It is not unusual to see a Saturn V launch while viewing a film at Space Center Houston. Never before, though, has that spectacle stretched beyond the center’s five-story-tall screen to fill the theater’s walls and extend out onto the floor.
That is what happens now with the premiere of “The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks.”
Marking not only its debut at the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, but also its first time being shown in the United States, “The Moonwalkers” is a 50-minute-long immersive experience that envelops viewers in NASA’s historic Apollo moon landings, as well the agency’s current plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface after more than 50 years.
“We are deeply honored to be the first venue in the Americas to host the premiere of ‘The Moonwalkers,'” said William Harris, president and CEO of Space Center Houston, at a preview screening on Thursday (Feb. 13). “This amazing, immersive experience documents the U.S. space program with NASA from Apollo through the Artemis program.”
“This film will become available to the public [Feb. 14], and it will be shown hourly as part of the general admission here at Space Center Houston,” said Harris.
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‘A Journey’
“The Moonwalkers,” which since December 2023, has been playing at 59 Studio’s Lightroom in London, combines projection technology, archival media, a well-crafted script and an original score to bring viewers on a journey through space and time.
“There are times when I’ve seen it and I’m thinking, ‘Why is the hair standing up on the back of my neck right now?’ Hanks, who narrates the film, as well as co-wrote it with writer-director Chris Riley, said in a “making-of” video released online by 59 Studio. “You can’t just say because it is the words that you’re hearing. You can’t just say it is only the image. And you can’t just say is this phenomenal score. It is that playing of it all together.”
Beyond its multiple-screen presentation, what separates “The Moonwalkers” from past Apollo and space documentaries are its visuals. Complementing NASA’s archival footage are the photos taken by the astronauts, which recently have been remastered to produce stunning new clarity.
“One of the key things that made this project work so well was Andy Saunders’ incredible book [‘Apollo Remastered‘],” said Lysander Ashton, who with Nick Corrigan co-directed “The Moonwalkers” for 59 Studio. “He set himself this incredible, gargantuan task of remastering from the original negatives a huge collection of the photography from the Apollo missions and brought out so much detail that had never been seen before. So it is a lot of this still photography that fills the background of the show.”
The soundtrack was equally critical to conveying that this show was something the audience was not just watching, but experiencing together. Hanks, as narrator, represents each viewer, while archival NASA audio and an original score by Anne Nikitin recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Abbey Road Studios fills the theater.
“Ultimately, the most important thing of this whole project was take audiences on an emotional journey and to make them appreciate and feel the awe of this epic journey that when it first started seemed to be totally impossible,” said Ashton.
Related: Apollo 11: The 1st crewed moon landing
Modifying ‘The Moonwalkers’
The original production of “The Moonwalkers” was designed by 59 Studio to specifically fit the space at Lightroom and had the audience sitting on or near the floor, looking up. At Space Center Houston, the audience can be seated in the middle of the projections. As such, re-staging “The Moonwalkers” at Space Center Houston was not as simple as just sending over the same digital projection files.
“Our side walls are not smooth, they are faceted. There are six different facets,” said Jeffrey Wyatt, Space Center Houston’s chief experience officer, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. “The team at 59 Studio was able to make the projections work, such that the breaks in content made sense. We don’t have any areas where the content is lost.”
“They did a really good job of remapping the projections for our unique space,” said Wyatt.
Space Center Houston also installed more projectors — seven in total — and covered the walls and floor with fabric and carpeting that more closely matched the tone of the giant screen.
“Originally, we were going to just project onto the black walls, but the contrast between the walls and the front screen, which is a very reflective silver, was too much. So we ended up covering the walls with fabric so that it preserves their audio properties, but also provides us a better projection surface,” Wyatt told collectSPACE.
“We also added a lighter-color carpet at the base of the front screen so we can project onto the floor, giving us that full surface,” he said.
The other major change was to the audio system, adding subwoofers.
“So when you are experiencing the Saturn V launch, you can really feel it in those moments,” said Wyatt. “While the theater already had quite a good audio system, adding the additional low end really makes that difference with that moment.”
“The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks” opened Friday (Feb. 14) in the Space Center Theater at Space Center Houston with daily screenings included with general admission. The show is also set to open concurrently at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. as part of the Earth to Space Festival, running March 28 to April 20
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