Christie projector puts Endeavour's final journey on the big screen

• By John Breeden II
• Jun 12, 2013

Everyone probably remembers when the Space Shuttle Endeavour made its way through the streets of Los Angeles last year, inching along on a 68-hour journey from the airport to the California Science Center.

To document that historic mission, NASA and the California Science Center created an eight-minute HD movie that follows the journey and the crowd’s reaction to the spectacle. To project that movie, “Mission 26: The Big Endeavour,” the center chose a Christie Roadster HD10K-M 3-chip DLP projector.

David Knight, the film's producer, led a 150-person crew that documented the entire move process, beginning with Endeavour being mounted atop a 747 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and culminating with its installation inside the Science Center’s Shuttle Pavilion.

The movie plays on a nearly 30-foot wide screen on the wall, Knight said. “The walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling and, hanging above the back wall, is the HD10K-M. It is front-projecting and shows the movie in 2D, with the plan to make a 3D rendering of the movie.”

The most compact model in its class, the Christie HD10K-M provides true HD native resolution (1920 x 1080) with up to 10,000:1 contrast ratio, dual mercury lamps, embedded Christie Twist image warping and edge-blending and built-in portrait capabilities. And it is upgradeable to 3D.

“I appreciate the brightness and color depth of the Christie projector: the Mission 26 Theater installation utilizes a wall-painted screen, thus the demands for output power are extremely critical. Two other projector-brands were tried and the Christie difference is stunning,” said Knight.

At the Science Center, guests visit the Mission 26 exhibit, which features more than 80 large-scale photographs depicting Endeavour’s journey. Inside the gallery is the Mission 26 Theater where the new film is running continually throughout the day. Following the movie, visitors can walk downstairs, visit various exhibits and then enter a large pavilion where the Shuttle is displayed.

The Mission 26 exhibit runs through Labor Day, September 2, 2013, at the California Science Center and admission is free.