By: John Gholson
How is it that someone as fascinated with space exploration as Tom Hanks has managed to go his entire career without appearing in a single science fiction film? Hanks has been an outspoken advocate for the space program since starring in Apollo 13 way back in 1995. He produced the award-winning HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, wrote Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, and sits on the Board of Governors for the National Space Society. Hanks was recognized for this passion by the Space Foundation who awarded him the Douglas S. Murrow Outreach Award in 2006. Is he more interested in the science than the science fiction?
I don't think the two can be totally separated, at least not when it comes to space exploration. Someone needs to imagine the unknown first, they need to theorize and speculate about it before they can creating a solution that will answer their questions. The very nature of space exploration requires a mind willing to consider the fantastic, open to the possibilities that might exist in an unknown galaxy.
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1. The Wiki for 2061 (Arthur C. Clarke novel) says that he was part of the aborted plans developing it as a film.
Posted at 11:00PM on Oct 28th 2009 by Jeff