The 8-year-old boy who looked up at the moon in 1969 has since become famous in his own right. Today, however, the Omega ambassador George Clooney still gets awed in the presence of his childhood idols. In two exclusive Omega documentaries, you can witness the hours he spent with Charlie Duke and Buzz Aldrin.
The sun was shining but the stars were out when George Clooney met Charlie Duke at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this year. Their 12-minute OMEGA documentary is more than just a movie. It is a fascinating conversation between two men who remember Apollo 11 in their own unique ways.
As the voice of Mission Control during that historic first landing, Duke’s distinctive southern drawl has gone down in history on Apollo 11’s iconic mission “soundtrack.” The NASA veteran speaks fondly of his time behind the microphone when the crew made their “giant leap for mankind.” Clooney, on the other hand, was just a boy, standing outside in his back garden, hoping to spy the astronauts through his telescope. The documentary brings both sides of the story together. The film follows George and Charlie as they make their way from the Firing Room to the Saturn 5 Room to talk space. Their discussion goes deep into the technologies, nail-biting moments and emotions of the mission. For viewers, it is an incredible insight, as well as a delight to see such a genuine friendship formed.
Oh my goodness, I get to meet George,” says Buzz Aldrin, in the opening seconds of OMEGA’s 6-minute short film, Starmen. “Wow, you look good,” George says in response. From that moment, the two men bounce off each other with candid memories of the historic space program, as well as plenty of quick-witted humour. The Starmen documentary shows George and Buzz heading to the cinema, where they watch a historic film about the NASA missions. With popcorn in hand, they trade questions and share their own thoughts about what it meant to reach the moon.
“As a kid, everything was about the space program,” says Clooney. “We ate space food sticks and we drank Tang. Everything was about the possibility of the imagination.” Buzz sums it up perfectly when he says, “It brought the world together.”