Customer Reviews

Mission To Mir (IMAX) [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This IMAX video takes you through the first flights and cooperative training that joined the US and Russia on MIR. It chronicles what US astronauts experienced in their training with the Russian cosmonauts in preparation for their experiences aboard MIR. Never before seen footage of Russian space sites and training along with footage of the first woman aboard MIR Shannon Lucid are included. This video gives you the history and work that led up to the eventual construction, launch and deployment of today's International Space Station.

This is a very well done space video. You actually see the rockets taking off and people up in space. Other videos get distracted and go off into computer simulations or random things only sort of related to space, but this one is focused on the real life good stuff.

Mission to Mir (1997) was a well done 3 to 4 star space documentary released by IMAX in 1997. It is a straightforward presentation of a six month stay aboard the Russian space station MIR by a 53 year old NASA astronaut, setting a long duration zero gravity record for an American woman in space. This program was a good way for America and the Russians to get their act together for the current International Space Station.

Excellent IMAX footage included shots of: the shuttle interior, Spacelab, and of course extensive coverage of the MIR space station. In addition, the IMAX crew also filmed the exciting launch of a Soyuze spacecraft (something that until relatively recently the Russians would not show us), shots of their launch preparations, footage of the Russian launch control rooms, Star City where cosmonauts live and train, full scale mock ups of the MIR space station, and for good measure, just one more launch of the space shuttle, all filmed in clear IMAX resolution.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the first component of the Space Station Mir. Over the next ten years, the station grew module by module and hosted numerous cosmonauts and international visitors. With the oncoming International Space Station project and Mir's age, the station was deorbited in 2001. It is with films like Mission to Mir that we can revisit that space station.

We start out with some fantastic footage of a Russian Soyuz launch to Mir. We then dive into the historical context of the United States and the Soviet Union (later Russia) in space. How two Cold War foes became the most important partners in space exploration. We see the culture shock of American astronauts visiting Star City, Russia for training and vice versa as Russian Cosmonauts visit Texas.

The star astronaut of the film is Shannon Lucid who spent six months on Mir. She tells about her experience on becoming an astronaut and her time spent on Mir. Being an IMAX film, there is of course beautiful shots of Mir in orbit and inside the spacecraft. You really get a sense of isolation and the cramped quarters onboard.

Today we are approaching the tenth anniversary of Mir's deorbit. Since no new footage of it is going to be made, Mission to Mir serves as important legacy of that bygone era.

Definitely recommended for those into spaceflight or those wondering about the experience of traveling to space.

IMAX movies always lose much of their visual impact on the small screen. The better IMAX DVDs make up for this with more substance: "Space Station", for instance, includes an extensive documentary and an informal video tour of the station by the astronauts themselves. Unfortunately "Mission to Mir" offers nothing along these lines (the brief "behind the scenes" feature is really just an extended trailer). Nor is the movie itself technically substantive: instead it harps on the political symbolism of both Russian-American cooperation after the Cold War (and to a lesser extent of the career of Shannon Lucid as a female astronaut). "Mission to Mir" isn't bad if you can get it cheap -- but as IMAX space movies go, "Space Station" is a much better choice.