Space Shuttle Atlantis

Daren served as Creative Director for show/story elements of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's marquee attraction Space Shuttle Atlantis. The outcome for this attraction was to create the most emotionally connective reveal experience in the world. A three-part show was created to reframe NASA's space shuttle orbiter Atlantis as a living piece of history. We were asked to tell the story of the shuttle program and to detail its key features and accomplishments.

However rather than relay these stories and frame the orbiter as an artifact we chose to take people on a historical journey, focusing on the design goals and challenges from the point of view of the engineers, rather than the astronauts.

A walk-in animated media loop visually tells the stories of invention of aeronautics and exploration, framing the shuttle program as a "step" in the evolution of each, rather than something that ended in the past. A 7-minute film set in the late 60's and early 70's as historical reenactment engagingly relays all of the unique features of the shuttles from the point of view of the engineers who faced the challenges of meeting the program's goals.

The main show surrounds the audience in a one-of-a-kind theater that is part dome, part projection-mapped architectural statement, with nods to the shuttles' wing shapes. Guests experience an emotional retrospective wherein they not only see archival footage, but also are placed inside the orbiter's cockpit in zero gravity, approach the International Space Station and float through a Hubble Telescope image of a nebula. By the end they have a sense of pride in human accomplishment, when the screen in front of them turns into a scrim and ultimately raises to reveal the actual Atlantis orbiter right there in front of them.

A moving orchestral soundtrack surrounds them as they emerge from the theater and view the orbiter just feet away from their outstretched hands, and a giant media screen that frames the spaceship as though it is still in orbit.