Stowaway to the Moon
Stowaway to the Moon
NR | 10 January 1975 (USA)
Stowaway to the Moon Trailers

E.J. Mackernutt, Jr., an 11-year-old boy who has always been fascinated by space and astronauts, sneaks into Cape Kennedy and becomes a stowaway on a spaceship scheduled for a lunar landing. After he is discovered, NASA at first cancels the landing, but E.J. and the astronauts convince them to go forward with it. Problems arise when one of the astronauts is incapacitated by illness and the other two are stranded on the moon's surface, but E.J. is able to command the space capsule and save the day.

Reviews
ThiefHott Too much of everything
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
jefffisher65-708-541158 Stowaway to the Moon is a film I can recall from my childhood when I was also a dedicated real-life space flight follower, and can recall the final moon flights fairly well. Anybody else ever have the Science Club booklet, Apoloo-to-the-Mooon Map with those paste-down stickers, and/or maybe even the model kit of Apollo Eleven on the Mooon? Anywyay, I doubt today's kids would be interested, non-digital, you see.Anyhow, I only saw this film once on a rare television showing since the 1970s, but the handful of reviews here sums it pretty well. I suspect the movie was meant to be entertaining as much as anything else, and perhaps the rushed ending was due to the low made-for-TV film budgets as much as anything else. It was good to see Lloyd Bridges and John Carradine, of course as well as real-life moonwalker Cahrles Conrad in a small role. I wish somebody would bring this out on disc for nostalgia's sake.
TVholic It's been so many years since I last saw this. Sort of a children's version of "Marooned" or an earlier, better version of "Spacecamp."Young EJ is an intelligent, young boy with an obsessive interest in the space program. So he hatches a plan to sneak past the launch support crew and surveillance cameras during the launch preparations for the "Camelot" moon mission, managing to get himself into the Apollo space capsule. Once they're en route to the Moon, he's discovered. His presence causes problems and strains the resources of a spacecraft meticulously designed to hold only three men, but he also helps solve other problems that arise and so gains the respect, friendship and admiration of the astronauts.Child actor Michael Link did a fine job in the titular role. EJ was written as highly intelligent but not a precocious smart aleck like so many child characters today. A young nerd, as it were. Most of the adults were fine as well, including veterans Lloyd Bridges and John Carradine. Note that all the scenes at "Houston" were actually filmed in one of the Kennedy Space Center firing rooms (launch control center) in Florida.It was the daydream of many a young boy and certainly some young girls (paging Dr. Sally Ride) in the years immediately following the Apollo missions to be an astronaut. "Stowaway" took that a step further with a dream of going into space without having to grow up (and grow old) first. But show this movie to most kids today and they would be likely to not only find the special effects lacking (which is not all that important) but the space program dull and uninspiring.. How times have changed. No longer does the nation cluster around TVs, holding its collective breath throughout each mission People have become jaded to space, even though the shuttle only goes up every few months at most -- no more often than the Moon missions did. If JFK could see the level of disinterest today, he would cry. Shows and movies about the space program (as opposed to space operas, alien invasions and the like) are rarities today. Only a few come to mind from the last two decades. The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, From the Earth to the Moon, Spacecamp, Space Cowboys. Alas, the last two were targeted at diametrically opposite age groups. All of us would benefit if some of the early wonder were instilled in generations now and yet to come.
jaybabb This is a sweet, simple story about a boy who stowaway on a spacecraft the night before lift off. It appears that he really thought this plan through, he studied up on space travel and the complex nature of traveling in space. This kid is smart, he knew what he was doing!This is 1974 and the security technology has not yet been available. It's impossible to get away with some thing like that today. I like the way this story is told, it's not corny, but neither is it overblown.This film also brings back the memories of the Apollo space program, while I was only 5 years old when Apollo 11 mission to the moon, I still remember the event because it was all anyone talked about at the time.This is good story telling. I give it ***1/2 out of *****.
miller-movies Lloyd Bridges and John Carradine are the only big name actors in this TV movie, but the remainder of the cast do fairly well. This is a film about a NASA Moon mission, with a boy who stows away in the trash compartment. While moderately simplistic, it does a good job of showing what an actual mission was all about. Michael Link stars as the title character. Do not expect massive FX, tho there is some good footage from the Apollo missions. Astronaut Charles Conrad provides some nice insight as a news reporter. Shown on Fox Movie Channel on June 5th... it might be repeated. 7.