For all the amazing and fantastical things filmmakers have been bringing to audiences using IMAX and 3D in the last few years, you really can’t beat watching real life unfold on the screen in the format, which is what makes Hubble 3D, director Toni Myers’ follow-up to 2002’s Space Station 3D and the seventh film from the IMAX Space Team, so breathtaking.
It tells the story of NASA’s Hubble Telescope, the high-powered instrument used to view millions of light years into space, allowing us to witness other galaxies and star systems literally where no human has ever gone before. In 1989, the Hubble Telescope was launched into orbit 350 miles above the Earth and immediately began experiencing technical difficulties that required another shuttle mission to repair it. Over the next twenty years, a number of shuttle missions were sent to maintain the telescope, but after the tragic crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, there were safety concerns as well as cost issues about maintaining the Hubble. It was decided to send one last mission in May 2009 to get the Hubble into working shape, and Tony Myers made sure to have the IMAX 3D cameras on-hand to capture it for prosperity.
Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Hubble 3D is probably the closest audiences will ever have the chance to be there with the shuttle astronauts in space, seeing first-hand what they see while doing their sometimes dangerous jobs. It also presents some of the amazing larger-than-life footage taken by the Hubble telescope in IMAX 3D for the first time, so one can truly experience what it’s like to be out in space and present at the birth of a star.
ComingSoon.net sat down to chat with Myers and Mission Specialist Dr. Michael Massimino, one of the astronauts who took part in that final mission to the Hubble, to talk about how they captured some of the amazing never-before-seen images that absolutely must be experienced first-hand.
Check out our exclusive video interview below.
Hubble 3D opens in select IMAX theaters on Friday, March 18 and you can see the full schedule here. You can also see some of the images from the Hubble on a much smaller scale over at the Official Site. Apparently, you can also follow Michael Massimino on Twitter!
