Friday, January 20, 2012

Reason #115: Apogee of Fear


Apogee of Fear is a science fiction film directed by millionaire video game designer Richard Garriott. Set aboard the International Space Station, it involves astronauts searching for alien life that has invaded (infested?) the station and is using up all their oxygen. At eight minutes long, it's probably not the deepest sci-fi story ever told.

I say "probably" because I haven't seen it, and aside from Garriott, his crew, and a roomful of people at Dragon*Con, pretty much no one else has seen it. NASA, thus far, has not allowed its release to the public.

Why does NASA give a crap, you ask? Because Apogee of Fear features real astronauts as actors, and was shot onboard the actual ISS. It is, in fact, the first science fiction film to be shot in space - all thanks to our glorious system of private citizens being allowed to plunk down $30 million or so in exchange for status as "spaceflight participants" on trips to the ISS.

In any event, NASA seemed at first to feel that the film was maybe not the best way to present real NASA hardware and personnel to the public, but late-breaking news (well, yesterday afternoon) is that pending a few potential edits, they've changed their minds.

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