3D images from the ISS provided by ESA & NASA
The film accompanies the Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers during his current mission on board the ISS. We observe the astronauts’ everyday life in weightlessness, which is abruptly interrupted by an unforeseen event – a situation which the ground control and the astronauts must react to.
On earth, the young German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who was selected from more than 8000 candidates, is also getting ready for his mission to the ISS in May 2014. The film team spends several months accompanying him in his highly demanding training.
“Cosmic Encounters” takes the viewer to the mythical places of space travel, for example to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, to Houston or to the “Star Town” near Moscow, the legendary center of Soviet and Russian space programs. The film is not a purely scientific documentary, but follows the two protagonists André Kuipers and Alexander Gerst in their adventures and challenges which address a broad public.
This 3D documentary is an homage to generations of scientists, technicians and visionaries who have succeeded in making one of mankind’s oldest dreams come true and enabled the conquest of outer space. 3D also makes it possible to give the viewer the illusion of being in the midst of the action and of experiencing the events almost as if one were really there – a one-of-a-kind feeling. Up to now, excursions into outer space have only been undertaken by a few astronauts, cosmonauts and billionaires who could afford the 20-million-dollar fee for 10 days on board the ISS.
