The Dream Is Alive

The Dream Is Alive

DVD cover
Directed by Graeme Ferguson
Starring David Leestma
George Nelson
Sally Ride
Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan
James Van Hoften
Narrated by Walter Cronkite
Release dates
  • June 1, 1985 (1985-06-01)
Running time
37 min.

The Dream is Alive is an IMAX movie, released in June 1985, about NASA's Space Shuttle program. The film was narrated by Walter Cronkite, and directed by Graeme Ferguson.

Synopsis

The movie includes scenes from numerous shuttle missions, beginning with uncredited footage of Discovery on mission STS-51-A landing at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, complete with twin sonic booms.

Mission STS-41-C, the 11th for the shuttle program and the fifth for Challenger is featured most heavily, beginning with the deployment of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite. The capture and repair of the Solar Max satellite also receives a great deal of coverage, including a detailed overview of training for the mission in a large pool at NASA. This particular mission is of interest, as the first attempt at capturing the satellite failed, and a second attempt almost 12 hours later had to be made. That portion of the mission was a success, with the satellite being brought to the payload bay on the next attempt, and was repaired quickly by astronauts James van Hoften and George Nelson. Other STS 41-C mission activities included a student experiment located in a middeck locker to determine how honeybees make honeycomb cells in a microgravity environment.

Other shuttle missions are interspersed during the feature with the STS-41-C footage. Highlights include:

Additionally, a small amount of time is also dedicated to other aspects of the shuttle program, including:

Challenger disaster

The movie was produced and shot 15–18 months before the Challenger disaster, and includes appearances by two astronauts who died in the accident; Francis Scobee and Judith Resnik. Challenger itself is featured prominently in the film. Many of the themes and tone of the documentary regarded the normalization of travel to space using the shuttle while giving only passing mention to the dangers. The Challenger disaster would dramatically curtail this belief and subsequent experience would show that the shuttle would not make space travel more accessible or affordable.

Release

The Dream Is Alive was released on DVD (pictured), and in high definition as a bonus feature on the Blue Planet Blu-ray in 2007.[1]

References

  1. Blu-ray.com May 2, 2007 (retrieved Jun 13, 2015)

External links

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