Marooned is a 1969 American science-fiction film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, and Gene Hackman.
The film was released less than four months after the Apollo 11 moon landing and was tied to the public fascination with the event. It won an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
It was based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Martin Caidin; however, while the original novel was based on the single-pilot Mercury program, the film depicted a space station program resembling Skylab (the space station seen in the film was based on an early proposal of the OWS based on several sketches during the Apollo Applications Program). Caidin rewrote the novel, incorporating appropriate material from the original version and updating it to follow the film.
Caidin acted as technical adviser.
Plot
Three American astronauts, commander Jim Pruett (Crenna), "Buzz" Lloyd (Hackman) and Clayton "Stoney" Stone (Franciscus) are the first crew of an experimental space station. Whilst returning to Earth, the crew attempts to fire the main engine on the Apollo spacecraft Ironman One to initiate atmospheric reentry. The engine does not fire. Flight controllers determine Ironman does not have enough backup thruster capability to reenter, or to re-dock with the space station and wait for a rescue or repair flight. The crew is effectively marooned in orbit.
Mission Control debates whether a rescue flight can reach the crew before their oxygen runs out, in approximately four days. NASA director Charles Keith (Peck) is opposed to the risk of using a developmental craft, an X-RV lifting body craft (slightly resembling the real life X-24A) that would be launched on a Titan IIIC booster, and later land like a plane. The spacecraft is not yet "man-rated," the booster is not man-rated, and there is insufficient time to put a new mission together. Even though a booster is already on the way to the Cape -- it was ordered months earlier for an Air Force shot -- many hundreds of hours of preparation, assembly and testing would be necessary.
Keith is opposed by Ted Dougherty (Janssen), the Chief Astronaut, who demands that something be done. The President agrees with Dougherty and points out to Keith that failing to try a rescue mission will kill public support for the manned space program. The President tells Keith that money is no factor -- "whatever you need, you've got it," he says.
While the astronauts' wives (Lee Grant, Mariette Hartley and Nancy Kovack) agonize over the fates of their husbands, furious preparations begin to ready the rescue craft for launch. All normal checklist procedures are bypassed to get the vehicle ready. A hurricane headed for the launch area threatens to cancel the mission. However, the eye of the storm passes over the Cape at the last minute during a launch window. With Dougherty aboard, the craft finally lifts off.
The oxygen deprivation causes desperation inside the
Ironman One.
Unfortunately, there is insufficient oxygen left for all three astronauts to survive until Dougherty arrives. There is possibly enough for two. A muted discussion occurs between Keith and Pruett regarding the situation. Pruett and his crew then debate what to do. Stone tries to reason that they can somehow survive. Lloyd offers to leave since he is "using up most of the oxygen anyway." Pruett orders everyone into their suits. Despite Lloyd's pleas for him to return to the ship, Pruett leaves the ship to attempt repair, but dies of lack of oxygen in the process after a hole is torn in his flight suit and his body drifts away into space. With Pruett gone, Stone takes command.
Soon afterward, a Soviet spacecraft suddenly appears and its cosmonaut tries to make contact. It could do nothing but deliver oxygen since the Soviet craft is too small to carry additional passengers. Stone and Lloyd, suffering oxygen deprivation and driven insane, can't understand the cosmonaut's gestures or obey Keith's orders.
Dougherty finally arrives. He and the cosmonaut transfer the two surviving and mentally dazed Ironman astronauts into the rescue craft. Both the Soviet craft and the X-RV return to Earth, and the final scene fades out with a view of the abandoned Ironman One adrift in orbit.
Technical and "Real to reel" aspects
One way that the filmmakers tried to enhance the realism of the film was through the use of the actual Plantronics headsets worn by the actors in the spacecraft, Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR, in Houston) and Air Force Launch Control Center (AFLCC at Cape Canaveral). While most films strive to avoid "incidental" sounds, the headsets picked up the actors' breathing and other sounds.
The names of the film astronauts (Jim, Buzz and Stoney) were chosen out of the blue, not to reflect on the real astronauts with those names.
Ted Dougherty closely resembled real-life Chief Astronaut "Deke" Slayton, both in character and physical appearance. While Slayton, one of the Mercury Seven, had been grounded due to suspected heart problems, the film put him into space as the pilot of the rescue ship. David Janssen, who was a pilot himself, was selected in part due to his resemblance to Slayton.[citation needed]
In 1975, Slayton was medically cleared, and made his only space flight on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, which may have been partially inspired by Marooned.[1] The agreement between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to conduct the ASTP was signed in Moscow in April, 1971.
The MOCR and AFLCC sets were built by Philco-Ford Corporation, builders of the actual facilities. Many of the technical personnel seen in those sets were Philco-Ford technicians.
In his book "Lost Moon," Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell reported that he had taken his wife, Marilyn, to see Marooned.[citation needed] This added to her worries in the weeks leading up to the launch of the ill-fated mission. (The "nightmare" scene in the Ron Howard film Apollo 13 depicts this.)
The Apollo Command Module used in making the film was an actual "boilerplate" version of the "Block I" Apollo spacecraft (no Block I ever flew with a crew aboard). While the Block II series had a means of rapidly blowing the hatch open, the Block I did not, and the interior set was constructed using the boilerplate as a model. To blow the hatch in the movie, Buzz pulls on a handle attached to a hinge.
Several scenes show various people communicating directly with the astronauts in space. In actuality, only CAPCOM (an astronaut) and astronaut's wives would be able communicate with the spacecraft, all others in MOCR and AFLCC would only be able to communicate on the internal network or to their respective backroom teams.[citation needed]
While the Titan IIIC was described as the booster which would launch the X-RV rescue craft into orbit, the only available launch footage (other than well-known Mercury and Gemini missions) was of an Air Force Titan II. The aerodynamic shroud placed over the lifting-body was designed to resemble a similar shroud which protects Titan payloads.
Conspicuously absent from the film is any person resembling a Flight Director. In real life, "Flight" is in charge of a space mission during that director's shift. The filmmakers felt that adding a Flight Director would distract from the interpersonal dynamic between Keith and Dougherty.
The offscreen voice of the President closely resembles that of Robert F. Kennedy, who had been a candidate for that office at the time of production. Following his assassination in 1968, producers decided not to re-record the audio with a different accent.
While flying the Manned Maneuvering Unit, Lloyd's control inputs not only take place after the movements begin, but are also the opposite of what they should be, to match the preflight test shown a moment before.
The film's legacy
During the preliminary discussions for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project the film was discussed as a means of disarming Russian suspicion. [2]
The Skylab Rescue space vehicle was conceived by technicians at North American Rockwell after the film's release and the Apollo 13 disaster. A production Apollo Command Module was modified into this configuration. Equipment failure aboard Skylab 3 with the Apollo CSM thrusters almost led to Skylab Rescue's launch.
In the 1980s, Marooned was redistributed under the name Space Travelers by Film Ventures International, an ultra-low-budget production company that prepared quickie television and video releases of films that were in the public domain or could be purchased inexpensively. As Space Travelers, Marooned was mocked on a 1992 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, becoming the only Oscar-winning film ever to receive the MST3K treatment.
External links
References
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