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Journey Back to the Moon: The Moonwalkers Experience with South Florida PBS · The Rhett Palmer Show

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And now the most trusted name in radio serving the Treasure Coast for over 30 years.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Brett Palmer, the mayor of the airways.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: All right, well, for the first time in more than 50 years, the U.S.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: is planning to go back to the moon.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, Florida Floridians can experience what it was like in 1969 when three astronauts went where no one had ever gone before.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks to a new immersive experience in South Florida PBS in Boynton Beach.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: We went to you and we have, of course, Genesee as Qui and she is the marketing director.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, good morning.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, good morning, Red.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: How are you?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, wonderful.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: I love your name.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Good to have you on the air with us.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Now I appreciate the opportunity.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we loved your immersive uh experience for the Titanic, just ended uh short time ago.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll be we'll be coming down to see this project.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Also I guess I guess Tom Hanks has been involved in this.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: You want to tell us uh tell us about the immersive exhibit?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: So uh The Moonwalkers, a journey with Tom Hanks.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's actually the title, is a spectacular 360-degree immersive experience, uh, narrated by Tom Hanks.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: But he's also the executive producer and he co-wrote it.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: He's been a lifelong space enthusiast.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so this particular experience was created by Lightroom, which is a studio behind large um scaled immersive experiences.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's very high quality, uh, and it's really almost divided into three parts.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: So, first of all, when you walk in, you're going to see a replica of Apollo's lunar lander eagle module.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know that expression, the eagle has landed.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Is that what we're seeing behind you?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, actually, that's exactly it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: So the eagle has landed in Boynton Beach at South Florida PBS.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, so you will get to see all the details.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: You can touch it, can't climb it, uh, but it's it's the first thing you see.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: And then you walk in, and there's the pre-show.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: And the pre-show takes place in our immersive dome.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you'll see it when you visit us.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, in there, basically, we show a video of the making of the moonwalkers, and you see Tom Hanks and the creative team, how they built this experience using NASA's archival imagery and footage.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's really interesting.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: And then you walk into a second room, a very large room, where there's a lot of interactive activities.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's a holograph of an astronaut that you can talk to face to face, ask him questions.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: His name is Ben.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you can ask him questions about life in orbit, and he will answer your questions.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot more like artifacts, 3D uh replicas, and um, and then you go into the main show.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: And the main show is in a 4,000 immersive square feet immersive studio.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: And there you will see in large proportional and scales and uh imagery of not only the lunar, the landing on the moon, the lunar steps, but basically the history of the Apollo missions.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's it's something that's amazing because it's not just the imagery that surrounds you, but it's also surround sound, uh, which is you know just breathtaking, the entire experience.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: You lose sight of the fact that you're in Boynton Beach and you think you're really on the moon or in you know space mission control center.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this is very, very exciting.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I saw your Titanic immersive experience.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: But uh what amazes me is the kind of equipment it must take to project all this, because it's it's really quite emotional.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: And and there is quite a bit of uh equipment.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it also necessary to create that very spectacular uh kind of program and show uh where you are immersed with um imagery on the walls, imagery on the floor.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when you see when the rocket is is taking off, you almost feel like it's trembling, like you're you're there and you're you know in close proximity.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, at South Florida PBS, we're always looking for new ways to bring education, storytelling, and discovery to South Florida.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: So the moonwalkers with Tom Hanks felt like that was the perfect experience because there's so much excitement around space exploration right now, you know, particularly as NASA looks toward returning humans to the moon through the Artemis program.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: So the experience is not just about the historic Apollo missions, but also about the current uh Artemis program.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so it gives audiences an opportunity to look back at the extraordinary achievements of the Apollo missions, but also looking forward to come to what comes next.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Genesee, uh one thing, I'm holding up here my my iPhone here.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I can see it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: I can't see it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: My green screen is blocking it, but uh anyway, here it is in front of me.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: See?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: And this uh why I'm bringing that up is that uh uh astronaut Al Worden uh was on my show so frequently.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: He went to the moon too, uh you know, after these guys, but um he said that the computers that they had at that time didn't even have a quarter of the power that you and I have in our smartphones.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Is that amazing?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: It is amazing, and now with the advent of AI, you know, it's uh the possibilities are really endless.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, now uh I'm I'm a bit older than you, but did you ever get to see the movie uh uh the one where uh Hal takes over the spaceship?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: It was very big back in the uh late 60s, 70s.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um was it Space Odyssey?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: Space Odyssey, yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like one movie.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: That is a great movie.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, so um so so visitors will be able to experience this.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what is the uh what is the are there?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: The tickets are for sale.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they have to make reservations well in advance, and where should they get these?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: So we opened yesterday to the public, and so far the feedback has been tremendous.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, not only did we open to the public yesterday, but on Saturday we had a professional development workshop for the teachers in Palm Beach.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: We always do that every time we launch an immersive experience.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: And what we do is we create curriculum around the experiences because we offer free field trips to Title I schools.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we pay for transportation, we pay for the admission, uh, and then of course we give a discount to public schools for the student admission.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: But we also share curriculum with the teachers so that they can teach the concept in a very multidisciplinary way uh before they bring the students to the um field to the uh immersive experience, whichever that one is.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: So um the feedback from the teachers was phenomenal.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: They loved it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: It was everything was excellent, excellent, excellent.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: They were so excited.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: And then we had a friends and family uh day on Sunday, and again, the feedback was great, was incredibly great.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yesterday we had the first like 100 and so folks that came by, and the feedback and the right rating so far has been, you know, four, no, five out of five stars.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: So um congratulations.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: So the way that you can find out more information, ticket pricing, uh we're open Tuesdays through Sunday is if you go to the website, it's South Florida PBS.org slash the moonwalkers, and there you'll be able to purchase the tickets.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're like I said, open Tuesdays through Sunday, and the first show starts at 10.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: And uh this weekend's gonna be busy from what I see as far as ticket sales.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Now, how long will this immersive exhibit of Apollo 15 be there at the at the PBS studios in Boynton Beach?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: So we will have it available uh to our uh guests um for six months.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Six months, yeah.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's a six-month run.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, with Titanic, we had to extend it because it was so popular.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um so we extended it for another month.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: We weren't planning on it, but you know, it was uh popular demand, and uh we listened to our folks, our audience, and of course our residents in in the South Florida communities, and we did, we extended it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: So, but right now, as far as for the moonwalkers, we will be open for six months.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so make sure that you don't miss out because really this is one in a lifetime kind of experience.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I I loved Egyptian pharaohs, which was another immersive experience.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Titanic was amazing, but this one, Brett, how many times or where can you really like go to the moon and uh and learn about space uh travel, space exploration, the space program, and and really what's happening now with the Artemis program, NASA's Artemis program?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I was just thinking, I've never done this before, and I'm not I'm not absolutely committing to it, but if we could arrange it, wouldn't it be great if we could uh we could uh get uh a group of my listeners, we've been on the air now 32 years down there, and and put them on a bus, uh, give them a lunch and bring them down and and see the see the exhibit.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it'd be a good excuse for people to get out.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: And not everybody, especially the senior citizens, maybe will drive down there.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Where we have we drove down to your last exhibit.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: You're that you're that close, but uh yeah, it might be a great idea for a for a bus trip.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: I so I uh founded a woman's club, uh the Raoul West Day Women's Club, and they actually have done that already twice.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they chartered a bus and they came up to Boynton Beach to see Titanic.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: They did the same thing when we had the VR experiences, Coliseum in Napoleon over the summer.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a great idea, Rhett.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we also have a lot of like senior living communities that will, you know, um get a bus and get folks to come.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: It makes it easier for them that way.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, we have a lot of groups that come and and it's fun, you know.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: When you have a group of people that are like-minded or that know each other, you you you have more fun.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's a group experience.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it really is.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's exciting.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what I'll have to do is I'll come well, let's make sure we connect after after this interview and we'll talk on the phone.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: And since you've already done this with others, you can tell me how it's done.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: I know there are bus companies up in Vero Beach and the surrounding area.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I think it's a it's a great idea to come down, you know.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: We love, like I said, we loved the last one.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: I wish we got to see the Egyptians.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know about that one.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: That was right before Titanic.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: So at one time we were simultaneously running two experiences.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: One at the Cornelian T.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Bailey Cultural Art Center, which is part of our South Florida PBS, Boynton Beach Studios, and then in the studios themselves, which is on kind of like the other side of the building, we were running Titanic.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, you said that uh uh Tom Hanks is involved in this.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he's been involved in a whole lot of stuff.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: I believe I just saw a special on PBS, your station.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it was about America celebrating the 250th anniversary.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Tom Hanks was involved in that, wasn't he?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: If you're referring to Americo, he wasn't.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: But there have been a lot of programs on PBS celebrating the 250th anniversary of America.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: But um, if you're referring to Americo, no, I believe he was not.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: David McCourt, he was the executive producer and he was the host.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so he, yeah, he was the principal person there for that show.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: But it was a great program, great series.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I want to thank you for uh being involved in bringing this to our communities, and I hope we can talk further.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm looking forward, really looking forward to coming down and seeing myself, but maybe we can bring a bus down, as I said.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: So um, where can people go for more information?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: Audiences, folks that are interested, um, can go to Southfloridaps.org slash the moonwalkers.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, great.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Now there's so Genesee.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm trying to get your name here.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Genesee and Louis.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love your name.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's a cool name.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh thank you, Red.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Very nice getting to meet you via Zoom and look forward to meeting you personally.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you're gonna I think it's gonna be a big success.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Sounds like it already has started to be already.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for including cost.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: And keep looking up.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Gloria Senor Jesus.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll keep looking up.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Brett.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, buenos yes.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Bye bye.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.