Why Is NASA Afraid of Apogee of Fear? (Update)
Why doesn’t NASA want us to see the first science fiction movie shot in space?, io9
“… while he was aboard the ISS, Garriott shot an eight-minute movie called Apogee of Fear, which he says is the first science fiction movie ever shot in space. And NASA won’t let us see that film. Why not? .. the light-hearted film may be too playful for NASA, Garriott surmises. Until NASA gives permission, Garriott can’t release his film — which is easily the best science fiction film ever made in space! — to the public. Or put it in the Smithsonian, which has requested a copy due to its historical importance.”
Keith’s update: I have seen a portion of this film. It is funny – and harmless. I am baffled as to why NASA flies SciFi toys like Buzz LightYear in space and openly cooperates with films such as “Transformers” and “Armageddon” – but they won’t allow Garriott to release “Apogee of Fear”. Once again we have evidence of a lack of any cohesive communications policy or process at NASA. They just make it up as they go – and in cases such as this, it shows.
Keith’s update: Apparently the problem stems from NASA JSC where the default answer from the Astronaut Office and JSC lawyers is always “no”. My understanding is that there will be some discussions in the coming days to discuss how this fun little SciFi flick can be shown to people – even if NASA JSC’s lawyers continue to try and stop it.
Curiously, the Astronaut Office and JSC Lawyers also look the other way when astronauts do product placement for books written by JSC employees – at no charge to the author – but totally at taxpayer’s expense (see “Product Placement on the ISS“).
NASA Relents: Apogee of Fear, First Sci-Fi Film Shot in Space, Will Be Released, Wired
“Now I am pleased to report that things have changed for the better. In response to a query to NASA on the subject, I received the following reply from Bob Jacobs, deputy for communications at NASA: NASA is working with Richard Garriott to facilitate the video’s release. While the project was not part of his original Space Act agreement with NASA, everyone involved had the best of intentions. We hope to resolve the remaining issues expeditiously, and we appreciate Richard’s cooperation and his ongoing efforts to get people excited about the future of space exploration.”
Keith’s 23 January update: According to a Twitter posting by Richard Garriott: Friday I received the signed authorization to release Apogee of Fear! Consulting with my crew mates now…”
Keith’s further update: Meanwhile Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike) just tweeted “On the set of “The Big Bang Theory” watching the cast rehearse, I will be doing a cameo”. Why does the Astronaut Office and JSC Legal allow Massimino to appear on a TV show about nerds, SciFi, and awkward dating situations, but not let Richard Garriott show his SciFi film – which would probably cater to the exact same demographic as those who watch “The Big Bang Theory”. Makes no sense.
Apogee of Fear, Wikipedia
Keith’s 19 Jan update: NASA may want you to see it after all. I have learned NASA is working to address the obstacles that have delayed the release of “Apogee of Fear.” There are a couple of unresolved issues, but they are largely procedural and the agency wants to resolve them by week’s end.
The difference that I see is that films like Transformers and Armageddon were done by professional film companies and the NASA involvement was probably negotiated beforehand. A film done by an amateur (from the movie-making perspective) without prior agreement can open up a whole can of worms because, if one person does it and NASA sanctions it, then everyone who goes into space is going to want to try his hand at it, which will mean reviews, and some being disallowed which will lead to court cases, and then there’s the issue of intellectual property which will lead to court cases, and the accidental filming of confidential, secret or proprietary items which will lead to court cases, etc., and pretty soon its a big pain. So perhaps NASA has chosen to deal with the issues simply by not setting a precedent.
Steve
“then everyone who goes into space is going to want to try his hand at it, which will mean reviews, and some being disallowed which will lead to court cases,”
What grounds does NASA have to “disallow” a person’s private art?
If a person somehow smuggled the camera up there, then perhaps there’s an argument… maybe… but if NASA permitted the camera, the person has permission to film. What they film is their private property. Whether they release it is their own decision, not some arbitrary lawyer at NASA.
There seems to be a serious (but selective) overreach by NASA onto other people’s private property, apparently based on the idea that anything that has ever been in space, or ever belonged to the agency, always and forever belongs to the agency.
And I think it needs to be smacked down.
Good point, Paul.
I guess it all comes down to what agreements have been put in place, if any, for NASA astronauts, specifically ISS astronauts (since it is multinational and almost certainly has proprietary equipment on board). If all else fails, they can argue that astronauts can’t get to the filming site without NASA or NASA-arranged spacecraft.
I would be surprised if there were no contracts that covered this, but then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if NASA had never considered this situation, even though it is obvious in hindsight and standard practice in industry.
As for the question of whether it is justified or not, I’d say that there are good arguments both ways. Personally, I’ve never accepted the idea that free speech should cover every and all situations. I strongly believe that there has to be responsible oversight and censorship on certain things, otherwise we’d end up in an uncivilized free-for-all. The ideal of the “people’s right to know” is a lovely ideal, but it is not in the least realistic. Until the day comes that everyone can trust everyone else, at every moment, the inalienable rights are desirable goals, but not rights, since they can not be enforced. No one should consider anything a right that can not be guaranteed. And the right to punish (which only the legal system possess, not the people) is not the same as a guarantee.
I wonder if it will end up that all of this song and dance is over someone’s second rate home movie. What surprises me is that I’ve yet to hear any response from NASA as to its rationale.
Steve
“Personally, I’ve never accepted the idea that free speech should cover every and all situations.”
Neither do I, but I rail against the assumption that it doesn’t exist unless special permission is given.
“I guess it all comes down to what agreements have been put in place, if any, for NASA astronauts, specifically ISS astronauts”
Cosmonaut. Garriott went up as a tourist in 2008, on a Russian flight, he’s not an employee of NASA. He filmed on his own flight-camera. The two NASA employees on board volunteered.
October 2008 to January 2012… And the only reason they might relent is because of the embarrassing publicity that came with the release of the actual documentary this month. For an 8 minute joke bit.
To me, this is like the overreach over lunar dust, Apollo memorabilia, etc. Incompetence mixed with arrogance.
U2 uses film from ISS including NASA astronauts and hardware in their 360 Tour shows.
Steve Whitfield There’s the problem with the nasa leadership. Too much “what-if”ing to do anything productive.
There has to be a piece of this puzzle that we don’t know about. The only way NASA could block this is if Garriott signed some kind of legal agreement before his flight that gave NASA a say in the public release of video and photographs he took while on-board.
Not that it doesn’t sound like NASA is being foolish of course.
Maybe the producers and writers of “The Big Bang Theory” could mention the “Apogee of Fear” movie in the show and create a demand for it to be released.
What I’m hearing is that while NASA has capitulated and agreed to let the film be released , that is contingent on certain edits being done. Dictating edits is a little more than just ” procedural” stuff or bureaucratic hoops to my mind. I hope that gets clarified and/or I’m proven wrong.
Garriott hosted a showing of Apogee at Dragon-Con 2011. Someone recorded it on their cell phone camera and uploaded it to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watc…
News services like the CBC link to it.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/your…
I suppose the next step is for someone at NASA to have the YouTube video taken down, and to declare “Well, that’s the last we’ll see of THAT on the internet.”
Addendum: seemingly set to one side in all this discussion about Richard Garriot’s own 8-minute ” Apogee of Fear” film is the OTHER movie. A full length documentary about Richard’s road to Soyuz and ISS , ” Man on a mission: Richard Garriot’s road to the stars” was set to be released last week by First Run Features. Besides Garriot, it features/ stars Sergie Brin of Google ; Stephen Colbert; and Soyuz tourist Anoush Ansari, and of course his dad Owen .
First shown at South X Southwest over a year ago , Man On A Mission is supposed to be in limited release now. There’s a trailer for it at iTunes:
http://trailers.apple.com/t…