‘We Are the Explorers’ NASA Video May Appear as Trailer Prior to ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’

[youtube_video]http://youtu.be/e7DEw70LVWs[/youtube_video]

Video courtesy of ReelNASA

THE FINAL FRONTIER — It might seem like a silly idea to some, but a 30-second spot derived from a larger NASA video could be one of the trailers that will appear when the new movie Star Trek: Into Darkness opens in theaters this May. The effort to have the “We Are the Explorers” trailer appear before the movie was started under an Indiegogo campaign that sought to reach a goal of $33,000. It reached that amount in five days.

According to an article appearing on the website “The Verge,” the effort to place a trailer promoting the efforts of the U.S. space agency was started by the Aerospace Industries Association of America, or “AIA.”

Now, one might ask, why NASA did not conduct this effort and put up the funds for this project itself? Simple—the space agency is forbidden to do so. Federal law will not allow NASA to promote its work in such a fashion.

The AIA opted to nullify this problem on their own. They worked to shrink the two-minute, 36-second video into a 30-second spot that would be shown prior to what will likely be one of the largest films of the summer. Star Trek: Into Darkness will hit theaters on May 17.

“We Are the Explorers” was produced by NASA last year. The video lasts for about two and a half minutes. It is voiced by Peter Cullen, the voice of the Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

If all goes according to plan the "trailer" would appear prior to "Star Trek: Into Darkness." Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
If all goes according to plan, the “trailer” would appear prior to “Star Trek: Into Darkness.” Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

 

6 Comments

  1. The only good thing about the ‘new’ Star Trek(a la J.J.Abrams) will probably be the trailer about NASA!

  2. The image from Curiosity at the end belies the whole parade and applause about about human space flight here. We did explore Mars, but we did it without launching any people. The whole business of space explorers in the image of long-ago explorers and “treacherous expanses in pursuit of discovery” is rather sad. There are good things that humans can do in space, but saying that THEY are the explorers, and they alone carry that flag, is just dumb.

    • That’s one argument. But to say we have explored Mars would be like saying we had explored the Moon before the first Apollo astronauts landed.

      In mid-1969, after several robotic missions to the Moon, 20/20 hindsight shows that we hadn’t even scratched the surface. And while such things as the Genesis rock did vastly expand our understanding of the Moon beyond what we learned from our robotic missions, the fact that we only explored the lunar equatorial areas means the most interesting parts of the Moon remain untouched. And even in the non-polar areas, we didn’t into any craters, trenches, lava tubes, or other interesting areas of the Moon that beckoned due to risk concerns.

      Yes, we have begun to explore Mars, buto say that robotics will give us as thorough an understanding of Mars as would just one human expedition is conjecture, a guess really.

      Curiosity is an amazing science rover. But, at the risk of more conjecture, the fullness of Curiosity’s exploration experience in what is one area could be exceeded by 3 astronauts in less than a few days, maybe even just a day. The best rover today is less capable than an astronaut of traversing rough terrain. The totality of what just 3 astronauts would learn on Mars for the weeks they would be there would, just as did their Apollo predecessors, keep science and engineering researchers busy for generations. And even then, we would have only scratched the surface of Mars.

      • Exactly right Jim and very well stated. Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity successfully landed on Mars and conducted scientific research on the Red Planet. Opportunity continues in it’s mission of exploration long after it’s designed lifetime, providing valuable information like it’s successor Curiosity. Spirit, unfortunately, became mired in deep Martian sand, could proceed no farther, and eventually lost power. Had an astronaut been present he could have performed the exacting engineering feat of (a) Place foot firmly on frame of Spirit rover, (b)Push

        • Robotic exploration will NEVER be a substitute for human explorers. The fact that we have made it a substitue for all these decades, just shows our lack of will. I think Robert Zubrin said it best, when he said that robotic rovers today aren’t able of identifying good fruits from bad ones on the lockal grossery store. So, if they can’t properly explore the local grossery store, how can we expect them to explore another planet?

          Robotic exploration is just awesome and has done a trully wonderful and unique exploration and discovery! You just have to love it! But you have to keep it in context. It’s not a substitute for everything, the way you don’t generally substitute sex toys for the reall thing (sorry for my analogy, but it was the first that came to mind!). You can also face a high risk of getting ill or die from sex if you’re not carefull and take precautions, but everyone’s *doing it*! Why are we so much afraid of space? (I know it’s a really crude analogy, but you get the point!).

          And to use another one, if robotic explorers are that much more awesome and capable than humans, then why is everyone spending thousands of dollars per year, going to this or that exotic location on Earth for tourism or adventure? Wouldn’t it better if the money everyone spended on travelling and tourism accomodations, would be spent on sending a robotic rover to snap some pretty pictures and send them back to us as a card postal?

          But I don’t think anyone would want that…

          (I don’t know if this is my best post ever, or a really silly one, cause my mind’s really distracted, but I had to get it out of my chest!).

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