[watsisname]

From the director of Children of Men comes some sort of space thriller.  And... wow.

I normally do not give a **** about special effects these days; it seems any movie with a hundred million dollar budget will have good VFX, so when I say I was blown away by the effects here, I don't say that lightly.

However, I do not know how I feel about the story, or at least what has been revealed from the trailer, which looks like way too much of not a whole lot.  I mean how much more interesting stuff can happen after [enormously spectacular plot point] occurs that hasn't been shown in the trailer already?   I feel like the only reason to see this movie is to see [enormously spectacular plot point].  I don't know if I can give a **** about the astronauts; particularly if they are Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  Apparently Clooney replaced Robert Downey, which is a shame.

[Scourge of Ages]

Well, better a trailer like this which presumably only shows the beginning [spectacular plot point] and doesn't spoil the story parts.

Unless this ends up being the finale, in which case that's dumb. Looks cool though.

EDIT: Kerbal, er, Human Space Program: the Movie

[watsisname]

Kerbal Space Program: the Movie

I would be totally okay with this being a thing.

[General Battuta]

I've been waiting for this movie for like a geological eon

[Phantom Hoover]

I think it's likely it'll be a kind of "wilderness survival" plot, except in orbit rather than the sea or the desert or wherever.

[StarSlayer]

Time to compose your death haiku.

[SpardaSon21]

Wonder how many people will get that.

[Phantom Hoover]

"My problem with the Gravity teaser is that it has astronauts panicking in space. Astronauts don't do that." -- Sam Hughes

That's actually a very good point.

[Dragon]

Yeah. "Houston, we've had a problem." is about as emotional as they usually get.

[General Battuta]

There's nothing in that trailer that seems like a remotely unreasonable or unbelievable reaction, especially given that modern crews draw from a pretty diverse range of backgrounds outside of the classical nerves-of-steel test pilot mold.

[Nuke]

yea with even apollo 13 the situation just wasnt that bad. they still had a pressurized cabin and some thrusters to work with. from the clip, seems the whole damn ship is destroyed and everyone has been thrown off on their own little trajectory without any thrusters. thats one hell of a **** sandwich and they have to eat the whole damn thing and ask for seconds.

[Phantom Hoover]

There's nothing in that trailer that seems like a remotely unreasonable or unbelievable reaction, especially given that modern crews draw from a pretty diverse range of backgrounds outside of the classical nerves-of-steel test pilot mold.

Fair enough.

[General Battuta]

Don't get me wrong, I'll be pissed if the movie doesn't play the astronauts believably, or sets up Sandra Bullock as the inept ingenue and George Clooney as George Clooney, or gets the orbital mechanics wrong, but hey, Alfonso Cuaron will still probably shoot a ****ing great film.

[Phantom Hoover]

I hate to have to say this, but the orbital mechanics will probably be, at best, highly questionable. Collisions with debris would not be able to impart enough change in momentum to the ISS to make it re-enter without it also getting blowed to smitheroons.

e: also i was making jokes about george clooney being an astronaut for some reason years ago, imo cuaron owes me millions

[StarSlayer]

I've seen Scott Manley recover from worse.

[Flipside]

I'll be interested to see where it goes from there, it was interesting because someone asked in the youTube comments whether NASA had protocols for situations like this, and the truth is, NASA did have protocols, though I'm not certain Astronauts still carry suicide pills...

[Phantom Hoover]

AIUI the real-life protocols are to retreat to the retrograde areas of the station, and in the worst case scenario (for which they still bother pre-planning) bailing out in the Soyuzes. Dunno what they would've done if the shuttle was damaged, though; presumably they did have contingencies in place for an orbiter being unable to re-enter.

[watsisname]

though I'm not certain Astronauts still carry suicide pills...

I'm pretty sure they never carried suicide pills...

It'd be just as easy to simply unseal your helmet or open the airlock.  Relatively painless and you're unconscious in 15 seconds.

[Bobboau]

Collisions with debris would not be able to impart enough change in momentum to the ISS to make it re-enter without it also getting blowed to smitheroons.

so you haven't seen the trailer then.

[watsisname]

In the trailer, the ISS did not blow up in the manner PhantomHoover described (being blasted apart by a high energy collision).  Rather, it (apparently) blew up because something combustible on board exploded after those impacts.  The explosion actually didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, from a standpoint of realism.  Looks freaking amazing though.

One way for things in orbit to re-enter is if they vent a significant amount of volatiles, and in such a direction as to lose orbital energy.  Not very likely for it to work out that way in practice, however.