FILM SUMMARY AND HIGHLIGHTS OF FIRST-EVER LOCKHEED MARTIN-SPONSORED IMAX®3D SPACE FILM
SPACE STATION 3D
Film Summary
From the makers of The Dream Is Alive, Blue Planet, Destiny in Space, and Mission To MIR comes another strikingly beautiful and technically challenging film epic: the first-ever IMAX 3D Space film: SPACE STATION 3D. It is the story of the greatest engineering feat since landing a man on the Moon: the on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station, as it travels 220 miles above Earth at 17,500 mph.
Produced by IMAX Corporation (IMAX), and presented by Lockheed Martin Corporation, in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), SPACE STATION 3D builds on the IMAX-Lockheed Martin heritage that began almost 20 years ago and now has produced five major large-screen films.
SPACE STATION 3D is the first cinematic journey to the International Space Station (ISS) - where audiences experience for themselves life in zero gravity aboard the new station. With multi-Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise as our guide, and transported by the magic of IMAX®3D technology, we blast off into space with the astronauts and cosmonauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center and Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome to rendezvous with their new home in orbit 220 miles above Earth. Now people of every age and language can work side by side with their space-walking crewmates, building and inhabiting this unprecedented structure in space. The International Space Station is a technical marvel, unparalleled in scope and challenge. In their own words, the astronauts and cosmonauts share with us the tensions and triumphs of their greatest challenge: hours of painstaking and dangerous teamwork in the deadly vacuum of space, putting the pieces together. The International Space Station is the first truly international effort to create a permanent research facility in space.
SPACE STATION 3D is the story of the unique partnership of 16 nations building this orbiting laboratory: a place where we can expand our knowledge of things which affect our daily lives, where we can learn more about how natural events and people, are affecting our fragile planet. By studying together the effects of long-duration exposure to zero gravity, we can take the necessary first step towards the global, cooperative effort needed if we are someday to go to Mars. The new IMAX-Lockheed Martin film is a home movie from humanity's home-away-from-home.
Astronaut Training with the new IMAX 3D Cameras
Between December 1998 and August 2001, more than 69,000 feet, or 13 miles of 65mm film negative flew into space for use on the two IMAX 3D Space Cameras. Working closely with IMAX and NASA, 25 astronauts and cosmonauts trained as filmmakers over several months, honing their skills in camera operations, cinematography, lighting and sound recording, test shooting in the Space Station mock-ups at Johnson Space Center, and critiquing the results on the IMAX screen.
Two new IMAX 3D cameras were specifically designed and built for operation in the zero-gravity environment of space by MSM Design for IMAX Corporation. One camera resided inside the space station, moving from module to module to capture scenes of daily life on the inside, while its sister camera flew up and down on specific missions in the shuttle's cargo bay, where it had a bird's eye view of space walks and station assembly. The IMAX 3D cameras filmed seven space shuttle crews and two resident station crews as they transformed the station from a tiny outpost to a permanently inhabited scientific research station. Together, the two cameras have been capturing, sometimes simultaneously, dramatic scenes of historic first milestones in the building of the International Space Station.
The IMAX3D Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC3D) flew on four space shuttle missions before SPACE STATION 3D went into post-production. The IMAX 3D Cargo Bay Camera is remotely controlled by each crew from inside the space shuttle, via a laptop computer connected to a video camera inside the ICBC3D. This allows the astronauts and cosmonauts to frame their shots, select focus and exposures, and for the first time, choose from alternate camera lenses.
Its sister IMAX3D IN-Cabin Camera (IMAX3D) was onboard the International Space Station (ISS) from September 2000,through the STS-105 mission in August 2001. The camera was used by two ISS crews, and six orbiter crews who were trained by the IMAX team to document the internal development of the station.
Film Highlights
SPACE STATION 3D filming begins with footage from the Earth-shaking launch of the PROTON Rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the delivery of the first component of the International Space Station, the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), called "Zarya," which means "Dawn" in Russian.
"Birth of the International Space Station"
The astronauts and cosmonauts tell the story of the 'birth' of the International Space Station in their own words. Audiences fly by their sides during Shuttle Mission STS-88, as the first two modules, the Russian "Zarya," and the U.S.-built Node, "Unity," are joined in space. (Editor's note: Filming on STS-88 was in IMAX 2D)
From the unique perspective of the U.S. Shuttle's Cargo Bay on Mission STS-92, the IMAX ICBC3D camera captures the installation of the huge Z1 truss, which is the "back bone" of the International Space Station. Using the ICBC3D's multiple lenses, the shuttle crew captures three space walks on film, as the astronauts install an important communications antennae and the Pressurized Mating Adaptor to the station, a vital interface between the Node and other station elements.
As they set up house in their new surroundings, the first resident crew of the International Space Station, Expedition-1, filmed their daily life and work onboard the Station with the IMAX3D camera. Highlights include showering and shaving in zero gravity, a fitness session with a unique view of earth, repair work on one of the station's many complex support systems, and views of the expanding and changing interior.
SPACE STATION 3D chronicles the first on-orbit scenes of the Expedition-1 crew inside their new home in orbit around the Earth, filmed by the In-Cabin IMAX3D Camera. STS-97 was the first visit of a shuttle crew to a resident crew of the International Space Station, where they shared their first meal and filmed the first scenes of Expedition One in the Space Station.
The STS-98 and Expedition-1 crews filmed the historic first entry into the station's "Destiny" laboratory module. When the new science and research facility was added, it almost doubled the station's interior space. With this addition, audiences see the Space Station evolve, as human habitation changes it from a series of modules to an integrated living 'work space' and 'home-away-from-home.' The STS-98 and Expedition-1 crews also used "Destiny's" window as a unique vantage point from which to capture space walk activities in the cargo bay of the docked shuttle, as the EVA (space walk) crews assembled critical parts of the station and practiced crew rescue procedures.
During Shuttle Mission STS-102 the audience is onboard the Space Station for the arrival of the second resident ISS crew, Expedition-2, and the departure of the first resident crew. The crews installed the Italian-built "Leonardo" Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). Like its brother, "Rafaello," "Leonardo" is a large portable cupboard, transporting to the Space Station science experiment racks for the U.S. Laboratory, "Destiny."
"Canada Lends an Arm"
On STS-100, interior and exterior IMAX3D cameras captured the installation and testing of the space station's remote manipulator system, the new Canadian-built giant robotic arm, detachable at both ends so that it can "walk" around the station. The IMAX 3D cameras filmed the arrival of the Expedition-2 crew to the International Space Station and the return to Earth of the Expedition One crew.
"It's a Wrap"
During STS-104, the astronauts will film for SPACE STATION the continuing historic activities of the Expedition Two crew as the outfitting of the "Destiny" lab nears completion, and as they configure the space suits and prepare the interior of the Station's new airlock for egress. This flight, the Cargo Bay camera's last mission for SPACE STATION, will feature the installation of the station's airlock on the exterior, and the first space walk to be conducted from the interior of the International Space Station. After the shuttle Atlantis separates from the Space Station, the cargo bay camera will capture breathtaking views of the completed Phase 2 station from a distance, its giant solar wings outstretched against the magnificent backdrop of Earth.
Daily Departures to SPACE STATION Begin Spring 2002
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