2011 has been an incredibly busy year here at Space City Films, as we’ve been working feverishly to create all-new programming and support several live events. One of my absolute favorite shows to produce is National Space Symposium, held each spring at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. NSS is a massive week-long aerospace industry event that is the result of an enormous amount of work from the tremendously talented and visionary folks at the Space Foundation.
Each show has a different vibe, and this year’s hot topic seemed to be the state of America’s civil space program. Everywhere we went, people were talking about the end of the shuttle program and the uncertain future of America’s leadership in space.
The big events on Tuesday included a Shuttle Commander’s Forum that featured six legendary Shuttle CDRs, each representing one of NASA’s orbiters – Joe Engle and Enterprise, Dick Truly and Challenger, Brewster Shaw and Columbia, Eileen Collins and Discovery, Fred Gregory and Atlantis, and Dan Brandenstein and Endeavour.
The second big event of the day – which we produced and directed – was a sold-out luncheon, Industry Salutes the Space Shuttle.
The audience was filled with industry titans and astronauts galore, as well as starstruck attendees hoping to rub shoulders with these legendary heroes. We created a gigantic high-def video wallpaper that included jaw-dropping still images from every Shuttle mission ever flown. This 40-minute piece played during the meal and was a gigantic hit.
After desert and coffee was served, we dropped the house lights to black and rolled a short ten minute tribute to the greatest spacecraft ever built, the Space Shuttle. We built in a couple of places to allow the audience to reflect upon what they are watching, and give them a moment to breathe. During those pauses, there was not a sound to be heard from this audience of nearly 800 people. When the program finished, there was not a dry eye in the house.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch it HERE.
With only a single flight left after Friday’s final launch of Endeavour, pause for a moment and reflect upon what is truly a Magnificent Flying Machine.