The Ultimate Location Shoot

Two specially configured IMAX 3D cameras—one in the spaceshuttle, one on the new international space station—capturedimagery like this over a two-year period for the recent IMAX SpaceStation film.

Although currently sitting quietly somewhere inside a storagefacility, two unique IMAX 3D film cameras carry memories of the mostremote location shoot in film history. The specially designed cameraswere responsible for capturing more than 69,000 feet (or more than 13miles) of 65mm film footage over the course of 2½ years for theIMAX 3D feature film released earlier this year, Space Station.But that’s not what makes them unique. Their main claim to fameis the fact that they captured the footage while orbiting Earth duringthe initial phases of construction on the International SpaceStation.

One camera, dubbed IMAX ICBC3D (model MSM-3001), or the “cargobay camera,” flew back and forth to the space station on threedifferent shuttle missions, while the second device, dubbed IMAX3D(model MSM-3002), or the “cabin camera,” spent 337 days onboard the embryonic space station as it sprung to life betweenSeptember 2000 and August 2001.

Both cameras required special designs that set them apart fromtraditional large-format camera technology so that they could functioneffectively in outer space, meet strict NASA requirements, and bepractical for astronauts to use. IMAX hired Martin S. Mueller and hiscompany, MSM Design, to design and build the devices over a two-yearperiod, between 1996 and 1998, in time for the initial space stationmissions. Since then, Mueller—a 1996 Oscar Sci-Tech engineeringaward winner for his work on 65mm camera technology—has served asa consultant on the project.

Mueller says there were several basic differences between the twocameras and IMAX’s established 3D cameras.

“The first goal was to build cameras that were simple to usefor the astronauts,” Mueller says. “The existing 3D cameraswere too bulky for this project, and only a specialist could threadfilm through them, not people with limited training. Weight was not abig issue, since they were operating in a weightless environment, butsize was, since there was only so much room allotted for the cameras.The cabin camera had to be small enough to fit into a standard mid-decklocker on the space shuttle because that is how they were planning totransport it up and down. The cargo bay camera actually did have aweight limit because the physical beam to which it was mounted in thespace shuttle cargo bay was impacted by acceleration forces at liftoff.So that camera had to weigh under 155 pounds in order to carry 55pounds of film.”

Flight engineer Sergei Krikalev operates the IMAX cabin camera inearly 2001. An IMAX film light is visible behind his head.

Mueller says the cargo camera had a more restrictive design becauseit was meant to be bolted inside the cargo bay and could not bephysically operated and loaded by astronauts. Instead, they operated itfrom the shuttle, via remote control using a video-tap system tied to aspecially configured laptop with a proprietary graphic interface.

“Therefore, we constructed as big a film magazine as wecould,” he says. “We built it to hold 5,400 feet offilm—over a mile of film. The director [Toni Myers] also wantedto have different focal lengths available, so we designed an automaticlens turret for the front of the camera that permitted us to use threedifferent pairs of lenses to capture the stereoscopic 3Deffect—wide angle, medium, and telephoto. The astronautscontrolled things like f-stop and focus from the laptop, viewingpotential shots through the video tap. The lens turret and the largerfilm magazine made the cargo bay camera larger than the cabin camera.For the cabin camera, we built an interchangeable magazine with somethreading possible in white light so the astronauts wouldn’t haveto use a black bag as much.”

The need to shoot side-by-side, left/right images that could beconformed for 3D projection also posed a major challenge to the designteam. Mueller says traditional IMAX 3D cameras normally shoot twoseparate rolls of film moving at identical speeds, essentially makingthem “two separate cameras in a common box.”

For this project, however, engineers decided to put the two imagesside by side on a single strip of 65mm film. That meant changing thetraditional 15-perf, 65mm film to a 30-perf configuration, according toMueller.

“To shoot on one piece of 65mm film and then separate thatinto two film strips for projection meant we had to change theregistration areas and film movement,” he says. “Thepulldown was twice as long, and the registration pins covered twice thenormal distance of a typical IMAX camera, so even though the camerasare more compact, their film path is actually larger.”

To test the technology and train the astronauts, NASA and IMAX setup training sessions over the course of six months under the guidanceof DP James Neihouse and software designer William Nixon, with periodicconsults from Mueller’s hardware team. Numerous hypotheticalissues, however, could not be tested until the astronauts were actuallyusing the cameras in outer space, according to Mueller.

“The cameras had to be vibration free, but we weren’tthat worried about mechanical functions because of ourexperience,” he says. “The electronics, though, wereanother thing. No one was entirely sure how space radiation andtemperatures would impact the electronics. As it turned out, the cabincamera had to be sent up with the first shuttle mission and stored withother space station components for months before a crew ever boardedand turned it on. Essentially, it went into space and sat in a freezerfor months before it ever got used. We were very relieved that itoperated properly.”

Lighting was another concern because this was hardly a typicallocation worked by a typical crew. IMAX engineers developed a lightingpackage based on Arriflex movie fixtures, but extensively modified withinterchangeable lamps and fuses. During the six-month training period,the astronauts were trained how to set them up and operate them insidethe narrow space station.

“Imagine having to light a tunnel with a limited number oflights,” Mueller says. “That’s what it was like,especially at first, before they added more components to the spacestation. Later, it got a bit easier, once they built the laboratorymodule, which was a nicer place to film, more like a room than atunnel.”