“60 years of Human Spaceflight”

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April 2021 marks 60 years since Yuri Gagarin made the first flight of a human into space. To celebrate this amazing achievement, and those of the hundreds of men and women that have followed, we present a unique afternoon of space films and presentations.

We look at the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, and reveal some fascinating facts about his flight that were kept secret for 30 years.

APOLLO 11 is an amazing film, which consists solely of archival footage, including 70 mm film previously unreleased to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews or modern recreations. A must see on the big screen!

This is followed by a short presentation Australia – Apollo & Skylab on the significant and critical role Australia has taken in these American human space programs.

Searching for Skylab is a 2019 documentary film about the 1970s American space station Skylab. The film uses hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings exist from it, yet it is unlikely that you’ve seen or heard much of it.

This will be the Melbourne Premiere and a film that no space enthusiast should miss.

This will be Melbourne’s own “Yuri’s Night” event, which is a global celebration on the dual anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and the first launch of a reusable spacecraft, space shuttle Columbia in 1981.

2021 is the 60th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight.

Program descriptions

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The flight of Yuri Gagarin first human in space

A short talk about the flight of Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

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APOLLO 11

Apollo 11 is a 2019 American documentary film edited, produced and directed by Todd Douglas Miller. It focuses on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first spaceflight from which men walked on the Moon.

The film consists solely of archival footage, including 70 mm film previously unreleased to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews or modern recreations.

The Saturn V rocket, Apollo crew consisting of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins, and Apollo program Earth-based mission operations engineers are prominently featured in the film.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on February 24, 2019, and was released theatrically in the United States by Neon on March 1, 2019.

The film received five nominations at the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program for Aldrin and Collins, and won three.

Never-before-seen footage and audio recordings take you straight into the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission as astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins embark on a historic trip to the moon.

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Searching for Skylab

Searching for Skylab – America’s Forgotten Triumph is a 2019 documentary about the 1970s American space station Skylab. It was written by Carl Alessi and directed by Dwight Steven-Boniecki and partly crowdfunded.

Searching for Skylab was created to bring attention to the important role Skylab played in the development of human spaceflight programs. On Skylab, Steven-Boniecki said “hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings exist from it, yet it is unlikely that you’ve seen or heard much of it.”

A preview of the first working version was screened at Spacefest, in 2018 to a crowd of space experts, astronauts and their families.

The film premiered at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, on February 8, 2019, with Skylab astronauts Jack Lousma (Skylab 3) and Ed Gibson (Skylab 4) in attendance.

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Australia – Apollo & Skylab talk

A short talk about Australia and our important role in the NASA space programs (Apollo & SkyLab)

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Skylab astronaut talk

We will have an exclusive interview and Q&A with an astronaut that flew on Skylab, from the USA. Due to the time zone difference, this will be a pre-record and it will be just for our event!”