eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (07/08/85)
This a a brief review of the IMAX short "The Dream is Alive."
I saw the film over the 7/4 weekend at the Mariott Great America Theater
in Santa Clara.
The film starts with the characteristic twin sonic booms heard from
earth about two minutes before a landing. The first seen is a view
of a landing approach [see comments below regarding disappointments].
It's twilight and quite spectacular.
The film appears to be a collection of footage from at least three
shuttle flights, including the Solar Max Repair mission, Kathryn Sullivan's
first woman in space walk, and Sally Ride's first mission.
There are several closeups of launches from different angles (static
mounts). Watching the water flow around the shuttle looked interesting.
One of the neatest scenes flies into Launch complex 39
from the sea passing the Shuttle on the launch pad.
A good portion of the film looks out the windows toward the earth,
but you have no perception of depth or scale due to the distance
and lack of visual cues. Other scenes included eating in zero-G (lots),
and sleeping. The film is not all space shots with some footage in the
water tank in Houston showing training.
Disappointments: there were no forward or side shots from the shuttle
windows during the initial phases of launch or during reentry. The opening
landing could have been made using another aircraft. Many of these scenes
have been recorded using smaller cameras. Much of the IMAX footage
was statically shot, few of the sweeping panoramas characteristic
of the aerial IMAX stuff of the past.
--eugene miya
NASA Ames Research Center
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