12/01/2013
Don't know how many of you have seen the movie Gravity, but if you haven't I give it a strong nod as a film worth catching. Despite normally trying to avoid 3D films for the 2D versions, this is the first film I've seen where I would unquestionably suggest seeing the 3D version.
There are a few articles out there mentioning Easter eggs - the Russian cosmonaut who has the EVA record, the 90 minutes it takes to orbit the Earth, the use of Ed Harris as Mission Control. I'm proud to say I picked up on all of them whilst watching the film.
One thing that Google doesn't turn up, however, is perhaps another reference to historic space missions - specifically the ill-fated final Challenger mission.
The mission number for the Gravity mission is 157 (STS-157), which I think is mentioned a couple of times during the radio chatter. The Challenger's mission designation? 51-L.
Swap the 5 and the 1, and flip the letter, and you've got 157. I'm not saying it's definitely the explanation, as an equally-plausible one would be that it's the final Hubble mission designation similarly swapped (STS-125 - swap the 2 and 5 and flip the 2), but when I heard 157 during the film it immediately jumped out at me as a derivation of the Challenger's flight.
Regardless, it's an intense movie worth seeing, well-done in my opinion, and remarkably technically accurate for a Hollywood film which takes place for such a long time in such an unfamiliar realm to most people - in orbit around Earth.
There are a few articles out there mentioning Easter eggs - the Russian cosmonaut who has the EVA record, the 90 minutes it takes to orbit the Earth, the use of Ed Harris as Mission Control. I'm proud to say I picked up on all of them whilst watching the film.
One thing that Google doesn't turn up, however, is perhaps another reference to historic space missions - specifically the ill-fated final Challenger mission.
The mission number for the Gravity mission is 157 (STS-157), which I think is mentioned a couple of times during the radio chatter. The Challenger's mission designation? 51-L.
Swap the 5 and the 1, and flip the letter, and you've got 157. I'm not saying it's definitely the explanation, as an equally-plausible one would be that it's the final Hubble mission designation similarly swapped (STS-125 - swap the 2 and 5 and flip the 2), but when I heard 157 during the film it immediately jumped out at me as a derivation of the Challenger's flight.
Regardless, it's an intense movie worth seeing, well-done in my opinion, and remarkably technically accurate for a Hollywood film which takes place for such a long time in such an unfamiliar realm to most people - in orbit around Earth.
