Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land

Last updated
Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land
Poster of the movie Starflight.jpg
Theatrical poster
Genre
  • Science fiction
  • Thriller
Written byPeter R. Brooke
Robert M. Young
Directed by Jerry Jameson
Starring Lee Majors
Hal Linden
Lauren Hutton
Ray Milland
Gail Strickland
George DiCenzo
Tess Harper
Terry Kiser
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers Allan Manings
Henry Winkler
ProducersPeter Nelson
Arnold H. Orgolini
Production locationsLaird International Studio - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California
CinematographyHéctor R. Figueroa (credited as Hector Figueroa)
Editor John F. Link
Running time105 min.
Production companiesOrgolini-Nelson Productions
Orion Pictures
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseFebruary 27, 1983 (1983-02-27)

Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (also known as Starflight One or Airport 85 [1] [Note 1] ) is a 1983 television film (for the ABC Sunday Night Movie ) directed by Jerry Jameson and starring Lee Majors, Hal Linden, Lauren Hutton, Ray Milland, Gail Strickland, George DiCenzo, Tess Harper, and Terry Kiser. The film also features an all-star ensemble television cast in supporting roles.

Contents

Jameson had become known for his work on "... movie-of-the-week phenomenon and group-jeopardy suspense and terror." His work with Lee Majors had begun with the television series The Six Million Dollar Man in 1973, with the actor starring in three of Jameson's later films. [2]

Plot

Starflight, the first hypersonic transport, is being prepared for its maiden flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia. On board are the pilot, Cody Briggs, cheating on his wife Janet with Erica Hansen, media-relations representative for Thornwell Aviation. Passengers include designer Josh Gilliam, who is apprehensive about the engines not being under ground control, and satellite TV baron Freddie Barrett. Takeoff is delayed so that the body of the deceased Australian ambassador and his wife, Mrs. Winfield, can be taken aboard - something that Del, the first officer, considers a bad omen.

Passengers include a gaggle of reporters for print and television, communications entrepreneur Freddie Barrett, gold thief Hal Parisi and his bride who does not know of Hal's crime, and Thornwell electrical engineer Joe Pedowski who is afraid of flying.

Bud Culver, Freddie's partner in Australia, tells Freddie he must scrub that day's launch of a TV satellite because weather is closing in; Freddie orders an immediate launch without NASA approval. Cleared by NASA for liftoff, Starflight climbs to 23 miles using its scramjet engines, then levels off. Freddie's rocket runs into trouble with the second stage and has to be destroyed. NASA reports that destruction of the rocket has produced debris which is headed for Starflight. Cody wants NASA to guide their maneuvers, so NASA engineer Chris Lucas recommends Starflight climb out of danger. Cody engages the scramjets again, but debris from the failed launch hits the underside of the aircraft. When NASA says they are clear, Cody orders the jets shut off, but they keep firing because the debris has severed the controls. Their hydrogen fuel runs out just as Starflight reaches orbit.

NASA dispatches the Columbia Space Shuttle to refuel Starflight, and to bring Josh Gilliam back to Earth to work on the problem. An astronaut advises shutting down the damaged power conduit, putting the media aboard off the air. Starflight's flight engineer Pete tests the airlock transfer but is killed when the hatch malfunctions and breaks free. Improvising, Cody sends Josh to Columbia inside the ambassador's coffin. Columbia returns to Earth with Josh aboard, landing at Thornwell to be serviced by Thornwell's mothballed shuttle-handling facility. Josh discovers Thornwell's universal docking tunnel, a flexible conduit that could be attached between Starflight and Columbia.

Cody restores power for the media, electrifying a cable in the section damaged by rocket debris. In the cargo hold, crates with Parisi's gold were damaged during the rocket climb, also hitting a seal; now bricks of gold are escaping from the plane and can be seen by passengers. Parisi wants to escape the plane, but his wife tells the captain what she now knows.

Columbia and six astronauts arrive with the tunnel, intending to rescue twenty passengers. Five passengers, including Hal Parisi, are successfully brought through. The next five, including Freddie Barrett, are lost when the flexible tunnel swings too close to the sparking electric line and ignites. Forty-seven passengers remain aboard. Josh is frustrated but an exchange with his wife Nancy reminds him of a fuel tank built by Culver Aviation that can be repurposed to carry people. When Columbia's crew and the five passengers disembark, Parisi is arrested.

Q.T. Thornwell tries to stop Josh's plan to use Culver's tank; he is bitter about industrial espionage by Culver against Thornwell's shuttle-handling investment, but Q.T.'s son stands up to dad and promises the tank will be acquired from Culver. Columbia launches again with the container and takes on 38 more passengers, leaving only nine aboard.

Cody sends Joe Pedowski on an EVA, in a spacesuit left aboard by Columbia, to repair the damaged wiring. By this time, Josh suggests to NASA that Starflight follow a shuttle on re-entry, believing the shuttle's heat shield would offer protection. Columbia cannot launch in time, but another shuttle, XU-5, in orbit on a military mission, arrives to assist just as Starflight is to hit the upper atmosphere. The two craft ride in together, only Starflight's wingtips being exposed, and XU-5 veers off once the worst has passed. This leaves Cody to fly Starflight, with minor structural damage, through a harrowing steep descent of 60-plus miles that finally ends in a successful landing.

Cast

Production

The visual effects in Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land were attributed to noted effects artist John Dykstra and Brick Price Movie Miniatures. Screen shot Starflight.png
The visual effects in Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land were attributed to noted effects artist John Dykstra and Brick Price Movie Miniatures.

The film's visual effects were supervised by veteran effects guru John Dykstra's Apogee effects house. Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land made use of stock footage of launches by the space shuttle Columbia and an Apollo -era Saturn V on the launch pad. Columbia makes three launches in 24 hours to help Starflight (something completely impossible given turnaround times for shuttle launches). The Saturn V shown at the Kennedy Space Center was depicted as carrying the communications satellite from a fictitious launch site near Sydney. Each time Columbia lands, the touchdown footage is from the early shuttle days when they landed on the dirt runway at Edwards AFB, rather than the concrete runway that Thornwell would be expected to have. Footage of the approach and landing tests with the shuttle prototype Enterprise was used. A chase plane is also visible. [Note 2]

Reception

The New York Times said Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land was "... still another reworking of the escapist adventure stuff that proved so popular in the film Airport ." [3] A later review by Dave Sindelar noted that the film was a cross between Marooned (1969) and the Airport movies. It also relied heavily on stock NASA footage to its detriment. Also, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land was "... slow-moving, mired by disaster-movie style cliches, implausible, and has plenty of dead spots." [4]

Notes

  1. Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land was also released worldwide in theatrical form under a number of different titles: in Germany as Starflight One – Irrflug ins Weltall, and in Japan as Starflight 1: Kiken'na Uchuu Hikou (スターフライト1: 危険な宇宙飛行).
  2. Each time the shuttle launches, it has a white-painted external fuel tank, only used on the first two shuttle launches; beginning with the third flight, STS-3, the external tank was orange, which is the natural color of the foam on the tank.

Related Research Articles

Space Shuttle <i>Challenger</i> Former Space Shuttle orbiter (1983–1986)

Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, Challenger was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after Columbia, and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in a disaster that killed all seven crewmembers aboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skylab</span> First space station launched and operated by NASA (1973–1979)

Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory, Earth observation and hundreds of experiments. Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Shuttle program</span> 1972–2011 United States human spaceflight program

The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development, as a proposed nuclear shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.

Space Shuttle <i>Columbia</i> disaster 2003 American spaceflight accident

On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the loss of Challenger and crew in 1986.

Space Shuttle <i>Challenger</i> disaster 1986 inflight breakup of U.S. Space Shuttle

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST. It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight.

<i>Columbia</i> Accident Investigation Board NASA Internal commission re 2003 Shuttle Columbia loss

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) was an internal commission convened by NASA to investigate the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-107 upon atmospheric re-entry on February 1, 2003. The panel determined that the accident was caused by foam insulation breaking off from the external fuel tank, forming debris which damaged the orbiter's wing, and that the problem of "debris shedding" was well known but considered "acceptable" by management. The panel also recommended changes that should be made to increase the safety of future shuttle flights. The CAIB released its final report on August 26, 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewster H. Shaw</span> American astronaut and USAF colonel (born 1945)

Brewster Hopkinson Shaw Jr. is a retired NASA astronaut, U.S. Air Force colonel, and former executive at Boeing. Shaw was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 6, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-114</span> 2005 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Discovery launched at 10:39 EDT, July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days after the loss of Columbia, was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the external tank that had prevented the shuttle from launching on July 13, its originally scheduled date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Shuttle external tank</span> Component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle

The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three RS-25 main engines in the orbiter. The ET was jettisoned just over 10 seconds after main engine cut-off (MECO) and it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Unlike the Solid Rocket Boosters, external tanks were not re-used. They broke up before impact in the Indian Ocean, away from shipping lanes and were not recovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-121</span> 2006 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-121 was a 2006 NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space ShuttleDiscovery. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Columbia disaster of February 2003 as well as to deliver supplies, equipment and German European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter to the ISS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-115</span> 2006 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-115 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space ShuttleAtlantis. It was the first assembly mission to the ISS after the Columbia disaster, following the two successful Return to Flight missions, STS-114 and STS-121. STS-115 launched from LC-39B at the Kennedy Space Center on September 9, 2006, at 11:14:55 EDT.

<i>Space Cowboys</i> 2000 film by Clint Eastwood

Space Cowboys is a 2000 American adventure drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. It stars Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four aging former test pilots who are sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite. It was theatrically released on August 15, 2000, received positive reviews from critics, and was a box-office success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Shuttle design process</span> Development program of the NASA Space Shuttle

Before the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, NASA began studies of Space Shuttle designs as early as October 1968. The early studies were denoted "Phase A", and in June 1970, "Phase B", which were more detailed and specific. The primary intended use of the Phase A Space Shuttle was supporting the future space station, ferrying a minimum crew of four and about 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of cargo, and being able to be rapidly turned around for future flights, with larger payloads like space station modules being lifted by the Saturn V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Shuttle abort modes</span> NASA Space Shuttle safety procedures

Space Shuttle abort modes were procedures by which the nominal launch of the NASA Space Shuttle could be terminated. A pad abort occurred after ignition of the shuttle's main engines but prior to liftoff. An abort during ascent that would result in the orbiter returning to a runway or to an orbit lower than planned was called an "intact abort", while an abort in which the orbiter would be unable to reach a runway, or any abort involving the failure of more than one main engine, was called a "contingency abort". Crew bailout was still possible in some situations in which the orbiter could not land on a runway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ares V</span> Canceled NASA rocket key to Project Constellation

The Ares V was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled NASA Constellation program, which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on Mars. Ares V and the smaller Ares I were named after Ares, the Greek god of war.

Criticism of the Space Shuttle program stemmed from claims that NASA's Space Shuttle program failed to achieve its promised cost and utility goals, as well as design, cost, management, and safety issues. Fundamentally, it failed in the goal of reducing the cost of space access. Space Shuttle incremental per-pound launch costs ultimately turned out to be considerably higher than those of expendable launchers. In 2010, the incremental cost per flight of the Space Shuttle was $409 million, or $14,186 per kilogram to low Earth orbit (LEO). In contrast, the comparable Proton launch vehicle cost was $141 million, or $6,721 per kilogram to LEO and the Soyuz 2.1 was $55 million, or $6,665 per kilogram, despite these launch vehicles not being reusable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Shuttle orbiter</span> Spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit, perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider, returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Range safety</span> Activities to ensure safety of surroundings during rocket launches

In rocketry, range safety or flight safety is ensured by monitoring the flight paths of missiles and launch vehicles, and enforcing strict guidelines for rocket construction and ground-based operations. Various measures are implemented to protect nearby people, buildings and infrastructure from the dangers of a rocket launch.

<i>Hail Columbia</i> (film) 1982 American film

Hail Columbia is a 1982 American IMAX documentary film about NASA's Space Shuttle program, particularly the first Space Shuttle, Columbia. The film was directed by Graeme Ferguson.

References

  1. Rigg, Thomas (2007) Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television
  2. Roberts 2009, p. 279.
  3. O'Connor, John J. ""A big night for movies". The New York Times, February 25, 1983.
  4. Sindelar, Dave. "Starflight One (1083)." Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings, August 31, 2013. Retrieved: December 8, 2014.

Further reading