Stargazer2006 said:
Wow... Looked pretty good, especially in the B&W pics, even credible in the eyes of a non-expert!
Could such a design actually have flown in real life, or would it have sunk like a stone?
Author Martin Caidin served as technical adviser for the film. In addition to writing science fiction novels, Caidin was an authority on aeronautics and astronautics and wrote 50 books and 1,000 magazine articles including
Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38, about the P-38 Lightning, and
Zero!, about the Mitsubishi Zero. Caidin's other claim to fame is that he is author of the book
Cyborg! that became the basis of The
Six Million Dollar Man television series.
In the film, a shroud covers the X-RV during launch so that stock footage of a Titan launch could be used in the film. Wikipedia says stock footage of a Titan II launch was used, but I seem to remember it was a Titan IIIC when I last saw the film on DVD. Will need to see the film again to verify which launch vehicle was used.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_(1969_film)
NASA and North American Aviation also provided technical assistance to the production and North American Aviation provided an actual Apollo spacecraft to be used for the fictional
Ironman One. The space station shown in the film is based on designs of the Apollo Applications Program OWS (Orbital Work Shop) that would later become the
Skylab OWS.
The film won an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
Attached are images of the
Ironman One spacecraft and the Apollo OWS seen in the film.
The Turner Classic Movies web site has an interesting history of the film.
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=152600
