Film Narrated By Sir Patrick Stewart ... 'Captain Picard'

The California Science Center will present an in-depth look at the hazards as well as the possibilities for human space exploration with a Journey to Space: Exhibition and 3D Film, opening October 29, 2015 and continuing through May 8, 2016. The unique pairing of the exhibition and 3D film offers an extraordinary vision of the future for living and working in space.

"The Journey to Space Exhibition and 3D Film explores both the history and bright future of human space travel, along with the risks and innovative solutions involved," said Jeffrey N. Rudolph, California Science Center President. "Presenting both the exhibition and film together will have a richer educational impact, giving guests a deeper understanding of the space exploration challenges facing the next generation."

Guests will get a hands-on, climb-aboard experience at what it takes to live and work in space. The exhibition examines the extraordinary environment of space, including the very real dangers astronauts face during their mission above-Earth and the adaptations that engineers have developed to help them survive. Visitors will learn about the vacuum of space, radiation, meteoroids, and temperature extremes, while getting a look at all of the ways in which the forbidding environment of space can challenge human exploration.

Guests will find hands-on activities to explore the science of getting to space. This includes learning about "weightlessness" and how it affects the body during a long-term space mission. An experiment with water rockets, varying the amount of air and water used as fuel, will allow them to observe the physics of the launch. Another interactive uses drop towers, which lift items up high and drop them in a free-fall, to demonstrate how familiar objects behave differently in the weightless environment of space.

Visitors will experience the sights, sounds, and smells on board an orbiting space station like the International Space Station (ISS), and try their hands at some of the engineering feats that support astronauts who live in space. Through games, multimedia components, and interactive exhibits, guests will find out how astronauts eat, sleep, and even use the restroom in space. They'll encounter firsthand the difficulties of working in space – from operating a robotic arm like astronauts on the space shuttle, to managing the limited power supply available to keep life support systems running, to discovering why working in a pressurized glove in the vacuum of space is so difficult.

Journey to Space: The Exhibition features a full-scale replica of the Destiny Lab, the primary research facility for U.S. payloads on the ISS. With its rotating mechanism, guests stepping into the Destiny Lab will have their sense of orientation challenged as they get a virtual tour from astronauts who have worked there.

Along the way, they will see incredible footage from past missions of crews living and working in space, as well as interviews in which astronauts reflect on the trials and accomplishments of their unique line of work.

Journey to Space: The Exhibition was designed and developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota in partnership with the International Space Station Office of NASA's Johnson Space Center, the California Science Center and partner museums.

Narrated by film and television legend Sir Patrick Stewart, and including extensive interviews with NASA astronauts Chris Ferguson and Serena Aunon, Journey to Space 3D captures the spirit of human exploration and describes how it is at the core of our own DNA. The film explores both the storied past and ambitious future of space travel. The family-friendly film runs 45 minutes.

Through visually stunning imagery, and in collaboration with leading space experts, Journey to Space 3D showcases the exciting plans NASA and the space community are developing and the challenges they must overcome to carry out future missions that once seemed impossible, like landing astronauts on Mars. It calls attention to the reality that the space program did not die with the end of the Shuttle Program -- it is vibrantly alive today.

"No longer science fiction, a human mission to Mars is in the planning stages, and major steps are being taken to make it a reality within a generation," said Bob Kresser, CEO of K2 Films "Our goal in making this film was to tie together the actual hardware being built with the tremendous planning under way that will make the next steps in space exploration the most far-reaching in our history."

Looking ahead to the future, the film explores the newest technology in space exploration:

• "Orion" is NASA's first spacecraft designed to carry humans on long-duration deep space exploration missions. Orion will take humans to interplanetary destinations beyond low Earth orbit and return them safely back home. A round-trip journey to Mars via Orion will take two-and-a-half years, compared to the Apollo trips to the moon, which took 12 days.
• "Olympus," an inflatable transportation habitat, is an early concept 45- or 50-feet diameter module that will provide astronauts the work area and living space necessary for long-duration missions. Smaller versions have already flown in space, and a full-scale version is shown undergoing ground testing.
• The Space Launch System, or "SLS," is the giant rocket that will carry both of the previously mentioned spacecraft and provides the enormous lift necessary to send them on many historic missions. SLS will also carry the needed Mars landers and ascent vehicles to get astronauts to the surface of Mars and back up to the Orion mothership for their return trip to Earth. SLS will generate over nine million pounds of thrust and can launch hardware into orbit equivalent to the weight of 22 elephants.
• Journey to Space 3D gives a fitting tribute to the Space Shuttle Program and the 355 astronauts who flew on the 135 Shuttle missions. This historical chapter in the film reveals how the Shuttle took many of the big steps that helped us understand how to live and operate in space. In fact, the lessons learned during those many steps that have enabled the future missions being planned today.

The film also gives a strong overview of the Shuttle's last major project – the launch and assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is a joint collaboration of 15 nations, operating 24/7 and providing a true home and science lab in space. While ISS crews' tours of duty have averaged six months in the past, NASA began one-year duration missions this year. Researchers expect the one-year mission to yield beneficial knowledge on the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges explorers may face as they venture to an asteroid, Mars and beyond.

Journey to Space 3D provides a timely review of how NASA has been transitioning from the end of the Space Shuttle Era to a much more ambitious future that will forever change how we live and operate in space as a species.

FMI: www.californiasciencecenter.org