With a trip to space priced at $20 million U.S., the new IMAX film Space Station is an affordable alternative, but also a great way to start dreaming.
The 2-D version of Space Station, narrated by Tom Cruise, is currently showing at the Ontario Science Centre. Although I was hoping to see the first-ever IMAX space movie filmed in 3-D, the 47-minute journey on the Centre’s domed screen is no less captivating.
Two new cameras, built for use in zero gravity, document events on the International Space Station (ISS) that range from astronauts lounging during their spare time to crews working outside to assemble the growing facility.
The film takes the audience through a number of different steps in the realization of the station, which is still under construction. In addition to training activities, the brilliant images of lift-off and a controlled exercise in the future of jet packs (think The Jetsons), the film gives us a peek into everyday space station activities such as eating, bathing and sleeping. In space, these quotidian chores are far from mundane.
Space Station also illustrates the subtle aspects of maintaining human activity in orbit. I was personally struck by the efforts of crewmembers to sustain onion sprouts. A moment where astronauts reflect on an Earth without borders, as the planet continuously rotates outside their window, was far from clichéd.
Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean and American Brent Jett, scheduled to fly on the next ISS assembly mission in spring 2003, were present at the screening and offered a reliable confirmation that the movie was the “closest thing to being in space.”
The Ontario Science Centre complements the film with a number of activities, including a rocket chair simulation and a recreated shuttle kitchen. For ticket information and show times check www.ontariosciencecentre.ca.
