Unlike Hollywood, the boffins at NASA know their onions when it comes to space travel, and some movies just don’t stand up to scrutiny.
And while it may have won a slew of Oscars, it’s Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 hit Gravity which comes in for the most scorn.
In a video for the BBC’s Radio 5 Live, space scientists gave it both barrels.
Heat shield analyst Tori Wells says: “Everything that could go wrong went terribly, terribly wrong. And that’s not exactly the feeling we want everybody to have about this industry.”
Flight design analyst Caley Burke adds: “How [could] Sandra Bullock just move between orbits with really almost no issue?”
Allison McIntyre, chief of the NASA mockup facility, goes on: “It wasn’t exactly accurate. When she gets out of her space suit, she’s in cute little underwear. Where’s the diaper?
“My favourite space film is The Martian, because that’s where we’re going and it really does show just how hard it is.”
Gioia Massa, a scientist working on food production in the International Space Station, is also a big fan of the Ridley Scott-directed Matt Damon romp.
“We had a plant scientist as the main character and, not only that, but it was a plant scientist who didn’t go insane and cause a lot of havoc!”
Other favourites included 2016’s Hidden Figures.
Launchpad project manager Regina Spellman says: “Because of the fact that it shows the true power of women, and the main thing about that film is that it got the story out.”
ISS astronaut Karen Nyberg adds: “My favourite space film is Apollo 13. It just really is relevant to how we actually fly in space.”
Mission Control’s flight director Emily Nelson adds: “If it weren’t for Apollo 13, it would be really hard to explain what my job is.”
Bruce Willis meteor actioner Armageddon, however, not so much.
“Armageddon. It’s just not very accurate,” she added.
Source: yahoo
