Mankind has truly come a long way and whether it was the
creation of the great pyramid of Khufu or the first man to
walk on the moon, man has always excelled at achieving the
unimaginable. This is where the Hubble telescope, named after
scientist Edwin Hubble comes into the story and as opposed to Earth
based observatories, Hubble allowed humanity to gaze further into
the universe than before.
Unfortunately Hubble has been plagued with its own issues and when
it was originally launched in 1990, the main mirror in the telescope
had a serious flaw which caused its imagery to blur. NASA rectified
the problem in 1993 which allowed mankind to once again witness
creation itself in a new light and as a result, some of the
universes most amazing pictures were sent back to Earth. With three
more visits back to the Hubble for servicing, this documentary
revolves around the fourth and final servicing of the Hubble
Telescope by the crew of the Atlantis.
This
45-minute 3D documentary follows the astronauts of the Atlantis as
they attempt to upgrade and rectify the issues with this powerful
satellite observatory. As you sit back and watch Hubble 3D, you are
given a front row seat of how NASA performed one of the most
difficult tasks in the world. This task was to catch the orbiting
Hubble telescope by the space shuttle, update and replace parts and
to make matters worse, imagine trying to do that in a space suit
with oven mittens. One wrong move by the astronauts could not only
damage the telescope but also threaten their lives.
For a
documentary, it's quite a nerve biting experience and to prevent any
heart palpitations, the producers carefully add a variety of
different footage from the astronauts training underwater to perfect
their mission to some laid back scenes on the space shuttle that
almost makes you feel like you are part of the team. The 3D images
of the documentary only make it more realistic but the highlight of
this short film for me were the amazing Hubble images of galaxies
far far away.
At the
start of the documentary when you first see Earth, you realise how
insignificant our lives can be and then when you witness more sights
of the universe, thanks to Hubble which make you realise that Earth
is only just a spec of sand compared to the billions of galaxies
that inhabit our universe. This is one documentary which truly opens
your eyes to our sheltered life on our little blue planet.
Recommended!
Visit IMAX Melbourne (Click
here)
