The Dream Is Alive

{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Dream Is Alive | image = DVD cover of the movie The Dream Is Alive.jpg | alt = | caption = DVD cover | director = [[Graeme Ferguson (filmmaker)|Graeme Ferguson]] | producer = Graeme Ferguson | writer = Toni Trow Myers | screenplay = | story = | based_on =  | narrator = [[Walter Cronkite]] | starring = [[David Leestma]] [[Jon A. McBride]] [[George Nelson (astronaut)|George Nelson]] [[Sally Ride]] [[Kathryn D. Sullivan|Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan]] [[James Van Hoften]] | music = [[Micky Erbe]] [[Maribeth Solomon]] | cinematography = | editing = Toni Trow Myers | studio = Threshold Corporation | distributor = IMAX Systems Corporation | released = {{Film date|1985|06|01|}} | runtime = 37 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $70 million<ref name="Variety">{{cite news|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Top 100 All-Time Film Rental Champs|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn|date=January 6, 1992|page=86}}</ref> }}

'''''The Dream is Alive''''' is an American [[IMAX]] documentary film, released on June 1, 1985, about [[NASA]]'s [[Space Shuttle program]]. The film was narrated by [[Walter Cronkite]], and directed by [[Graeme Ferguson (filmmaker)|Graeme Ferguson]].

==Synopsis== The documentary includes scenes from numerous shuttle missions, beginning with the dawn landing of [[Space Shuttle Discovery|''Discovery'']] at [[Kennedy Space Center]]'s [[Shuttle Landing Facility]] upon the conclusion of [[STS-51-A]]. A composite shot, the finished sequence is composed of footage from ''Discovery''<nowiki/>'s landing, radio transmissions from [[Space Shuttle Challenger|''Challenger'']]'s 1984 landing on [[STS-41-B]] (the first mission to use the SLF runway), and runway approach footage filmed from a fixed-wing aircraft.

Mission [[STS-41-C]], the 11th for the Shuttle program and the fifth for ''[[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger]]'' is featured most heavily, beginning with the deployment of the [[Long Duration Exposure Facility]] (LDEF) satellite. The capture and repair of the [[Solar Maximum Mission|Solar Max]] satellite also receives a great deal of coverage, including a detailed overview of training for the mission in a [[Neutral Buoyancy Simulator|large pool]] at NASA. This particular mission is of interest, as the first attempt at capturing the satellite failed, and a second attempt almost 12 hours later had to be made. That portion of the mission was a success, with the satellite being brought to the payload bay on the next attempt, and was repaired quickly by astronauts [[James van Hoften]] and [[George Nelson (astronaut)|George Nelson]]. Other STS 41-C mission activities included a student experiment located in a middeck locker to determine how honeybees make honeycomb cells in a microgravity environment.

Other shuttle missions are interspersed during the feature with the STS-41-C footage. Highlights include:

* [[STS-41-D]]: The first launch of ''[[Space Shuttle Discovery|Discovery]]'', with footage of liftoff, the deployment of two of the three satellites on this mission, and special attention given to the novelty of the experimental [[OAST-1]] [[Photovoltaic module|solar array]], which was a precursor to the [[Integrated Truss Structure#Solar arrays|solar arrays]] of the [[International Space Station]]. (These arrays were also a highly publicized portion of shuttle mission [[STS-116]], during which the astronauts made multiple—and eventually successful—attempts to fold the arrays for movement around the station.) Footage is also shown of ''Discovery'''s landing and transport from its landing site at [[Edwards Air Force Base]] to [[Kennedy Space Center]] on the back of the [[Shuttle Carrier Aircraft]]. * [[STS-41-G]]: The sixth flight of ''Challenger'', notable as the largest crew aboard the Shuttle at that time, the first time two women flew together on the Shuttle, and the first [[spacewalk]] by an [[United States|American]] woman, [[Kathryn D. Sullivan|Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan]]. Footage of [[1984 Atlantic hurricane season#Hurricane Josephine|Hurricane Josephine]] is also shown.

Additionally, a small amount of time is also dedicated to other aspects of the Space Shuttle program, including:

* Other crew that work on the Shuttle; * The work of inspecting and replacing the Shuttle's [[Atmospheric reentry#Thermal soak|heat tiles]]; * [[Astronaut training|Training]] the astronauts must complete to prepare for missions; * [[Space food|What the astronauts eat]] on spaceflights; * How astronauts would bail out if an emergency occurred on the launch pad.

==''Challenger'' disaster== The film was produced and shot 15–18 months before the January 28, 1986, [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' disaster]], and includes appearances by two astronauts who died in the explosion; [[Dick Scobee|Francis Scobee]] and [[Judith Resnik]]. ''Challenger'' itself is featured prominently in the film. Many of the themes and tone of the documentary regarded the normalization of travel to space using the Shuttle while giving only passing mention to the dangers. The ''Challenger'' disaster would dramatically curtail this belief and subsequent experience would show that the shuttle would not make space travel more accessible or affordable.

==Release== By 1992, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reported that the film had grossed $70 million since its debut translating to $17 million in film rentals in the United States and Canada, the biggest IMAX 70mm film to that date.<ref name="Variety"/>

''The Dream Is Alive'' was released on LaserDisc three times (twice in the US, once in Japan), DVD (pictured), and in high definition as a bonus feature on the ''[[Blue Planet (1990 film)|Blue Planet]]'' HD DVD and Blu-ray in 2007.<ref>[http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=164 Blu-ray.com] May 2, 2007 (retrieved Jun 13, 2015)</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0089050}} * [https://www.imax.com/movies/dream-alive ''The Dream Is Alive''] at [[IMAX Corporation|IMAX]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dream Is Alive, The}} [[Category:1985 short documentary films]] [[Category:American IMAX films]] [[Category:American short documentary films]] [[Category:1985 films]] [[Category:Documentary films about the space program of the United States]] [[Category:Films about astronauts]] [[Category:IMAX short documentary films]] [[Category:Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]] [[Category:Lockheed Corporation]] [[Category:Films scored by Maribeth Solomon]] [[Category:Films scored by Micky Erbe]] [[Category:1985 English-language films]] [[Category:1985 American films]] [[Category:English-language short documentary films]]