''Return to Space'' is an American documentary film made for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and directed by

Jimmy Chin Jimmy Chin (born ) is an American professional mountain athlete, photographer, film director, and author. Chin has been a professional climber and skier on The North Face Athlete team for over 20 years. In 2006, Chin achieved the first succes ...

and

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (; born ) is an American documentary filmmaker. She was the director, along with her husband, Jimmy Chin, for the film ''Free Solo'', which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film profiled Alex H ...

. Its story follows

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

's and

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

engineers' two-decade mission to send

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

astronauts back to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

and revolutionize space travel. The film was released on April 7, 2022.

Synopsis

The film tells a story of SpaceX from their

Falcon 1 Falcon 1 was a small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately-developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to go into orbit ...

and re-usable

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...

to the

Crew Dragon Demo-2 Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Demonstration Mission-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named '' Endeavour'', launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 booster, and carr ...

, launched on 30 May 2020 with

Doug Hurley Douglas Gerald Hurley (born October 21, 1966) is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot and former NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-127 (July 2009) and STS-135 (July 2011), the final flight of the Space Shuttle progr ...

and

Bob Behnken Robert Louis Behnken (; born July 28, 1970, in St. Ann, Missouri) is a NASA astronaut, engineer, and former Chief of the Astronaut Office. Behnken holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering and the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force, where he se ...

aboard.

Featuring

, founder of SpaceX *

, astronaut *

Jim Bridenstine James Frederick Bridenstine (born June 15, 1975) is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bridenstine was the United States representative fo ...

, head of NASA * Tim Dodd of ''Everyday Astronaut'' * Kiko Dontchev of SpaceX *

Lori Garver Lori Beth Garver (born May 22, 1961, in Lansing, Michigan) is a former Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was nominated on May 24, 2009, by President Barack Obama, along with Charles Bolden as ...

, Deputy Administrator of NASA *

Hans Koenigsmann Hans-Jörg Koenigsmann (born 1963) is a German aerospace engineer who was ''Vice President of Flight Reliability'' for SpaceX until his retirement in 2021. Education and career Hans Koenigsmann obtained his aerospace engineering diploma at t ...

, Chief Engineer of SpaceX *

Gwynne Shotwell Gwynne Shotwell ( Rowley; born November 23, 1963) is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible for day-to-day operation ...

, COO of SpaceX *

Lars Blackmore Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was born ...

, Chief of Entry, Descent and Landing of SpaceX *

Karen Nyberg Karen LuJean Nyberg (born October 7, 1969) is an American mechanical engineer and retired NASA astronaut. Nyberg became the 50th woman in space on her first mission in 2008. Nyberg started her space career in 1991 and spent a total of 180 days ...

, astronaut and wife of Doug Hurley *

Megan McArthur Katherine Megan McArthur (born August 30, 1971) is an American oceanographer, engineer, and NASA astronaut. She has served as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). Megan McArthur has fl ...

, astronaut, member of

SpaceX Crew-2 SpaceX Crew-2 was the second operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission was launched on 23 April 2021 at 09:49:02 UTC, and docked to the Internationa ...

mission, wife of Bob Behnken * Balachandar Ramamurthy of SpaceX *

Anna Menon Anna Menon is an American engineer scheduled to fly on Polaris Dawn, a private space mission. Menon worked for NASA for seven years before joining SpaceX, where she works as a lead engineer of space operations. Education Menon earned a Bachelo ...

of SpaceX

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. IndieWire called it an "Exasperating 2-Hour Commercial for Elon Musk"; a ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'' review, meanwhile, points that the film "chronicles the company’s unlikely rise, but it avoids talking about its shortcomings". The review by ''Decider'' was more favourable, saying: "While a large part of ''Return to Space'' plays like a SpaceX promotional video, the meaningful way the film tells the story of a group of hopeful dreamers makes it more than worth your while." The review by Joe Morgenstern on the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' was also favourable while noting the promotional tone, writing: "In fact, it promotes the company quite effectively, and why not? Elon Musk’s aerospace venture has achieved remarkable things since it was founded two decades ago. The film is more than that, though. It’s a return to dramatic accounts of blastoffs, followed by soul-filling footage from beyond our sheltering atmosphere and implacable gravity; a portrait, by reflected light from fiery boosters, of one of Earth’s most curious (in every respect) overachievers; and a testament to failing upward—far, far upward."

References

External links

* *
''Return to Space''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

{{SpaceX 2022 documentary films 2022 films American documentary films Elon Musk Films about space programs Netflix original documentary films Films directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Films directed by Jimmy Chin Films scored by Mychael Danna Films scored by Harry Gregson-Williams 2020s English-language films 2020s American films