The Film That NASA Banned May See the Light of Day

When Richard Garriot de Cayeux, the founder of the Ultima series of computer games and the world’s sixth space tourist, went to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2008, he didn’t just kick back and bask in zero gravity. No, during his twelve-day journey he conducted experiments on the crystallization of protein molecules, took photographs, conducted an art show (really) and…made a horror movie.

This eight-minute movie, Apogee of Fear, written by famed fantasy author Tracy Hickman, is probably no Prometheus. Still, it can boast the claim that it was the first-ever movie to be made in space. But there’s a reason you haven’t seen it: Space.com recently revealed that its release has been blocked by NASA.

Asked to speculate about why NASA wouldn’t give permission to release the film, Garriott offered up a few ideas.
“It’s too playful,” he told SPACE.com. “It’s just not their message.”
He doesn’t think the space agency actively dislikes “Apogee of Fear” or wishes to suppress it. Rather, he believes NASA simply sees no reason to support it.
“It’s just that the default answer is no,” Garriott said.

The release of this information got the Internet chatting. Now the Administration, who may have realized that it can use all the good PR it can get, has had a sudden change of heart.

Bob Jacobs, deputy for communications at NASA, told Wired reporter Matt Blum,

“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.”

Of course, it’s hard for NASA to get people excited about space when they’re, ya know, blocking the release of what looks to be a cute little film, and acting very much like the evil government that so many bad movies have made a cliché.

What is NASA afraid of? That it would make the astronauts/cosmonauts look bad? We know they’re non-professional actors. We don’t care. It was made IN SPACE. Is filming the interior of the ISS revealing some state secrets? The camera Garriott de Cayeux used is likely not powerful enough to pick up the “Press here to destroy the Earth” button.

More importantly, how is NASA able to block the release of this movie when it’s an international space station. Did NASA somehow win all ISS media rights?

I wonder why NASA is concerned with the notion that people would view space as “fun.” Could it be that those ideas could lead to us to want to go ourselves? Egads…that might actually lead to space tourism.