Fight for Space

2012¹ gab es bei Kickstarter das „kleine“ Dokumentarfilmprojekt Fight for Space -Space Program and NASA Documentary² von Paul Hildebrandt, das ich damals mit unterstützt habe.

„Fight for Space“ is a feature length documentary film that explores the current state and future of the U.S. space program. Since the Apollo era of the 1960s, NASA’s budget has been shrinking and our ambitions in space have been decreasing. We are producing a documentary that will examine the reasons why our space program is not all it can be. We are also going to show that space IS worth the time, money, and energy that it needs, not for only exploration and scientific reasons but for economic, planetary security, and cultural reasons as well. We will also be covering the great scientific achievements that NASA is making right now, and we will be examining the new commercial space enterprise by companies like SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, Bigelow, and more. Many problems have occurred in just the past 10 years that have lead to the consistent underfunding of NASA, the cancellation of multiple space systems, and the decline of America’s role in space.

We are not producing your average space documentary where we show restored footage from the moon landings and CGI galaxy renderings. We are covering the real political and economic issues of the recent past, today, and tomorrow. We are covering both sides of the argument and we promise to produce a fair and objective film.

Nach erfolgreicher Finanzierung und durchaus langer Produktionszeit steht mit Mitte 2015 nun auch ein Release-Termin und kürzlich ist auch der zweite Trailer erschienen:
 

 

Man mag zur NASA stehen wie man will, aber ihre Bedeutung für die Raumfahrt kann man ihr wohl kaum absprechen. Die budgetäre Situation ist wie bei vielen anderen wissenschaftlichen Institutionen prekär, weil kontinuierlich schrumpfend:³

Ich finde den Ansatz des Films auch (und vor allem) über die politischen und gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen zu berichten gerade besonders spannend. Paul Hildebrandt sammelt übrigens gerade in einem „Nachschlag“ noch etwas zusätzliches Geld für die „standesgemäße“ Veröffentlichung. Das Ganze läuft noch 17 Tage und kann durchaus noch etwas Unterstützung gebrauchen – für was haben die Macher auch erklärt:

Fight for Space is nearly complete, and we urgently need to raise an additional $80,000 to complete the film and get it released. Our goal is to get the film out to our supporters sometime around March-May 2015, show the film at limited theatrical screenings around the country, and have it ready for public television broadcast later this year. We need money for:

1. Post Production Technical Mix – Color Correction and Sound Mixing are an essential part of a good documentary, we need funding to have our film professionally mixed for television and theatrical release.

2. Musical Score – We need funding to produce an epic original score with both live orchestral and electronic elements. Composer pending.

3. Archival Footage – We must transfer a large amount of 35 and 16mm original film negatives from the National Archives and various presidential libraries to digital HD video. Additionally, we must pay for archival news footage to use in the film. This is a very expensive process and we need your help to get it done.

Zum besseren Nachvollziehen haben die Filmmacher die Budgetverteilung mal aufgegliedert:

Was ich besonders sympathisch finde:

BONUS – If we are funded, all public domain footage that we have transferred from the National Archives, NASA, and other sources will be made freely available in it’s source format online on a site such as Archive.org or similar video archival webpage. It is important that this footage be available to future documentary filmmakers around the world.

Und klar, man kann sich auch die Frage stellen, warum Raumfahrt überhaupt wichtig ist, und warum wir da weiterhin Gelder hineinpumpen sollten. Dazu haben viele Köpfe, viele schlaue Dinge gesagt.⁴

Bei allen schlauen Gründen dafür (und ja, ich bin dafür so viel Geld wie nur möglich darauf zu werfen), bleibt am Ende auch immer noch Carl Sagan:

One of the great revelations of the age of space exploration is the image of the earth finite and lonely, somehow vulnerable, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time.

Well said Mr. Sagan!