Space Frontier Foundation co-founder Rick Tumlinson talks after a screening of “Orphans of Apollo” in Los Angeles.
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“Mir”
“Orphans of Apollo” will screen in DC on Friday while The Space Show will air an interview with MirCorp founder Walt Anderson from his current residence, Fairton Correctional Facility.
Over the last six months, there have been several new legal developments in the case of space commercialization pioneer Walt Anderson, who is serving a 9-year sentence for tax fraud at a federal prison in New Jersey. The legal developments have renewed call from Anderson’s vocal supporters that the entrepreneur is innocent and should be released from prison.
Orphans of Apollo’s Michael Potter is the guest on the latest edition of Spacevidcast.
Alan Boyle has reviewed Michael Potter’s film, “Orphans of Apollo,” for his Comic Log website. He reviews the lessons that the failed effort to commercialize the Mir space station taught people:
The biggest lesson is that you want to have the government as your customer, not your enemy. “I think the slightly more commercial and realistic and politically savvy entrepreneurs who are now investing in private space understood where Walt went wrong,” David Chambers, who was MirCorp’s vice president of strategic planning, says in the movie. “And they’re prepared to play nice with the various governments that they need to play nice with.”
This just in from director Michael Potter: “Orphans of Apollo” has been nominated for the World Technology Awards in the Entertainment category. The awards ceremony will be held in July in New York City. The next screening of Mr. Potter’s documentary about MirCorp is scheduled for the San Diego Air & Space Museum on Saturday, May 9.
Launching the dream of civilian space travel
The Daily Breeze
The story is the topic of [Michael] Potter’s documentary, “Orphans of Apollo: The Battle of the Mir & the New Space Revolution,” which is making the film festival circuit.
There are two especially dangerous types of people in the world: those with nothing to lose, and those with everything to lose. The former is desperate and, having little at stake, is often willing to do almost anything to survive. The latter often feels like he can do anything. This attitude can propel them to great heights – and to spectacular falls.
The themes of desperation and hubris run through Michael Potter’s film, Orphans of Apollo. The fascinating documentary recounts the briefly successful – but ultimately failed – effort to privatize the Russian space station Mir at the turn of the century. The film – which is now available on DVD and will screen at the Sacramento International Film Festival on March 30 – also chronicles the fall of early space entrepreneur Walt Anderson.
As I watch companies lay off tens of thousands of employees every week (and sometimes every day), I’m beginning to wonder if we’re watching another space bubble burst. If so, it is second such deflation in the last decade.