By Richard Tew, NASA Correspondent for The Post Newspaper
Nearly 12-years-ago, two friends and coworkers sat down in a living room, turned on a voice recorder, pressed play on a video and started talking about what they were seeing: footage from some of the last launches of the fabled Space Shuttle.
Years before this reunion, both Matthew Melis and Kevin Burke worked together for some 14 years at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. Burke was involved in leading the scientific imagery group and Melis worked in the ballistic impact lab as an engineer.
In 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia suffered damage to its heat protection tiles shortly after lift off. This would eventually cause the Shuttle to break up upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere after its mission was completed.
The accident shuttered the Space Shuttle for some time.
Melis says he was called in to help researchers and engineers looking over the wreckage to help determine the cause of the accident.
During this time Burke left Glenn and started working at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Melis says he would travel to Kennedy often during that time.
“We always kept in touch because of our friendship,” said Melis. “We were very interested in these videos from a Space Shuttle program standpoint because it was these movies that helped us identify the cause of the accident for Columbia.”
Once there, Burke helped with the deployment of the launch film program for upcoming Shuttle missions.
These films would be used to look for problems during launches to help mitigate issues which may arise early in the mission.
In order to film Shuttle launches in such high detail and from multiple angles, high resolution cameras equipped with special lenses were set up at various points around the launch area. Melis says that prompted him to start a conversation with others at NASA about getting these high resolution videos out to the public.
“These were high resolution scans that give you fantastic detail,” said Melis.
Melis says the whole idea of putting together a DVD collage of launch videos was a collaborative effort.
Once a plan to produce a DVD was set, Burke met with Melis at his home over the course of several weekends to begin the narration process.
“It was unscripted,” said Burke. “We did it naturally. We did it as a conversation.”
Once the DVD entitled “The Best of the Best” was released online via Youtube, requests to use footage in other documentaries started coming in and has been seen in various movies since the DVD’s release.
For their efforts, Burke and Melis were invited to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch’s intimate Stag Theater, located in northern California. There, they showed the film to other filmmakers in addition to employees of Skywalker Studios.
“This film got a lot of exposure in a lot of places and it made Kevin and I very happy,” said Melis.
To watch “The Best of the Best” video on youtube, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwqZ4qAUkE
To hear additional insights from my interview listen to the audio at: https://soundcloud.com/richard-tew
When he is not writing on NASA or issues of faith, Richard Tew teaches Irish dance to all ages in Clear Lake. Learn more at http://www.tewirishdance.wordpress.com.
Photo cutline: Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off in 1988. Photo credit NASA.
