| Genre: | Biography Drama |
| Director: | Jud Taylor |
| Starring: | |
| Music: | Billy Goldenberg |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Executive Producer: | Rupert Hitzig Alan King |
| Producer: | Jud Taylor |
| Cinematography: | Frank Stanley |
| Editor: | Ronald J. Fagan |
| Runtime: | 74 minutes |
| Company: | King-Hitzig Productions |
| Network: | ABC |
Return to Earth is an American biopic television film that originally aired on May 14, 1976 on ABC.[1] The film stars Cliff Robertson as astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Shirley Knight as Joan Aldrin. Based upon Aldrin's 1973 book of the same name,[2] the film dramatizes the emotional difficulties of Aldrin's life following his 1969 trip to the Moon on Apollo 11. The film was directed by Jud Taylor, and Aldrin served as a consultant.[3] [4]
Based upon his own book of his ordeals, the film is the story of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, and the problems he had after the mission and his return to Earth, including the breakup of his marriage, his struggles with clinical depression and alcoholism, and his hospitalization for psychiatric problems.
Robertson's casting was announced in September 1975.[5]
The Los Angeles Times called it "decent, well acted, uninspired."[6]