It would never have occurred to the professional reporters covering the Apollo program to make themselves the story. So they didn’t become celebrities — instead, they became icons, the oh-so-familiar-faces we relied on to explain step-by-step our progress from the original unmanned lunar probes to the triumphant manned landing of Apollo 11.  

The documentary Moon Beat revisits the events from the perspective of these news reporters including: John Noble Wilford, (New York Times), Al Neuharth, (Founder, USA Today, Florida Today), Reg Turnill, (BBC Aerospace Correspondent), George Alexander, (Aviation Week, Newsweek), Leon Jaroff (TIME Magazine), John L. Wilhelm (TIME Magazine), Victor McElheny (Boston Globe) and Joe Morgenstern, (Film Critic, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek), along with many others.

Moon Beat will be shown in San Diego for the first time on Saturday, July 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Space Traveler’s Emporium, 1947 30th Street. Sponsored by the San Diego Space Society, the screening is open to the public. Admission is free, although donations to the San Diego Space Society are welcome.

The full press release follows the jump.

[Via Jeff Berkwits.]

SAN DIEGO PREMIERE OF MOON BEAT SET FOR JULY 17, 2010

San Diego Space Society Presents Free Screening Celebrating Apollo 11 Anniversary

San Diego, CA – On July 16th, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off aboard Apollo 11 and soared into history as millions around the world watched. Their story has been told hundreds of times, but not so the tales of the NASA media officials and top news journalists who reported on that flight and every other NASA mission during the heyday of the 1960s Space Race. Moon Beat, a new award-winning documentary, rectifies that oversight, and will receive its San Diego premiere on Saturday, July 17th at 7:00 PM at the Space Traveler’s Emporium, 1947 30th Street. Sponsored by the San Diego Space Society, the screening is open to the public. Admission is free, although donations to the San Diego Space Society are welcome.

“These amazing journalists covered every mission, up close and behind the scenes. They and their NASA colleagues had a front-row seat to history and thanks to their coverage, so did the public,” says Kevin Stirling, director/producer of Moon Beat, who will also be present at the screening. “The San Diego Space Society is a tremendous organization dedicated to advancing the benefits of manned space exploration and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Moon Beat to San Diego, a city famous for its role in space exploration and development.”

Moon Beat (the title pays homage to the famous journalistic phrase “beat,” which refers to the subject a reporter regularly covers) explores the epic July 1969 flight of Apollo 11 and showcases the news reporters who were assigned to cover NASA both in the run-up to and during the first manned lunar landing. Journalists past and present, along with senior NASA officials of the era, share their memories of President Kennedy’s call to action and the Mercury and Gemini programs through Apollo 11, along with their views about the significance of those flights and the current state of the U.S. Space program.

“It’s a great honor for the San Diego Space Society to present the local debut of Moon Beat,” says Jesse Clark, president of the San Diego Space Society (a chapter of the National Space Society). “It’s also a privilege to have the director, Kevin Stirling, join us at this screening to share his unique perspective on such an important part of both American and space-exploration history.”

Additional information about Moon Beat can be found at moonbeatthemovie.com.

Further details about the San Diego Space Society screening are available at www.sdspace.org.