Scott, Tate Donovan, Kate Capshaw and Lea Thompson in Space Camp. But thanks to Bond's heretofore untapped astronauting skills, 007 and his beautiful sidekick, Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), somehow manage to pilot themselves to the villain's outer space hideout, destroy everything and, in JFK's immortal words, "return safely to earth."įor moviegoers, Moonraker's flat-out buffoonery was forgiven in light of its spectacular sneak preview of the shuttle era.įrom left: Larry B. It turns out Drax is building his own fleet of shuttles with an eye on - and this will come as a surprise to you - world domination. In a startling opening sequence, the Villain of the Moment (Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax) steals a shuttle as it's being transported across the Atlantic atop a Boeing 747 (for reasons never really explained, the shuttle, "on loan" to Britain from the U.S., has been strapped to the back of an airliner fully loaded with fuel). The real shuttle was two years from liftoff when James Bond (Roger Moore) jumped the gun - and nearly jumped the shark - by taking his exploits to outer space. Photo by: United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collectionįrom left: Lois Chiles, Richard Kiel and Roger Moore star in Moonraker. Here are five in which it shines (even if the rest of the cast does not). NASA will launch its final flight Friday, but the shuttle will live in movies forevermore. Still, from the first moments the shuttle's sleek black-and-white lines cruise across the screen, you just have to marvel at its once-in-a-lifetime convergence of science, engineering and beauty. Aside from starring roles in some truly awe-inspiring IMAX movies, among them Hubble 3D and Space Station 3D, the shuttle has played a supporting character in any number of sci-fi and action fantasies.Īdmittedly, many of those films don't merely border on the ridiculous, they cross the border and become naturalized citizens. I spent time with Glenn during his training in Houston and I actually got to sit in the pilot's seat aboard the Johnson Space Center's training shuttle.įinally, for Glenn's launch, I sat at the water's edge at Cape Canaveral, the closest living being to Launch Pad 39B, and felt the shock wave of the giant engines pound against my chest.Īs a film writer, I've always perked up when moviemakers employed the shuttle in their pictures. There I got to write about John Glenn's return to space aboard the shuttle in 1998.
#SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BROWN MARKS SERIES#
A series of apparent misunderstandings led to me becoming "Space Editor" for National Geographic Magazine during the 1990s.
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