Author Topic: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket  (Read 19721 times)

Offline collectSPACE

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"Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« on: 01/31/2007 08:47 am »
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-013107a.html

Quote
In the upcoming Warner Brothers' feature film The Astronaut Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton plays the role of Charles Farmer, a former astronaut who never flew in space but who decides to accomplish his dream of reaching orbit by building his own rocket. To do so, Farmer draws from designs of the past, basing "The Dreamer," his spacecraft, on the historic Mercury-Atlas that carried the first Americans to orbit in the 1960s. The Astronaut Farmer opens in theaters 45 years (plus three days) after astronaut John Glenn rode his Mercury-Atlas into U.S. history.

Offline Radioheaded

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #1 on: 01/31/2007 01:56 pm »
Interesting that I saw for the first time this morning previews for this. (Coincedentally enough right after a brief mention of the Sea Launch "anomaly") Wonder if this will be one worth seeing?  Good to see that they tried (as much as is possible in Hollywood) to be accurate with the LV
I know only enough to know that I don't know....

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #2 on: 01/31/2007 02:21 pm »
Billy Bob Thornton is always worth watching.

Offline stefan1138

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #3 on: 01/31/2007 05:42 pm »
The trailer looks quite interesting, Billy Bob is a very good actor!

Stefan :)

Offline dwmzmm

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #4 on: 01/31/2007 10:53 pm »
I plan to go watch it, with my son.  Should make for a good father/son outing (maybe daughter, too, as my eight year old girl loves flying model rockets with us!).
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Offline spaceflight101

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #5 on: 02/01/2007 12:24 am »
Thanks for the trailer post. I was wondering what type of rocket they'd use, and using one with a historical record gives it the "he just might do it" validity the movie needs. Now, if they said that you could find everything you needed off the Internet, people would start trying to build serious rockets. What was the propellant then? LOX and kerosene? You can certainly buy water-white kerosene for heaters, or diesel fuel, and I have enough contacts to get enough LOX.
I got a chuckle out of the "Find out enerything you can on this space cowboy" line. Since he had been in their program, his record should be one or two mouse clicks away. It dovetails nicely with the "If I were building a weapon of mass destruction...you'd never be able to find it" line. I fear that our favorite taxpayer-sponsored space agency will be pilloried as being unable to find its you-know-what with both hands.

They don't need that these days...

Offline Antares

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #6 on: 02/01/2007 01:40 am »
Actually, I think this is exactly what NASA needs.  I think people will be much more inspired by space if they think there are ways to get there that aren't through NASA - I know I am. I thumb my nose at the excessively political astronaut corps selection process (let alone the flight assignment process) and its outdated LASIK rules.  NASA as a concept doesn't get in the way of private spaceflight, but as Rutan would say we have too many nay-sayers in our ranks.  Government procurement and technical processes are too slow.  I desperately hope Atlas V + Bigelow beats Ares I + Orion to orbit.
If I like something on NSF, it's probably because I know it to be accurate.  Every once in a while, it's just something I agree with.  Facts generally receive the former.

Offline Jim

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #7 on: 02/01/2007 01:46 am »
sounds like sour grapes.
NASA just isn't manned spaceflight

Offline spaceflight101

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #8 on: 02/01/2007 01:50 am »
Well, I hope to see the private sector do well also, but until someone orbits the planet, they haven't done anything.

But that's just how I feel. Someone will eventually do it, but the facts are that it takes cubic dollars, and NASA has those dollars.

I suspect that you have been "rejected" as I have...it's better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. In my case, it was simple: no one in the Astronaut Corps has ever put a megawatt of power on the grid, and I don't have one of the basic requirements: a four-year degree.

But having the wrong skillset is no reason to feel badly, just go out and excel at whatever it is you do.
Hey, welcome aboard!

Offline nathan.moeller

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #9 on: 02/01/2007 07:01 pm »
I'm actually curious to see this one.  Armageddon was a great movie.  Certainly not because it was accurate...it was anything but.  It was a fun, fast-paced thrill ride for the summer that excited people about manned spaceflight.  I think this was the point.  It might be so with The Astronaut Farmer as well.  I intend to see it.
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Offline PurduesUSAFguy

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #10 on: 02/03/2007 01:00 am »
I am really looking forward to this movie, it reminds me of a news story I saw a few years ago about a man in Texas who was a multi-millionaire toy maker who was building his own rocket in his shop. Havn't heard anything about it recently but it sounds very similar.

Offline dwmzmm

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #11 on: 02/03/2007 12:09 pm »
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PurduesUSAFguy - 2/2/2007  8:00 PM

I am really looking forward to this movie, it reminds me of a news story I saw a few years ago about a man in Texas who was a multi-millionaire toy maker who was building his own rocket in his shop. Havn't heard anything about it recently but it sounds very similar.

You're probably talking about the "Volksrocket" that gentleman was building.  I recall reading about his efforts in the STAR talboid back in 1979 (remember it fairly well, as I was a newsletter editor of The Orange
Rocketeers, a publication for the model rocket club/Section of the same name, and got permission from the
STAR editors to repost).  This Volksrocket builder was a former NASA engineer who was able to obtain
surplus parts for his creation.  

Do an internet search of "Volksrocket" and/or Bob Traux and see what you can come up with...
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Offline MySDCUserID

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #12 on: 02/03/2007 01:57 pm »
I think he is referring to Project R.U.S.H.  The website used to be rocketguy.com.  It appears to no longer exist.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Walker

Offline spaceflight101

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Re: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #13 on: 02/03/2007 05:57 pm »
I saw a trailer for this this morning, and it looks like he actually does launch...hey, even if he "only" goes suborbital, he's done what Alan Shepard did.

Three years ago, a whole lot of people built Wright Flyer replicas, and some of them flew quite well. My favorite is the one with the Harley-Davidson engine.

Offline collectSPACE

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RE: "Astronaut Farmer" features Mercury rocket
« Reply #14 on: 02/19/2007 01:58 pm »
We just began a contest on collectSPACE in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures to celebrate the release of "The Astronaut Farmer" and the 45th anniversary of the first U.S. orbital flight. Both feature(d) the Mercury-Atlas. Everyone may enter to win an official movie poster and a commemorative patch:

http://www.collectspace.com/astronautfarmer

Offline Paramount

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Astronaut Farmer gains terrible reviews
« Reply #15 on: 02/23/2007 11:42 pm »
Really is getting dissed heavily for being a really poor film :(

Offline Marsman

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Re: Astronaut Farmer gains terrible reviews
« Reply #16 on: 02/23/2007 11:53 pm »
Links?

Offline hyper_snyper

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Re: Astronaut Farmer gains terrible reviews
« Reply #17 on: 02/24/2007 12:01 am »
Oh I don't know... http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/astronaut_farmer/

60% positive is okay I guess.  Can't this go in the existing thread?

Offline Michael Cassutt

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RE: Astronaut Farmer gains terrible reviews
« Reply #18 on: 02/24/2007 12:03 am »
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Paramount - 23/2/2007  6:42 PM

Really is getting dissed heavily for being a really poor film :(

Not universally.  The L.A. TIMES liked it.

Michael Cassutt

Offline kanathan

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RE: Astronaut Farmer gains terrible reviews
« Reply #19 on: 02/24/2007 12:04 am »
Looking at rottentomatoes.com, it seems to be getting somewhat decent reviews. A score of 60% on that site isn't too horrible.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/astronaut_farmer/

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