Mercury-Atlas Rocket Takes Center Stage in 'Astronaut Farmer'
FYI,
"Mercury-Atlas Rocket Takes Center Stage in 'Astronaut Farmer'"
SPACE.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070203/sc_space/mercuryatlasrockettakescenterstageinastronautfarmer
: In the upcoming Warner Brothers' feature film "The Astronaut
: Farmer," Billy Bob Thornton plays the role of Charles Farmer, a
: former astronaut who never flew in space but who decides to
: accomplish his dream of reaching orbit by building his own rocket.
: To do so, Farmer draws from designs of the past, basing his
: spacecraft "The Dreamer," on the historic Mercury-Atlas that
: carried the first Americans to orbit in the 1960s. "The Astronaut
: Farmer" opens in theaters 45 years (plus three days) after
: astronaut John Glenn rode his Mercury-Atlas into U.S. history.
: Personally inspired and fascinated by the 1960s space race,
: independent filmmakers Mark and Michael Polish gave their hero a
: similar passion. "Charles Farmer is a guy who watched the first
: man step foot on the moon and that was probably the single most
: dramatic moment of his childhood," suggested Mark Polish, who
: co-wrote and was a producer on the film.
: Added Michael, his brother, "The story was sparked by our interest
: in space exploration, but beyond that, it's about a need to dream
: of adventures, whether it's Neil Armstrong or Lewis and Clark. I
: think that, as a society, we've stopped dreaming about
: exploration. With space being the contemporary frontier, we got to
: thinking how would a common person do this?"
: Outside the constructs of the film's plot, it was important to
: production designer Clark Hunter to accurately rebuild the space
: hardware used in "The Astronaut Farmer".
: It was imperative that the rocket be built as nearly to scale as
: possible, "based on research and drawings of the Atlas-Mercury
: rockets and capsules, which are still very recognizable to many
: people," said Hunter. "For the skin, we used a company that makes
: skins for 747s. We built it in sections, then stacked them up and
: fastened them together."
: Not only is the vintage design appropriate for the story's
: timeline, it has become an iconic image.
: As Michael Polish explains, "That was the era when everyone was
: getting interested in the space program for the first time, and
: that was its primary image. Plus, from Farmer's point of view,
: it's easier to build a rocket like this than to build the Space
: Shuttle. If someone wanted to build a car for the first time he
: would go back to a simpler way of doing it, back to the original
: Ford design and the combustion engine."
: "[Farmer] goes to great lengths to build a replica, based on the
: Atlas-Mercury model," Michael continued, noting that Farmer is
: dedicated to, quite literally, the nuts and bolts of his dream."
: The companion piece to the rocket was Farmer's mission control,
: containing all the apparatus that his son Shepard (named after the
: first astronaut, Alan Shepard) would use to help launch and then
: monitor the spacecraft's orbit.
: "It was an old Air Stream trailer. Inside we packed in a lot of
: vintage gadgetry and 1960s technology intermixed with modern
: computer equipment in a kind of Rube Goldberg design, which is
: what it might realistically look like if he had collected and
: integrated everything in bits and pieces over the years," said
: Hunter.
: In addition to the rocket and control room, Hunter raised a new
: barn big enough to accommodate a 50-foot rocket, with roof panels
: that could be folded open in preparation for launch.
: "When I first saw the rocket in the barn, finished and assembled,
: I was very impressed," said actor Billy Bob Thornton.
: Have spacesuit, will travel
: When Charles Farmer isn't in standard work clothes, tending to his
: ranch or, more likely, hammering or welding the finishing touches
: to the rocket in his barn, he occasionally dons his old spacesuit
: for inspiration or to wow the kids on Career Day at his daughter's
: school.
: But it's not just any old spacesuit, as costume designer Danny
: Glicker explained.
: "It's a detailed replica of the 1960s-era suit used for the
: Mercury missions. It's important to the story that Farmer's suit
: evokes a more innocent and exciting time in American history when
: space travel played significantly in the public's imagination," he
: said. "All its elements — the silver material, the globe helmet,
: the charmingly low tech items like laces on the gloves — recall
: the romance of space travel."
: The Astronaut Farmer opens in theaters on February 23.
--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
--
Space Future | To unsubscribe send email with the subject "unsubscribe"
www.spacefuture.com | to "sf-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx".