Astro Smiles: Laughs in Space 2002
Distributed by Chip Taylor Communications, 2 East View Drive, Derry, NH 03038-4812; 800-876-CHIP (2447)
Produced by NASA
Directed by NASA
VHS, color, 30 min.
Sr. High - Adult
Aerospace, Humor
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Brad Eden, Ph.D., Head, Web and Digitization Services, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las VegasThis film, part of the "Astronomy Series," features a number of clips recorded during the 1980's and 1990's aboard various shuttle flights. These clips show astronauts illustrating the effects of space on various activities, including eating, movement, play, and sleeping. These clips are narrated by Walter "Wally" Schirra, one of the seven original Mercury Seven astronauts. This video tries to show the lighter side of space flight, and how zero gravity affects such basic things as yoyos, jacks, paper airplanes, gyroscopes, as well as basic human activities like sleeping, eating, and moving around.
These clips are well known in the NASA community, and I well remember viewing them while working at the NASA-Johnson Space Center library in the early 1990's. At this time of national mourning for the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, this video shows the human side of working and living in space, and how important and vital the astronauts and space flight are to the future of the human race.