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NASA Astronaut Talks "Gravity," Spacewalking, ISS

Posted by timothy on from the best-view-of-earth dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "The upcoming movie Gravity features a pair of astronauts (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) stranded in orbit after their space shuttle is destroyed by floating debris. Faced with dwindling oxygen levels, they struggle to reach the nearby International Space Station (ISS). It's a movie, so some deviations from reality are expected, but it also opens up an opportunity to talk with a NASA astronaut about what it's like to live in space. Catherine 'Cady' Coleman, who has spent thousands of hours aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and the International Space Station, who gave Bullock advice on the role, suggests that the real NASA has the whole orbital-debris issue well in hand, but that it takes a lot of training (and on-the-job experience) to get the hang of living in space. 'When we get up to space and the people up there run around and show us stuff — that's really, really effective and there was nothing like that compared to the classroom.' Despite the physical and mental demands, and the the time spent away from family, she sees the endeavor as supremely worth it. 'We're all very privileged to do this job,' Coleman says. 'They spend a lot of money making you ready, and you have a responsibility to do your job.'"

12 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Won't come close to Apollo 13 by Russ1642 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ron Howard really set the standard ages ago when they filmed large portions of Apollo 13 in actual zero gravity.

    1. Re:Won't come close to Apollo 13 by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Informative

      They've got it easier here, they spend most of the movie in their suits in open space. Relatively trivial to do with CGI these days and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than 15 trips on the vomit comet.

    2. Re:Won't come close to Apollo 13 by JeffAtl · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Wonder if screwing with the Hubble or other space telescopes would be considered worthwhile to help save two astronauts.

    3. Re:Won't come close to Apollo 13 by mcgrew · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The best thing about the movie Apollo 13 was the attention to every detail; the old cabinet TV with Walter Cronkite, the clothes, the music... As to the movie "Gravity" I submitted this, which linked Ms. Ivin's full review of the movie. If you see it in the firehose, don't vote it up as it would be a dupe at this point.

      Ivin is a self professed sci-fi fan and "one of the original Trekkies".* An engineer and a Trekkie? I'll bet she's lurking here now, probably has a 3 digit UID. A snippet of her review:

      My first take was to itemize the errors. The vehicles are in impossible orbits -- wrong altitudes, wrong inclinations. The backpack maneuvering unit has a nearly infinite amount of fuel and comes superchargedâ"but only until the plot requires it suddenly to run out. Space stations seem to retain pressure in their various modules despite coming apart at the seams. You can apparently close an outward opening hatch against exiting pressure with one hand.

      She did have a lot of good things to say about it.

      If you have a GF this is most likely a movie you can take her to since it's Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

      * Sometimes it's great being a geezer, I got to see TOS when it was brand new and flat screen monitors, "communicators", self-opening doors, etc were just fantasies. A young friend envied me when I described hearing Led Zeppelin for the first time, as John Bonham was dead before he was born.

      I live in a science fiction fantasy, except it's all real now. You guys grew up with computers, computers grew up with me.

      You guys will see things even science fiction writers haven't thought of.

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    4. Re:Won't come close to Apollo 13 by nherm · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you have a GF this is most likely a movie you can take her to since it's Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

      My girlfriend is a rocket scientist, you insensitive clod!

    5. Re:Won't come close to Apollo 13 by kellymcdonald78 · · Score: 3, Informative

      There is no such thing as "zero gravity", in fact the force gravity in LEO is only slightly less that it is on the surface. Astronauts and spacecraft are in free-fall around the Earth which is equivalent to what they experience in the Vomit Comet. The only difference is that in orbit, you're moving fast enough that you continually miss hitting the ground. The Vomit Comet isn't so lucky and thus needs to pull up periodically

  2. Nothing like real life by TWiTfan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the real world, Shuttles are destroyed by funding cuts.

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    1. Re:Nothing like real life by Russ1642 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Considering that 2 of the 5 shuttles that were in service (Enterprise was never launched) were destroyed taking everyone on board I don't think the premise of the movie is that far off.

  3. Re:What has the ISS ever done for us? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

    i can has wiki? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station#Purpose

    the basic answer is that they do science experiments.

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  4. Reach the "nearby" ISS? From Hubble? Uh, No. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Informative

    they struggle to reach the nearby International Space Station (ISS)

    In this NY Times review, Astronaut and a Writer at the Movies, Dennis Overbye and astronaut Michael J. Massimino watched and discussed the movie together... "There is a hole in the plot: a gaping orbital impossibility big enough to drive the Starship Enterprise through."

    Plot *SPOILER* or orbital physics lesson, take your pick:

    ... Michael J. Massimino, who flew missions in 2002 and 2009 to service the Hubble Space Telescope — the same telescope the astronauts in “Gravity” were sent to repair. ... there is a hole in the plot: a gaping orbital impossibility big enough to drive the Starship Enterprise through.

    After they stop tumbling and find the shuttle destroyed and their colleagues all dead, Mr. Clooney tells Ms. Bullock that their only hope for rescue is to use his jetpack to travel to the space station, seen as a glowing light over the horizon. “It’s a long hike, but we can make it,” he says.

    ... the Hubble and the space station are in vastly different orbits. Getting from one to the other requires so much energy that not even space shuttles had enough fuel to do it. The telescope is 353 miles high, in an orbit that keeps it near the Equator; the space station is about 100 miles lower, in an orbit that takes it far north, over Russia.

    To have the movie astronauts Matt Kowalski (Mr. Clooney) and Ryan Stone (Ms. Bullock) zip over to the space station would be like having a pirate tossed overboard in the Caribbean swim to London.

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    1. Re:Reach the "nearby" ISS? From Hubble? Uh, No. by Poisonous+Drool · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Many years ago I "advised" a real-live screen writer (credited with seven movies) on a space shuttle movie, meaning he bought me lunch. He wanted to fly the shuttle to the sun. I told him it was impossible. He didn't care. I ate my lunch and he wrote his script. That's the way it goes in Hollywood. (The movie was released but his credit was something other than screenwriter on this particular film. Must have been my bad advice.)

  5. Re:What has the ISS ever done for us? by jxander · · Score: 3, Informative

    If nothing else, it has given us a basic understanding of life in space. If we ever want to send manned missions to Mars or beyond, there will likely be a pit-stop at L2

    There's plenty to be learned about human physiology (and plants) in a zero-g environment, before we move on to bigger challenges.

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