One thing within the historical past of the area shuttle has to vary.
Or so it appears to be within the second episode of “Quantum Leap” airing Monday (Sept. 26) on NBC. Titled “Atlantis”, the episode finds physicist Ben Tune (Raymond Lee) in orbit aboard the area shuttle Atlantis in 1998 (opens in a brand new tab).
A sequel to the unique collection that ran from 1989 to 1993, the brand new present picks up 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) entered the Quantum Leap accelerator and disappeared. Now a brand new workforce, led by Tune and assisted by Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), who seems as a hologram that solely Tune can see and listen to, jumps by the story from life to life, fixing what went incorrect.
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“Our entire room is tremendous sci-fi and tremendous area, and these reveals are written as a bunch,” showrunner Martin Gero advised collectSPACE.com in an interview. “So everybody contributed fantastically [to this episode].”
Gero mentioned it wasn’t simply Lee who lived vicariously throughout his character’s flip as an astronaut.
“Simply with Raymond, effectively, everybody desires of being an astronaut, proper? they usually turn out to be astronauts (opens in a brand new tab) – however seeing the solid don all of the [spacesuit] gear, it was a lot enjoyable for everybody,” he mentioned.
In a promotional video launched by NBC, Lee and his Atlantis his crewmates, performed by José Zúñiga (“Commander Jim Reynolds”), Carly Pope (“Samantha Stratton”) and Leith Burke (“Max Everett”), are seen carrying Superior Crew Evacuation Fits (ACES), the vivid orange stress garments (opens in a brand new tab) worn by area shuttle astronauts for launch and re-entry. Lee can also be seen donning an EMU, Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or area go well with, worn by crew members to carry out spacewalks.
Area Shuttle Atlantis (opens in a brand new tab)itself, is proven within the promo lifting off — utilizing footage from the precise STS-122 mission in 2008 — after which orbiting Earth.
“[The scenes] encapsulate the joys and awe and majesty of the spaceship period, and that is what we tried to do with this episode,” Gero mentioned.
Robert Yowell, a former Area Shuttle flight controller who served because the episode’s technical advisor, agreed.
“I used to be at Johnson Area Middle working in Mission Management in 1998. It was an thrilling time,” he mentioned. “I am glad this little snippet form of captures that, from the second of launch to the very finish of the episode.”
“Atlantis” marks the second time that “Quantum Leap” crosses over into NASA historical past. The primary space-themed episode aired as a part of the unique collection and concerned a distinct kind of astronaut.
In “The Mistaken Stuff”, Sam Beckett (Bakula) jumps into “Bobo”, a chimpanzee that NASA is coaching for potential spaceflight on January 24, 1961. The episode is loosely primarily based on NASA’s use of nice apes to show that area journey was secure for people earlier than the launch of the Mercury Astronauts.
NASA launched two chimpanzees: “Ham” aboard Mercury-Redstone 2 on January 31, 1961 and “Enos” on Mercury-Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961.
Though the brand new collection is a continuation moderately than a reboot of “Quantum Leap,” Gero mentioned he does not anticipate a nod in “Atlantis” linking the 2 NASA-inspired episodes.
“We talked about it, as a result of it is such a enjoyable episode,” he mentioned. “However I believe for us, we’re attempting to strike a steadiness between having or not it’s our personal present whereas additionally being respectful and placing in as many Easter eggs as potential from the unique.”
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