STS-131: allusion to Armageddon

The poster for STS-131 mission and that of the film to which it makes an obvious allusion. From left to right, the STS-131 astronauts are: Stephanie Wilson, Rick Mastracchio, James Dutton, Alan Poindexter, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Clay Anderson and Naoko Yamazaki. Credit: NASA/Touchstone Pictures - Bruckheimer Films

In addition to the formal crew photograph, NASA’s astronauts take an active part in the creation of a poster distributed to the numerous ground personnel who are involved in the mission preparation work. As we have explained in previous articles and portfolios, reference is often made to film posters.
The 7 who are to blast off on 5 April 2010 aboard Discovery for flight STS-131 have chosen Armageddon. In this 1998 blockbuster, actor Bruce Willis played an oil drilling specialist who boarded one of NASA’s space shuttles in order to be able to dig a hole in an asteroid in which to place a nuclear bomb, thus destroying the asteroid and, at the same time, saving the Earth! The American Space Agency also helped the production teams by allowing them to film in several of its facilities in Florida’s Kennedy Center and Houston’s Johnson Center.
However, the STS-131 astronauts are not going to be intercepting any asteroids since they will be taking numerous pieces of scientific equipment to the International Space Station.

Enjoy Space portfolio on crew posters

STS-131 mission (NASA)

Published on 18 February 2010