My first (and only) attempt at video editing

This 9 minute short film on Youtube was created by me (well, assembled from many different sources, most of them historical). It was in response to a video contest in February 2013--10 years after the Columbia disaster-- about "Why Space Matters."  It was also partly inspired by a video from Neil de Grasse Tyson about a similar subject.  (Link HERE)

While it didn't win the contest and was disqualified for its length, I think this video has strung together all the footage which shows why this is the singular greatest achievement of the human race.

Space exploration is the only thing that can ensure the future of humankind.   It deserves all of our effort, talent, energy and resources.  The budget cuts that decapitated NASA after the retiring of the space shuttle fleet I think may have hurt our nation more in the long run than the 13-year War on Terror.  We don't even realize the implications.

The process took about a week to put together. Lots of clips had to be downloaded and audio tracks and music removed, then overdubbed with my own carefully selected soundtrack. Some of the clips had to be sped up or slowed down to match the high and low points of the epic score. All of this was done on my MacBook using iMovie and no other software that didn't come packaged with my computer. I will say this: video editing is not as easy as the millions of youtubers make it appear.  It takes dozens of gigabytes of storage, even with 2 gigabytes of memory my laptop was struggling and overheating.  You really need a Mac Pro or a dedicated workstation for video editing, and an external hard disk for the file storage is a must. at 40 gigabytes, this video project almost killed my poor laptop. 

You probably wish it was longer, but I'm afraid this is the best I can do so, sit back and enjoy.

Some of the footage used:  NASA Archives, Public Domain World War II newsreels, the 1983 movie The Right Stuff

Music: "Garador's Flight" and "Ascencia" by Jo Blankenburg, "Mars" by Terry Devine-King, "Song of Heroes" by Chris Blackwell