The Astronaut Farmer
by Michael Polish
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Billy Bob Thornton, Jasper Polish, Logan Polish, Max Thieriot, Virginia MadsenDirector: Michael Polish
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-10
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 82292
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781419844270
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Movie Reviews of The Astronaut Farmer
Movie Review: Terrific movie...and soon to be a true story
Summary: 5 Stars
Great movie! The movie is about family, dreams, and a small town. But the technology is amazingly reasonable. Gregg Easterbrook, in "Big Dumb Rocket," (Newsweek, Feb. 5, 1987) reported on aerospace companies willing and able to build inexpensive rocket boosters with off-the-shelf parts (which would have undercut rationale for the Shuttle).
And now we have a number of wealthy investors building private rockets and space ships. Many private firms tried the get government permission (and private funding) to launch rockets and space stations through the 1980s and 1990s.
But apart from the policy and technology debate on space launches, the movie is wonderful as a story. Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon" tells the story of advertising as the major revenue source for private space exploration.
Lets have a sequel with the grown son, a software multimillionaire, funding a private trip to Mars! (http://www.reason.com/news/show/30912.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/science/space/25tier.html?_r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin )
I enjoyed Astronaut Farmer when I first saw it a couple years ago, and enjoyed it even more seeing it again. A lot of the film is about family and small-town America. People in town know each other, and have from childhood. Mom and dad love each other land love their kids. But in this story, dad has an unusual project...
First of all, there is nothing outlandish about the technology claims (though we see a few improbably events in the movie). Space rockets like the Saturn V were always far less expensive that the Space Shuttle. I would argue that it would have been less expensive to actually launch a 1970s-era rocket than to make a movie about it (for one thing, astronauts are paid much less than well-known actors).
Now we have four or five private space companies developing and launching rockets and space planes. They have enough money to develop and test cutting-edge space technologies. In Astronaut Farmer, off-the-shelf parts from rocket junk-yards are gathered for a much less expensive and lower-tech space launch.
Private space launches were possible thirty years ago. David Gump's book "Space Enterprise: Beyond NASA," published in 1990, surveyed opportunities for private-sector space operations decades ago. A space launch using 1970s technology in 2006 is still rocket science, that is, it is still complicated and requires significant scientific and rocketry know-how. But the biggest challenge would have been in finding, testing and assembling the parts.
Viewers less interested in arguments over private vs. government space travel have a wonderful family movie to enjoy (though with a handful of swear words). The performances seemed to me to be just right. The movie was rarely modern and "edgy" which was fine with me.
Maybe Astronaut Farmer could be compared with "The Spirit of St. Louis" with Jimmy Stewart, a similar movie featuring a private individual assembling improbably technology in a barn and surprising and inspiring the world with it.
Summary of The Astronaut Farmer
A NASA ASTRONAUT, FORCED TO RETIRE YEARS EARLIER SO HE COULDSAVE HIS FAMILY FARM HAS NEVER GIVEN UP HIS DREAM OF SPACETRAVEL & LOOKS TO BUILD HIS OWN ROCKET, DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT'S THREATS TO STOP HIM.Similar DVD Movies
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