One thing in house shuttle historical past wants altering.
Or in order that appears to be case within the second episode of “Quantum Leap” airing Monday (Sept. 26) on NBC. Titled “Atlantis,” the episode finds physicist Ben Track (Raymond Lee) headed into orbit aboard the house shuttle Atlantis in 1998 (opens in new tab).
A continuation of the unique collection that ran from 1989 to 1993, the brand new present picks up 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a brand new workforce, led by Track and assisted by Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), who seems within the type of a hologram that solely Track can see and listen to, leaps via historical past from life to life, placing proper what as soon as went mistaken.
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“Our entire room is tremendous into sci-fi and tremendous into house, and these exhibits are written as a bunch,” showrunner Martin Gero instructed collectSPACE.com in an interview. “So everybody contributed magnificently [to this episode].”
Gero stated it was not simply Lee who was residing vicariously via his character’s flip as an astronaut.
“Simply with Raymond, nicely, everybody desires of being an astronaut, proper? There is no one who hasn’t considered it simply casually — I imply, some folks clearly obsess about it greater than most, and so they turn into astronauts (opens in new tab) — however seeing the forged get to don the entire [spacesuit] tools, it was a lot enjoyable for everybody,” he stated.
In a video promo launched by NBC, Lee and his Atlantis crewmates, performed by José Zúñiga (“Commander Jim Reynolds”), Carly Pope (“Samantha Stratton”) and Leith Burke (“Max Everett”), are seen sporting superior crew escape fits (ACES), the brilliant orange stress clothes (opens in new tab) worn by house shuttle astronauts for launch and re-entry. Lee can be seen donning an EMU, the extravehicular mobility unit, or spacesuit, worn by crew members to carry out spacewalks.
House shuttle Atlantis (opens in new tab), itself, is proven within the promo lifting off — utilizing footage from the precise STS-122 mission in 2008 — after which in orbit round Earth.
“[The scenes] encapsulate the fun and awe and majesty of the house shuttle period, and that is what we tried to do with this episode,” stated Gero.
Robert Yowell, a former house shuttle flight controller who served as a technical advisor for the episode, agreed.
“I used to be at Johnson House Middle working in Mission Management in 1998. It was an thrilling time,” he stated. “I am glad that this little snippet type of captures that, from the second of launch to the very finish of the episode.”
“Atlantis” marks the second time that “Quantum Leap” has crossed over with NASA historical past. The primary space-themed episode aired as a part of the unique collection and concerned a unique sort of astronaut.
In “The Unsuitable Stuff,” Sam Beckett (Bakula) leaps into “Bobo,” a chimpanzee that NASA is coaching for a doable spaceflight on Jan. 24, 1961. The episode is loosely primarily based on NASA’s use of nice apes to show that house journey was protected for people earlier than launching the Mercury astronauts.
NASA launched two chimpanzees: “Ham” aboard Mercury-Redstone 2 on Jan. 31, 1961, and “Enos” on Mercury-Atlas 5 on Nov. 29, 1961.
Regardless of the brand new collection being a continuation, quite than a reboot of “Quantum Leap,” Gero stated to not anticipate a nod in “Atlantis” linking the 2 NASA-inspired episodes.
“We did speak about that, as a result of that is such a enjoyable episode,” he stated. “However I feel for us, we’re looking for a steadiness between having this be our personal present and but being respectful and placing in as many easter eggs as we will from the unique.”
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