NASA at 60: Awe on the big screen
Rory Kennedy is thrilled that her documentary “Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow” will reach movie screens before playing on television.
“When you watch the film on the big screen, it’s much easier to appreciate the wow and awe of the discoveries that NASA has uncovered over these many decades,” she said, citing images from the Hubble Space Telescope, satellites and the International Space Station. “They really blow you away.”
The celebration of NASA’s 60th anniversary will be in more than 650 theaters nationwide on Sept. 29 and Oct. 3 through Fathom Events. A special screening is planned for the Kennedy Space Center community before “Above and Beyond” premieres Oct. 13 on the Discovery and Science channels.
Director-producer Kennedy supplies a personal touch by narrating the film. She is the youngest child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, and the niece of President John Kennedy, who challenged the country during the Space Race with the Soviet Union. She was born in 1968 — five years after her uncle was assassinated and six months after her father was gunned down — yet she speaks of the president with pride.
“My Uncle Jack played a significant role in the moon shot and the vision of getting us to the moon,” she said. “One of the great lessons of this film, and looking back at NASA, is having a greater appreciation of what great leadership can do — to tap into the best of all of us and getting the country behind a movement that everybody is excited about.”
The exhilarating film salutes NASA’s achievements and commitment to exploration. “There are COMMENTARY many, many people who are obsessed with NASA and are loyal followers,” Kennedy said. “For the general public, there really isn’t an appreciation of all that NASA has done, everything we’ve learned from NASA. So it’s exciting for me to share some of that through this film.”
The documentary looks at the shuttle, the planets and interstellar space but also the space agency’s study of Earth from coral reefs to Antarctica. “The deeper and further NASA went, the greater appreciation there was for both the uniqueness of our planet and the vulnerability of this planet,” Kennedy said.
In focusing on NASA’s science on climate change, the film becomes a call to protect Earth. “I feel there’s an urgency now with understanding what’s happening to this planet, what humans are doing to the planet and what we can do to preserve the planet,” she said. “I feel that NASA could play a very significant role in that.”
Kennedy worked on the film for three years. She had full access to NASA’s archives and conducted more than 45 interviews, but the agency had no editorial control over the film, she said. “It was a good working relationship, but they did not have any say in the direction of the film. This was very much my take on NASA,” she said.
She spoke of interviewing extraordinary people at NASA such as Piers Sellers, an astronaut, climate scientist and acting director of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He died in 2016 at age 61 of pancreatic cancer, and the film is dedicated to him.
After receiving the diagnosis, he returned to work and wrote an op-ed for The New York Times about his spacewalks alongside the International Space Station. “From this God’s-eye-view, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the Earth is. I’m hopeful for its future,” he wrote.
“He wanted to sound the alarm about climate change,” Kennedy said. “It is not a question of if, but a question of when. We are on a destructive path.”
Kennedy is a prolific filmmaker who has won an Emmy (“Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”) and been an Oscar nominee (“Last Days in Vietnam”). She is proud that the NASA film appeals to younger audiences. “To be able to share the excitement of science, knowledge … it’s a thrill and a great honor for me,” she said.