Great true stories about space exploration don’t come around too often anymore. Our pop cultural representations about NASA’s achievements (or failures) tend to be period pieces and retreads of the greatest hits. But the new documentary “Good Night Oppy,” directed by Ryan White, is an exciting and fresh story about a very recent mission to Mars, one that exceeded all expectations and then some, thanks to hard work, ingenuity, a lot of luck and dogged perseverance.
Produced by, among others, Amazon Studios, Amblin Entertainment and Industrial Light and Magic, “Good Night Oppy” is a documentary that aims to capture the sense of childlike wonder and expansive, imaginative scope akin to the films for which Amblin and ILM are known. It’s a documentary recounting the amazing story of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission that manages to feel emotionally like “E.T.”, and look like “Star Wars.”
The Mars rovers were the brainchild of geologist and astronomer Steve Squryes, who grew tired of exploring the farthest flung reaches of the earth and dreamed of exploring Mars, imagining that a robotic rover could travel to the red planet in his stead. After years of proposals, NASA finally gave the OK to develop twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which were launched in 2003 to search for evidence of water — evidence of life — on Mars.
