journey to space 3d

Film Review: ‘Journey to Space’

An informative and inspiring look at past and future frontiers in space travel.

By Justin Chang

Justin Chang

• Film Review: ‘A Hologram for the King’ 8 years ago
• Cannes: A Look at the Official Selection, by the Numbers 8 years ago
• Film Review: ‘Captain America: Civil War’ 8 years ago

Eyes will be duly popped and imaginations stirred by “Journey to Space,” a valedictory tribute to NASA’s past accomplishments that offers a sneak preview of the agency’s exciting next frontier. Balancing rich footage from previous shuttle missions with a fascinating survey of forthcoming innovations (including but not limited to tools that will enable a human landing on Mars in the next 25 years), writer-director Mark Krenzien’s informative and inspiring documentary has grossed more than $10 million since its February release, and should continue to benefit from a resurgence of public interest in space travel — aided in no small part by “The Martian’s” hit status — as it makes its way along the giant-screen circuit.

A famous opening quote from Carl Sagan — “We began as wanderers, and are wanderers still” — sets an appropriate tone of limitless possibility for a picture that suggests humankind will never run out of new worlds to explore. But before it peers ahead into the future, “Journey to Space” offers a fond look backward with a sort of cinematic obituary for the 30-year space shuttle program (1981-2011), complete with shots of the shuttle Endeavour being flown to its final destination at the California Science Center (requiring some tricky maneuvering through the busy streets of Los Angeles). With its 42-minute running time, the film can only skim the surface of the program’s accomplishments, including the 40-plus flights it took to construct the Intl. Space Station and the various missions to repair the Hubble Telescope, the subject of 2010’s excellent Imax doc “Hubble 3D.”

Related Stories

Why long-form tiktok videos make perfect sense, disney drops federal appeal in florida lawsuit, ending desantis fight.

Older audiences who have seen that film and others, including “Space Station” (2002), will be familiar with the sort of “Look Ma, no gravity!” archival footage presented here, in which astronauts from different flights are shown experiencing the pleasures and challenges of weightlessness (kids will have fun grasping at lollipops floating outward from the screen during one of many goofy astronaut hangouts). The film emphasizes the international camaraderie that enabled U.S. space shuttles to dock with the Russian station Mir in the ’90s, glossing over the many difficulties and hazards of post-Cold War space collaboration in service of a general spirit of teamwork and optimism that, it’s implied, will drive us toward ever richer and more surprising vistas to come.

Popular on Variety

We get a tantalizing look at those vistas in the film’s second half, as well as the pioneering technologies that will enable astronauts to reach them. These include Orion, a new craft designed for long-term, deep-space exploration, and Olympus, an inflatable habitat that will serve as an expanded work and living area for those on board. Even the smaller innovations, such as a study to improve space-suit mobility (juxtaposed with footage of clunkily clad astronauts falling over on the moon’s surface in 1968), provide an absorbing glimpse into the minds of engineers tasked with visioning and troubleshooting our way forward. The film culminates in much informed speculation about the likelihood of a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s, teased by rover-captured photos of the red planet’s surface.

The appeal of “Journey to Space,” then, is as much a matter of information as presentation. The images of space — a closeup of sun flares, a shot of a nebula — are impressive as advertised but never feel like the main attraction, and the film overall would be not be much less absorbing in 2D, or on a smaller screen. Patrick Stewart handles the narration duties with practiced gravitas.

Reviewed at California Science Center, Los Angeles, Oct. 27, 2015. Running time: 42 MIN.

• Production: (Documentary) A K2 Films and Giant Screen Films release of a Boeing and Toyota presentation. Produced by Don Kempf, Mark Kresser, Andy Wood. Executive producer, Bob Kresser. Co-producer, Ed Capelle.
• Crew: Directed, written by Mark Krenzien. Camera (color, Imax, 3D), Sean MacLeod Phillips; editor, Dale Beldin; music, Cody Westheimer; art director, Richard Bergeron; sound designer/supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer, Brian Eimer; effects supervisor, Rick Gordon; visual effects supervisor, Mathieu Boucher; visual effects executive producer, Mario Couturier; line producer, Neal Allen; associate producer, Andrew Nethery; 3D conversion, James Manke.
• With: Lindsay Aitchison, Serena Aunon, Chris Ferguson. Narrator: Patrick Stewart.

More from Variety

Dwayne johnson’s ‘the smashing machine’ to release in italy via i wonder pictures as distributor forges closer ties with a24, summer movie season testing 3d cinema’s recoverability, u.s. indie guru ted hope on the benefits of streaming regulation, his admiration for a24, protecting film as culture, da’vine joy randolph joins a24’s rom-com ‘eternity’ with miles teller and elizabeth olsen (exclusive), survey data: do consumers want gen ai in entertainment content, ‘the smashing machine’ first look: dwayne johnson transforms into mma icon mark kerr in benny safdie’s a24 drama, more from our brands, ‘thelma’ introduces the world to june squibb, action hero, christina ricci has hung a $2.2 million price tag on her former los angeles home, nets parent bse global valued at $6 billion as kochs land 15% stake, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, the acolyte recap: mae’s master has entered the chat — but who is he, verify it's you, please log in.

BUY TICKETS

Journey To Space 3D

Rating: nr / running time: 45 min..

August 15, 2021 - December 31, 2024

Showtimes coming soon!

Boldy go where no one has ever gone before.

In the past half century, humans have punched through the stratosphere, walked on the moon, and lived continuously in orbit. In the coming decades, our unquenchable curiosity will take our species beyond the cradle of Earth to touch the face of another world.

NASA’s next era will be its greatest yet. That is the clear “roadmap” painted by Journey To Space . By using extensive interviews with astronauts Chris Ferguson (Commander of the final shuttle mission) and Serena Aunon (a new astronaut chosen for future flights), as well as a brilliant narration by film and television legend Sir Patrick Stewart, Journey To Space gives a sweeping overview of past space accomplishments, current activities and future plans.

Strap in for the next giant leap. Next stop...Mars! 

Documentary Movie Ticket Pricing

Adult * (ages 18-54)  $9.50  

Junior * (3-17)  $8.00

Senior/Military $8.00

* Whitaker Center Members save $2 per ticket

Watch the trailer below!

DON'T MISS OUT

Sign up for our email newsletters and be the first to know about whitaker center events all year long.

AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

Journey to space 3d opens at imax theaters.

A new big-screen film documents the progress of NASA’s next big adventure.

Diane Tedeschi

What does a washing machine have to do with the space shuttle? Nothing, really. But in Journey to Space 3D , a new IMAX movie, the two objects share some unexpected screen time when Endeavour , a space shuttle orbiter, rolls past a laundromat on its way to permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The film, narrated by actor Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame, examines the challenges of sending humans into deep space—specifically a round-trip voyage to Mars—but not before showing lots of love for NASA’s space shuttle program, which ended in 2012.

Watching a shuttle launch was an exhilarating, humbling experience—all thunderous noise and harnessing of explosive energy. Journey to Space features footage from four shuttle launches, filmed at night and during the day. The camera’s point of view makes us feel like we are standing inches away from the shuttle launch stack (orbiter, fuel tank, and two solid-rocket boosters). We see the sustained violent shaking that the vehicle and crew experienced at liftoff. And after the boosters ignite during the final launch of Atlantis , the sudden imbalance of forces acting on the stack causes the orbiter to list slightly—but perceptibly—to one side.

The film seems determined to show off the shuttle’s sculptural beauty, and shots of an orbiter barreling in for a landing at 235 mph and perched atop a 747 during a farewell flight over Washington, D.C. don’t disappoint.

But as cool as the shuttle was, it was never going to get us to Mars. What will get us there is NASA’s Orion, and the second half of the film shows the space agency's new vehicle being tested at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“There is no 911 in space,” says Serena Aunon, an astronaut working on Orion development, of the need for crew self-sufficiency. And there won’t be much privacy either. The living quarters inside Orion are so cramped that the four-person crew making the first trip to Mars will move to Olympus, an inflatable habitat connected to the Orion capsule. There the crew can sleep, exercise, and relax on the six-month, one-way trip.

Journey to Space closes with a computer-generated simulated Mars landing. And when simulation becomes reality, we will have satisfied the long-standing desire to set foot on the Red Planet. “But even that won’t be enough,” says Stewart of humankind’s wanderlust.

He’s right.

Journey to Space 3D opens at the National Air and Space Museum’s Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater on March 6. Tickets are available at the theater box office and online at www.si.edu/imax .

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Diane Tedeschi | READ MORE

Diane Tedeschi is a Senior Associate Editor at Air & Space.

Site Navigation

J2s_patrick_stewart_trailer.mp4, journey to space.

Theaters Home  • FAQ

Showtimes for June 19, 2024

Airbus imax theater national air and space museum’s udvar-hazy center.

Discover how NASA’s shuttle program has led to its exciting new era of space exploration. Learn about the important role of the International Space Station. Uncover what NASA and the space community are working on, and the challenges they face to carry out bold missions such as capturing asteroids and landing astronauts on Mars. Narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Journey to Space

An unveiling of a new era of unprecedented deep space exploration in dramatic giant screen film format. An unveiling of a new era of unprecedented deep space exploration in dramatic giant screen film format. An unveiling of a new era of unprecedented deep space exploration in dramatic giant screen film format.

• Mark Krenzien
• Lindsay Aitchison
• Serena Aunon-Chancellor
• Chris Ferguson
• 6 User reviews
• 6 Critic reviews

• (as Serena Aunon)

• Featured Tourist
• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

User reviews 6

• SnoopyStyle
• May 13, 2020
• How long is Journey to Space? Powered by Alexa
• March 26, 2015 (Denmark)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Google+
• Viaje al espacio. Próxima parada: Marte
• Giant Screen Films
• Liquid Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Atmos

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• Movies & TV
• Featured Categories
• Documentary

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventPriceAccordionT2 .a-price-whole { font-size: 28px !important; } #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventPriceAccordionT2 .a-price-fraction, #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventPriceAccordionT2 .a-price-symbol { top: -0.75em; font-size: 13px; } $20.11 $ 20 . 11 FREE delivery Tuesday, June 25 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select your preferred free shipping option
• Drop off and leave!

Return instructions

Save with used - like new #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventpriceaccordiont2 .a-price-whole { font-size: 28px important; } #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventpriceaccordiont2 .a-price-fraction, #buybox .a-accordion .a-accordion-active .a-price[data-a-size=l].reinventpriceaccordiont2 .a-price-symbol { top: -0.75em; font-size: 13px; } $13.17 $ 13 . 17 free delivery tuesday, june 25 on orders shipped by amazon over $35 ships from: amazon sold by: green 2 green, image unavailable.

• Sorry, this item is not available in
• Image not available
• To view this video download Flash Player

Journey to Space - 4K UHD + 3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray

• Prime Video $4.99 — $15.99
• Blu-ray $9.20

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together.

Customers who bought this item also bought

From the manufacturer

For almost 20 years, Shout! Factory has redefined what it means to be an entertainment company for fans, by fans. Through its beginnings lovingly releasing and reviving beloved cult films and classic TV series, Shout! cultivated an uncanny ability to rediscover great content and applied these skills to producing and distributing fan-driven new releases that set the bar for independent entertainment. Shout! Factory's extensive experience in a diverse array of genres has led to the launch of several well-respected properties, including Shout! Studios, Scream Factory, Mystery Science Theater 3000 , Shout Kids, Shout Select and the streaming service Shout! Factory TV. Capitalizing on both traditional and emerging digital platforms, Shout! Factory is a media company devoted to producing, uncovering, preserving and revitalizing the very best of pop culture.

Product Description

Special Features Include:

-Behind-The-Scenes Footage -4K Photo Gallery -4K Trailers

Just add this one to your collection, even if you don’t yet have 4K capability. For those with 4K, pop it in your player and be amazed. --Home Theater Forum, May 2016 Early adopters will find plenty to amaze themselves (and their friends and relatives) with here since the technical merits are so outstanding. Highly recommended. --Bluray.com, May 2016 Shout! Factory knocked it out of the park with their first 4K disc. Kudos for including three formats (4K, 3D Blu-ray, and 2D Blu-ray) in this set, as well as featuring all of the extras in both 4K and 1080p. While the documentary is interesting for fans of space exploration, the video quality is excellent and the images are spectacular. It gets a very strong recommendation --DVD Talk, May 2016

Product details

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 3.17 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 35375001
• Director ‏ : ‎ Mark Krenzien
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ 4K
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 45 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ June 7, 2016
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
• Producers ‏ : ‎ Andy Wood, Bob Kresser, Don Kempf, Mark Kresser
• Studio ‏ : ‎ SHOUT! FACTORY
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01CH6SA9M
• Writers ‏ : ‎ Mark Krenzien
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
• #90 in Special Interests (Movies & TV)
• #138 in Documentary (Movies & TV)

Customer reviews

Our goal is to make sure every review is trustworthy and useful. That's why we use both technology and human investigators to block fake reviews before customers ever see them.  Learn more

We block Amazon accounts that violate our community guidelines. We also block sellers who buy reviews and take legal actions against parties who provide these reviews.  Learn how to report

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘journey to space’: film review.

A giant-screen tribute to space travel of recent vintage and programs targeting the next frontier, Mars.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

A timely companion piece to box-office champ The Martian , Mark Krenzien’s inspirational capsule history of recent space travel could easily serve as a recruitment tool for future missions. Looking back fondly at the U.S. shuttle program, and ahead to red-planet exploration, the film celebrates rocket science as an expression of basic human curiosity, not to mention ingenuity.

In part because it lacks the sustained sensory immersion that makes many nature-themed Imax films transporting,  Journey to Space 3D never quite achieves liftoff. Still, its info and images offer plenty to wow family audiences, budding scientists especially. (For a multimedia educational experience, the film is paired with a hands-on exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.)

Related Stories

Hollywood reporter critics pick the 10 best films of 2024 so far, global citizen music festival's lineup includes post malone, doja cat, jelly roll and more.

Combining well-chosen archival footage with new material shot by Sean MacLeod Phillips, Krenzien effectively uses the giant screen to convey the power and intensity of NASA launch pads and space crafts. Glimpses of Hubble telescope imagery fill the screen with abstract beauty, but mainly the skyward-gazing film keeps its feet firmly on the ground, even as Patrick Stewart — aka Star Trek ’s Captain Picard — intones the grandiose voiceover narration. While the verbiage insists on the glory and importance of ventures beyond Earth, the film is most intriguing when it examines the nuts-and-bolts challenges of space travel.

Offering more prosaic commentary than Stewart are three NASA employees who serve as onscreen guides. Former shuttle astronaut Chris Ferguson is the emblematic bridge between missions past and present. He gazes nostalgically at the Atlantis, now on display at the Kennedy Space Center, and visits the work-in-progress Orion, a craft designed for the kind of long-duration trips into deep space that have so far taken place only in science fiction. Diagrams and animation helpfully illustrate the Orion’s innovations, which include a believe-it-or-not inflatable habitat. 

Serena Aunon, a new-generation astronaut, takes part in training exercises underwater and in desert settings. (Separately, a simulator lab strikingly conjures the Martian surface.) The third featured NASA employee, Lindsay Aitchison, has the captivating job title of space-suit engineer, and some of the film’s most playful sequences relate to her work.

Also, in the vein of levity — weightlessness, to be exact — Krenzien uses footage of International Space Station astronauts, set to Three Dog Night’s “Shambala,” to bright effect. As space travel increasingly becomes the work of a consortium of governments and private enterprise, the international crews’ cross-cultural mischief taps into the spirit of cooperation. It also captures an infectious sense of joy.

If the film’s mix of factoids and poetic longing can sometimes feel clunky, Journey to Space finds a smart balance between idealism and pragmatism, acknowledging dangers and past disasters while contemplating the technological breakthroughs that make sci-fi dreams come true.

Narrator: Patrick Stewart Featuring: Lindsay Aitchison, Serena Aunon, Chris Ferguson Production companies: K2 Films, Giant Screen Films Director: Mark Krenzien Screenwriter: Mark Krenzien Producers: Don Kempf, Mark Kresser, Andy Wood Executive producer: Bob Kresser  Director of photography/stereographer: Sean MacLeod Phillips Editor: Dale Beldin  Composer: Cody Westheimer

Not rated, 41 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Eddie murphy on filming ‘beverly hills cop: axel f’ at 63: “i would rather not do any stunts”, jussie smollett debuts new feature, denzel washington hints at break from acting at american black film festival, ben affleck and matt damon to star in crime thriller ‘rip’, anthea sylbert, ‘rosemary’s baby,’ ‘chinatown’ and ‘carnal knowledge’ costume designer, dies at 84, jodie comer on creating her contradictory ‘the bikeriders’ accent and that ‘furiosa’ call , richard linklater’s ‘blue moon’ lands at sony pictures classics.

Journey to Space 3D 2015

Releases  .

Blu-ray reviews

Similar titles suggested by members

SUBSCRIBE : | NEWSLETTER

Advanced Search

• Digital Evolution
• Product News
• TK's Take
• Mike's Picks
• Steph Sums It Up
• Tribbey's Tales
• Agent DVD Insider
• Skinny Burrito
• Erik's Spin
• Stepping Out
• Executive Travel
• Editor Columns Archive
• Screening Room
• Shop DVDs & Blu-ray
• Home Media Magazine Awards
• Upcoming Industry Events
• Our Mission
• Editorial Calendar
• Contact Information
• About Home Media Magazine

Journey to Space (3D Blu-ray Review)

Street 6/7/16 Shout! Factory Documentary $39.93 4K/3D Blu-ray combo, $19.99 Blu-ray Not rated. Narrated by Patrick Stewart.

Imax movies about space travel tend to follow a formula of providing inspirational imagery alongside larger-than-life shots designed to take advantage of the large-screen format, and Journey to Space is no different.

Pairing new scenes alongside footage from earlier Imax efforts, the film reflects on the Space Shuttle program in its final days while looking ahead to future space adventures on the International Space Station and Mars. Though “Star Trek” icon Patrick Stewart is the headline narrator, most of the voiceovers come from a handful of astronauts and other NASA personnel, who provide some interesting insight into what it’s like to prepare for these missions and some of the technical challenges involved.

Given the mixture of footage involved, the filmmakers used a few editing techniques to blend everything together, including some fun CGI to illustrate various missions and spacecraft, such as the Orion capsule.

Running 45 minutes, Journey to Space is a fun primer for space enthusiasts on the current state of America’s space program, especially for those viewers who might not have seen it at the handful of museum Imax exhibitions where it has been screening. There are a lot of fascinating tidbits about future space technologies, such as inflatable space habitats, that might surprise viewers used to seeing Hollywood’s depiction of spaceflight. A major one is a spacesuit that docks with a Mars rover in a way to prevent possibly toxic alien dust from entering the habitat, which certainly casts a new light on movies such as The Martian in which the astronauts wear their suits inside all the time (not that they get their suits covered in Mars dust anyway).

In some cases, which is typical for Imax transfers to home video, the footage is displayed in smaller windows within a larger backdrop, instead of the film being recomposited to fill a home theater screen. The Blu-ray includes a short featurette about the conversion of the film to the 4K and 3D formats, which explains that some of the video isn’t blown up to fill the entire screen because of the limits of upconverting the original footage.

The 3D effects aren’t very pronounced through most of the film, though the depth is most effective in some of the native Imax POV scenes.

The combo pack includes one disc with a 4K Ultra HD version of the movie, and another disc with 3D and 2D viewing options.  

About the Author: John Latchem

• About John Latchem
• Articles by John Latchem

Sign up for Home Media Magazine's Daily newsletter.

• Upcoming Shows
• Subscribe/Renew
• Newsletter Archive

© 2016 Questex LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. For technical difficulties plesae contact the webmaster . | | Contact us | Site Feedback

James Webb Space Telescope time travels billions of years in amazing 3D visualization (video)

The first data release from the CEERS survey features a region known as the Extended Groth Strip and sends viewers back to shortly after the Big Bang.

A new 3D visualization from the James Webb Space Telescope takes viewers on a journey back in time to just after the Big Bang. 

In the video, over 5,000 galaxies can be seen in gorgeous full color and three dimensions. The cosmic journey begins with relatively nearby galaxies located within a few billion light-years of Earth and concludes at Maisie's Galaxy, which at 13.4 billion light-years from Earth is one of the most distant galaxies ever observed by humanity and is seen as it was just around 390 million years after the Big Bang .

As such, this new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) video doesn't just represent a journey through space but also a trip back through time, rewinding cosmic evolution back to a period when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was under a third of its current age. 

Related: James Webb Space Telescope spots violent collision between neutron stars

The video is the result of data collected by the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS) and explores a region of space called the Extended Groth Strip. The Extended Groth Strip is located between the constellations of Ursa Major and Boötes and contains around 100,000 galaxies. It was extensively imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2005, and the new observations by the JWST build on the groundwork laid by Hubble .

Of particular interest to astronomers in this visualization is Maisie's Galaxy, serving as an example of the kind of early galaxy that the JWST is capable of studying. The powerful space telescope does this by observing the universe in infrared.

This is useful because as light from early galaxies travels billions of years to reach us, the expansion and the universe and the fact that it loses energy causes its wavelength to "stretch." This results in electromagnetic radiation that left the galaxies shortly after the Big Bang as optical light being " redshifted " down the electromagnetic spectrum past the red end of the visible light spectrum to infrared. The longer the light has traveled, the more extreme the redshift it experiences, making infrared the best way to see early galaxies. 

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

"This observatory just opens up this entire period of time for us to study," Rochester Institute of Technology researcher and CEERS investigator Rebecca Larson said in a statement . "We couldn't study galaxies like Maisie's before because we couldn't see them. Now, not only are we able to find them in our images, we're able to find out what they're made of and if they differ from the galaxies that we see close by."

 —  Saturn's rings look gorgeous in 1st James Webb Space Telescope photo of the gas giant

 — James Webb Space Telescope spots violent collision between neutron stars

 —  James Webb Space Telescope detects most distant active supermassive black hole ever seen

The goal of investigations using the CEERS data will be to learn more about the formation of early galaxies. 

"We're used to thinking of galaxies as smoothly growing," Finkelstein concluded. "But maybe these stars are forming like firecrackers. Are these galaxies forming more stars than expected? Are the stars they're making more massive than we expect? These data have given us the information to ask these questions. Now, we need more data to get those answers."

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

Ed Stone, who led NASA's iconic Voyager project for 50 years, dies at 88

NASA funds tech development for life-hunting Habitable Worlds Observatory

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover enters new Red Planet territory: 'Bright Angel'

• tcallaha I think you mean “less than 3% of its current age”, not “less than a third of its current age”. 390/13,800=0.02826 Reply
• View All 1 Comment

Most Popular

• 2 The unexpected behavior of pulsing stars could help us measure the universe
• 3 Join the FAA's virtual public meeting about SpaceX's Starship this evening
• 4 Shine on, Starliner! Aurora glows green as astronauts test spacecraft ahead of return to Earth June 22 (image, video)
• 5 NASA moon orbiter spots Chinese lander on lunar far side (photo)

Welcome to ViewSpace

Hero interactive.

Explore the Universe with Interactives and Videos

About ViewSpace

What is viewspace.

ViewSpace is a free, web-based collection of digital interactives and videos highlighting the latest developments in astronomy and Earth science.

ViewSpace gives you the opportunity to explore our planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe. Provided free with the support of NASA, ViewSpace is developed by a team of scientists, educators, and communication specialists who collaborate to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, engaging, relevant, and accessible to a wide audience.

Interactives

ViewSpace interactives allow you to explore objects and materials from different perspectives, discovering how we can combine information to better understand the universe.

Different forms of light: Explore visible and invisible wavelengths of light that help us understand features like the dusty brim of the Sombrero Galaxy roughly 30 million light-years away.

Hidden objects: Unveil invisible light to reveal hidden objects like the stars forming inside Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust 7,500 light-years from Earth.

ViewSpace videos tell the stories of the planets, stars, galaxies, and universe, giving viewers the opportunity to experience space and Earth as seen with satellites and telescopes.

Astronomy: Explore the sky with stories told through spectacular imagery from space telescopes.

Earth science: Gain new perspectives on our home planet based on data gathered by Earth-orbiting satellites.

ViewSpace is produced by the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute , in partnership with the NASA's Universe of Learning project and NASA's Earth Observing System, Hubble Space Telescope Project, and James Webb Space Telescope Project.

ViewSpace has been exhibited in museums, planetariums, and science centers across the country since 2000.

What Will You Explore?

The Latest Discoveries in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Recent Natural Events and Satellite Views of Earth

In-depth Stories of How Science and the Universe Work

Stunning Imagery and Accessible Explanations

Sample Images from ViewSpace

What objects and materials make up the universe, and how do we study the invisible as well as the visible?

Data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory are used to create a map of dark matter (blue) in galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745.

What are galaxies; how do they vary; and how do they form, interact, and change over time?

The Penguin and the Egg (Arp 142) is a pair of galaxies that are being distorted by their mutual gravitational attraction.

How do the Sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids interact as a system?

Saturn’s moon Titan casts a shadow as it passes between the planet and the Sun.

How do telescopes help us better understand the objects and materials that light up the sky?

With telescopes, we can see details of the Milky Way, including glowing clouds of dust and gas like the Lobster Nebula.

How fast is the universe expanding and what does this tell us about its past and future?

Over time, space expands, stretching the wavelenghts of light and causing the distant galaxies seen in the Ultra Deep Field image from the Hubble Space Telescope to look redder than the closer galaxies.

How do we detect and study planets orbiting other stars?

Changes in the brightness of starlight, measured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, indicates the presence of a planet orbiting the star.

What happens to stars at the end of their lives, and how do stellar explosions affect the space around them?

Visible, infrared, and X-ray light from supernova remnant Cassiopeia A reveal remains of an exploded star.

How can we use interactions between light and matter to probe the deep universe?

The enormous mass of galaxy cluster Abell 370 bends the space around it, magnifying and distorting the light from more distant galaxies into arc-like streaks.

How are astronomers combining data from space and ground-based telescopes, particle detectors, and gravitational wave detectors to understand cosmic objects, processes, and events?

An artist’s illustration depicts the detection of neutrino particles and gamma rays emitted by a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy.

How and where do stars form, and how do they shape their surroundings?

Pillars of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are sculpted and illuminated by stellar winds and high-energy radiation of bright stars.

How can we use satellites to map, study, and monitor Earth’s land surface, oceans, and atmosphere?

An image captured by the Landsat 8 satellite in May 2018 shows active lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.

What evidence supports our theories of how the universe formed and how it has evolved over time?

A map of the sky from the Planck Space Telescope highlights variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation—energy left over from the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago.

What tools and methods do scientists use to study Earth and space?

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) helps scientists monitor droughts, predict floods, and improve farm productivity.

Is Earth unique? Are we alone?

Observations from space telescopes have revealed thousands of exoplanets of different of sizes, compositions, temperatures, and atmospheres, including seven rocky Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, 40 light-years from Earth (artist’s illustration).

Where Is ViewSpace?

ViewSpace videos are on exhibit at museums, science centers, and planetariums across the country.

ViewSpace interactives are available online.

Use the map to find a ViewSpace video location near you.

Location Spotlight

Worcester, Massachusetts

Westcave Preserve

Round Mountain, Texas

Lowell Observatory

Flagstaff, Arizona

Maryland Science Center

Baltimore, Maryland

Edelman Planetarium at Rowan University

Glassboro, New Jersey

Clark Planetarium

Salt Lake City, Utah

Becoming a ViewSpace Venue

ViewSpace provides informal learning sites with engaging, accurate, relevant, and up-to-date astronomy and Earth science content. Access to ViewSpace is free, requiring only registration, a computer or Smart TV, and persistent internet access. ViewSpace content is self-updating and videos can be set to play automatically, requiring minimal staff effort to maintain.

Join hundreds of others in featuring ViewSpace as part of your exhibits.

Who Produces and Supports ViewSpace?

ViewSpace is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and is provided free of charge through financial support and subject matter expertise from the NASA’s Universe of Learning project, NASA’s Earth Observing System Project Science Office, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Project, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Project.

Funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, NASA’s Universe of Learning is an integrated astrophysics STEM learning and literacy project developed through a partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.

NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of satellites designed to observe Earth’s land, atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere. As part of the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the EOS Project Science Office (EOSPSO) is committed to sharing information with both researchers and the general public.

The Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope are two of NASA’s flagship missions designed to explore and advance our understanding of the universe. The missions’ communications programs are dedicated to sharing scientific advances and making the world’s astronomical information accessible to all.

Space in 3D

The space tracker you can take anywhere. Track noteworthy space objects in your browser in a 3D simulation of the solar system

A Curated Live-Tracking Web App

Asteroid 1994 pc1.

Comet Leonard

Asteroid Apophis

Thinking of space like us?

Tell us what tracker you would like to see

Latest space

Don’t Miss Our Interesting News & Articles

Where is comet halley live* tracker, where is 1994 pc1 live* tracker, where is the webb telescope - live* tracker, where is comet leonard live* tracker.