:27:00
It weighs 500 billion tons.
:27:04
Now, chances are...
:27:07
Astrophysicists, geologists
and climatologists.
:27:10
Where the hell
is Science?
:27:11
Check with Tokyo, Tel Aviv.
I want everybody.
:27:14
The Hale-Bopp stand-ups.
:27:16
Graphics!
I need graphics!
:27:18
President Beck: Comets begin
far out in space.
:27:21
They're what's left over
:27:22
from the creation
of the solar system
:27:24
after the planets were formed
billions of years ago.
:27:27
These chunks
of space debris
:27:29
are in an elongated orbit
around our sun,
:27:32
but every now and then
:27:33
one of them gets bumped
:27:34
like a billiard ball
on a pool table
:27:37
and is knocked
into a different orbit.
:27:39
If this comet continues
on its path around the sun
:27:42
and keeps
its present course,
:27:44
sometime on August 16,
roughly a year from now,
:27:47
there's a chance
that we might have impact.
:27:49
So for the past 8 months,
the United States and Russia
:27:54
have been building the largest
spaceship ever constructed.
:27:58
It's being built in orbit
around the Earth.
:28:01
And we call it the Messiah.
:28:03
Right now a team of American
astronauts and one Russian
:28:06
are at Cape Canaveral
in Florida.
:28:08
In 2 months, they will leave
on the shuttle Atlantis
:28:12
to board the Messiah.
:28:13
This is the crew
that will stop the comet.
:28:17
I'd like the world to meet
some extraordinary people.
:28:21
First is Mission Commander
Oren Monash.
:28:23
Commander, would you introduce
us to your team?
:28:26
I'd be honoured, sir.
:28:28
Pilot Andrea Baker.
:28:30
Medical Officer
:28:31
Gus Partenza.
:28:33
From Russia,
nuclear specialist
:28:35
Colonel Mikhail
Tulchinsky.
:28:38
Navigator
Mark Simon
:28:39
and Rendezvous Pilot
Spurgeon Tanner.
:28:42
Hello,
Mr President.
:28:45
Captain Tanner,
you flew 6 shuttle missions.
:28:48
You were the last man to walk
on the moon, weren't you?
:28:51
Yes, sir,
:28:52
but Oren here
will be doing
:28:53
most of the flying
on this one.
:28:54
I'll just
be taking us down
:28:55
to the comet's
surface.
:28:57
Well, it's good to know
we're going to have
:28:59
your kind of experience
up there, Captain.