pcmcgeer (05/10/82)
This may be a little silly, but...
It occurs to me that NASA owns several thousand (perhaps several
million) feet of some of the best special-effects stuff ever done in
the history of either TV or motion pictures. Moreover, these pictures form
a backdrop for what is surely one of the most exciting dramas in the history
of man - the first brave leap of humanity into space.
Surely, given the amount of interest in Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica,
Star Trek and so forth, there must be a market for a feature-length motion
picture or two based on the space program. Such a film would be cheap to make
(most of the footage, as mentioned, already exists), and might gross a great
deal - perhaps enough to pay for the Halley's Comet probe.
Has NASA considered making and releasing such a film? Are there any
legal or political factors that make an endeavour such as this impossible
or inadvisable? Would former astronauts donate their time to such a project
for the good of the program? Is this whole idea completely crazy?
Cheers,
Rick
ps - even if NASA couldn't make and release the film, could the L-5 society?
NASA would certainly donate footage and technical help to the project if
it was to be the principal beneficiary.phr (05/12/82)
It's a good idea, but prohibited by US Federal law. If you want to contribute money to the space effort, I suggest that you join the Space Studies Institute, 195 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ 08540. This group is headed by Gerard K. O'Neill, and has funded construction of model mass drivers, automated lunar chemical processing plants, and other important ideas which haven't drawn government money. They use their funds much more efficiently than any government agency could, too. $10/year gets you a quarterly newsletter. If you want your money to go to NASA, you can contribute to Delta Vee, 3033 Moorpark Ave., Suite 27, San Jose CA 95128. They operate the Viking Fund, which so far has given NASA over $100,000 to analyze data which is still being transmitted from the Viking Landers (govt. funding for data analysis dried up years ago), and the Halley Fund. The Halley Fund originally was to pay for a political campaign to get funding for a NASA Halley probe. This turned dismal, and they now (quixotically, I think) hope to build and launch their own probe, paid for ($~100 million) by contributions, sale of data, movie and TV rights, etc. etc. They have all sorts of gizmos for sale, like astronaut jackets, Fischer space pens, and (I believe) the laser color prints of the Shuttle that were discussed in net.space recently. I should have suggested DV as a worthier cause to buy the prints from when the topic was relevant. Incidentally, NASA is not allowed to take donations for specific purposes - only with no strings attached. Horrible legal maneuvers were performed (with NASA a happy participant) to make sure that Viking Fund money was spent on Viking. Re NASA help: NASA will lend movies, and even give presentations for just about anyone who asks - they're a regular feature of many science fiction conventions. I've shown "Mars in 3-D", a stereoscopic movie filmed on location by the Viking lander, for Delta Vee a few times. Re feature length film: "A Space Movie" (that's the title) was shown in NYC for several months last summer. It's an excellent collection of NASA footage; unfortunately I've forgotten who compiled or distributes it. --Paul