Hubble 3D

We all knew that an IMAX 3D camera filmed the astronauts at work from the payload bay during the last space shuttle servicing mission to Hubble. But was there not a risk of the film being monotonous due to the fact that this payload bay camera was in a stationary position? This challenge has been magnificently overcome by the director, Toni Myers, the crew of STS-125 mission and, more generally, by all those who worked on this forty minute film. First of all, the history of Hubble is reiterated notably through the archive pictures of its launch in stereoscopic vision. The fact that they were filmed flat at the time does not show. Then, the film goes on to include regular snippets of the life of the astronauts: training, jogging along the beach that adjoins the Kennedy Center, suiting-up prior to the blast-of and even life in orbit. These latter sequences were shot by the astronauts during the mission. Talking of which, we just have to point out the extraordinary technical work that was accomplished after the filming as these shots showing the daily routine on board the space shuttle were not filmed in IMAX 3D but with digital camcorders! A shrewd choice in the end as Hubble 3D gained a fascinating insight into the life of those that go up there. Obviously, the shots originally filmed in IMAX 3D (blast-off, spacewalks) stand out because of their stunning beauty, but in no way do they diminish the brilliant stereoscopic vision journeys using certain images from the famous space telescope. The voyage into the heart of the Orion nebula, a star nursery, will therefore give you the impression of actually being aboard a spaceship capable of travelling across the light years in the twinkling of an eye. In short, a space voyage to be made over and over again.

Since 2 April 2010, Hubble 3D can be seen in IMAX 3D at the Cité de l’Espace.


Published on 3 April 2010