School Teacher Christa McAullife was chosen from tens of thousands of people to be the first civilian in space.īut she wasn’t actually the first choice. This was the move by NASA to create more public interest in trips to space. For the first time ever, a civilian was onboard a NASA flight. This was the day the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff.Īn entire nation was watching live at home–including in pretty much every school in the country. If this is brand new to you, January 28th, 1986 was a day of national tragedy. You obviously know exactly where this story is going.
#CHALLENGER SPACE SHUTTLE MOVIE MOVIE#
And in one of the biggest wins the movie celebrated, was landing legendary composer John Williams to create the score.Įverything was in place–so what could possibly go wrong. Space Camp would also feature some Academy Award-winning cinematographers to capture all the images. Last, but not least: you had a very young Joaquin Phoenix, who went by Leaf Phoenix in those days. Kate Capshaw was also in it who you may know as Willie Scott, the nightclub singer in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Scott was in it who you may remember from Revenge of the Nerds. Next, you had Tom Skerrit who would be a part of Top Gun. I’ve got a great blog all about the iconic Howard the Duck movie if you want to check that out here. She would also have Howard the Duck opening in 1986, so that was an issue, too. Then, you had Lea Thompson fresh off of Back to the Future. First off: it featured a pretty stellar cast. You may have never even heard of Space Camp, but there was a lot of excitement behind this movie. Now, they have missed their chance for a proper reentry and they come up with a plan to land in New Mexico. One of the kids is trapped outside the shuttle, but they override the autopilot to rescue her.
Mission Control has got a hold of the shuttle and is trying to bring back the shuttle by autopilot.
#CHALLENGER SPACE SHUTTLE MOVIE HOW TO#
The kids now have to figure out how to stay alive while in space. The Shuttle hasn’t been cleared for space activity and doesn’t have enough oxygen or radio power. Jinx takes everything he hears literally and when he hears one of the kids say “I wish I was in space,” he is able to trigger the launch sequence while they’re sitting in the Space Shuttle Atlantis. They meet a robot named Jinx (voiced by 80s voice icon Frank Welker). Their instructor is an astronaut who is bitter that she hasn’t yet gone to space. They are there to learn about NASA and mimic the training that astronauts go through. The Plot of Space Campįour teenagers visit a NASA space camp for three weeks in the summer. One of the main goals of Space Camp was to inspire kids to study science and space. NASA would be involved with the writing and production to make sure it was accurate and properly represented the agency. Space Camp would be set in reality–as much as it could. These were a bit too science-fictiony, so it was thought that a more grounded approach might resonate with kids. The space-related movies at the time were things like Flight of the Navigator ( check out my blog all about it here) and the Arrivals. The goal was to make a “real-life” space movie. It’s not that NASA created the Space Camp movie they just played a big part in its production. NASA wanted to create more public interest in the space program, and this meant getting the attention of kids. Space travel had been a thrill through the 1960s and 70s–but it had become a bit stale going into the 80s. This was a real thing happening in the mid-80s. NASA needed to create more public interest in the space program, and this is why Homer ends up able to travel to space. In the classic episode, people were doing anything to avoid having to watch “another boring space launch” on TV. Setting the Stage For Space Campĭo you remember the Simpsons episode when Homer Goes to space? This isn’t far off the intent of Space Camp. This is a look back at Space Camp, the movie was doomed before it even opened. This movie was intended to be a perfect family/PG movie that everyone could enjoy.īut things wouldn’t work out that way. It had a great cast, great premise, and a lot of high-end production around it.
The movie debuted less than 5 months after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster creating a marketing nightmare for 20th Century Fox. Space Camp is a movie from 1986 about a bunch of kids attending a NASA space camp and accidentally get launched into space. Space Camp had the unfortunate role of being one of the worst timed movies ever.
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