GOOD NIGHT OPPY
This amiable, captivating documentary takes viewers inside Mission Control alongside the passionate group of NASA scientists and engineers behind the Mars exploration rover Opportunity. Launched in 2004 with the goal of combing Mars for evidence of water, Opportunity (adorably nicknamed “Oppy”) was only expected to survive Mars’s harsh environment for 90 days. Against all odds, Oppy kept at its mission for nearly 15 years. Through archival footage and interviews with Oppy’s Earth-bound team, director Ryan White captures every nail-biting close call and joyful rebound, as Oppy faces off against everything from technical malfunctions to violent sandstorms. White intercuts these scenes with state-of-the-art CGI renderings of Oppy’s time on Mars, vividly bringing the rover’s trek across the Red Planet to life. A true crowd-pleaser, GOOD NIGHT OPPY is testament both to a remarkable technological breakthrough and to the human ingenuity, passion, and skill behind it.
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