/projects/1870392).