1772 – Space Sweepers / Seungriho (2021)

timespace coordinates: year 2092, Earth have become nearly uninhabitable. Fleeing the sick earth, UTS corporation builds a new orbiting Home for humanity. But only a chosen few can ascend. The plot follows the crew of the space junk collector ship The Victory‘s adventures.

Space Sweepers (Korean: 승리호; RR: Seungriho; lit. Spaceship Victory) is a 2021 South Korean space opera film directed by Jo Sung-hee, starring Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu and Yoo Hae-jin. Regarded as the first Korean space blockbuster,  it was released on Netflix on February 5, 2021.

A webtoon based on the film premiered on May 26, 2020 on Daum and KakaoPage. (wiki)

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1746 – Mission to Mars (2000)

timespace coordinates: 2020 – ’21. Texas / first manned mission to Mars / the Cydonia region / Earth-orbiting World Space Station / Mars II rescue mission / REMO (“Resupply Module”) orbiting Mars

Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise, left), Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen, center) and Mars One Commander Luke Graham (Don Cheadle, right) watch an extraordinary living diorama of planetary history in Touchstone Pictures” adventure/drama, “Mission To Mars.” Photo credit: ILM Touchstone Pictures

Mission to Mars is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, inspired by Disney‘s theme park attraction of the same name. The film depicts the first manned Mars exploration mission going awry; American astronaut Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) helps to coordinate a rescue mission for a colleague. Principal support actors were Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O’Connell, and Kim Delaney. This movie came out the same year as another Mars-themed film, Red Planet (2000). Both were unsuccessful, critically and commercially. 

All the ships were based on actual NASA aircraft and used materials from real aerospace companies. The filmmakers received NASA’s most up-to-date plans for a Mars mission when making the movie. Effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman says this is a “hardware film.” Almost every location in the movie had to be created from scratch because it didn’t exist in the real world. The crew used over 14,000 gallons of paint to spray the soil “Mars red.” That dust is blown by 10 massive 350-horsepower wind machines. The crew reflected copper light onto the actors to mimic the orange atmosphere of the Martian sky. 

The appearance of the “Face on Mars”, as well as the alien hologram, were modeled after the work of the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncusi, especially his “Sleeping Muse”(1910).

wiki   /   imdb

1738 – The Midnight Sky (2020)

timespace coordinates: 2049, The Arctic / space craft Æther returning from Jupiter after having explored a habitable moon, K-23

The Midnight Sky is a 2020 American science fiction film directed by George Clooney, based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton.

The film stars Clooney, and follows a scientist who must venture through the Arctic Circle with a young girl to warn off a returning spaceship following a global catastrophe. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1684 – Spacewalk (2017)

timespace coordinates: March 1965 space mission Voskhod 2 – first spacewalk / landing  in the inhospitable forests of Upper Kama Upland, somewhere west of Solikamsk / 1960s, during the Cold War and the Space Race between USSR and the United States.

The Age of Pioneers (Russian: Время первых, romanized: Vremya Pervykh, lit. “Time of the first ones”), also known as Spacewalk or The Spacewalker, is a Russian historical drama film about cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to perform a spacewalk (and pilot Pavel Belyayev). Leonov himself served as a consultant for the film. The Age of Pioneers was directed by Dmitriy Kiselev and co-produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Yevgeny Mironov, the latter also starred in the leading role. (wiki)

“This is a real-life story of extreme bravery against all odds, with wonderful cinematography and special effects that take us back to the Cold War battle for supremacy in space.” (Nigel Watson Starburst)

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Sovfoto/Universal Images Group/Shutterstock (3828858a) Voskhod 2 mission, soviet cosmonaut alexei leonov during world’s first space walk (eva) in 1965. VARIOUS

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1671 – Nightflyers (2018 TV series)

timespace coordinates: In 2093, a team of scientists embarks on a journey into space aboard an advanced ship called the Nightflyer to make first contact with alien life-forms.

Nightflyers is an American horror science fiction television series on Syfy that premiered in the United States on December 2, 2018 and on Netflix, internationally on February 1, 2019. The series is based on the novella and series of short stories of the same name by George R. R. Martin. The first season consisted of ten episodes, which concluded on December 13, 2018. On February 19, 2019, it was reported that Syfy had canceled the series. (wiki)

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1649 – Salyut-7 (2017)

timespace coordinates: The Soviet Union, June 1985 / Soyuz T-13 mission

Salyut 7 (Russian: Салют 7) is a 2017 Russian disaster film directed by Klim Shipenko and written by Aleksey Samolyotov, the film stars Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Pavel Derevyanko. The story is based on the Soyuz T-13 mission in 1985, part of the Soviet Salyut programme; it was the first time in history that a ‘dead’ space station was docked with, and brought back into service. (wiki)

development   /   technical and historic accuracy

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1631 – Star Trek: Picard (TV Series 2020-)

timespace coordinates: year 2399. various locations

Star Trek: Picard is an American web television series featuring the character Jean-Luc Picard, created for CBS All Access by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman. It is the eighth series in the Star Trek franchise, and was launched in 2020 as part of Kurtzman’s expansion of the franchise. Picard begins 20 years after Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and sees a retired Picard deeply affected by the death of Data in that film as well as the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film Star Trek (2009).

Patrick Stewart executive produces the series and stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media. Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, and Harry Treadaway also star. The series was designed to be slower and more character-focused than previous series in the franchise. (wiki)

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