F9, the latest installment of Fast and Furious, takes the action to outer space. The film ends with series regulars Roman (Tyrese) and Tej Parker(Ludacris). They have to disable a satellite. This is accomplished byand there's no other way to say it. They strap rocket engines onto a modified Pontiac Fiero, and then crash it into the satellite. The movie is a classic tale of courage, pluck and mid-engine sports cars from the 1980s.AdvertisementWe discussed the sequence with Michael Massimino (a former NASA astronaut who flew two spaceflights in order to study the Hubble Space Telescope). He is also the co-host of the 2 Funny Astronauts podcast. He insists that space movies can be scientifically incorrect as long as they look cool.AdvertisementAdvertisementSubscribe to the Slate Culture newsletter and receive the best movies, TV, books, music, etc. directly to your inbox. Signing you up was not possible due to an error Please try again. To use this form, please enable jаvascript. Email address: I would like to receive updates on Slate special offers. You agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms by signing up. Thank you for signing up! You can cancel your subscription at any time.Matthew Dessem says: Let's talk about this spaceship. It's a Pontiac Fiero with a lot of modifications. What modifications would it take to make a stock car capable of spaceflight, and what do you need to do?Michael Massimino : It would need to protected. Elon Musk has launched a car.It was correct, but he launched the payload as though it were inside of the ship.AdvertisementHe did.They are not actually launching the car. They strapped booster rockets to it, and the car was launched into orbit. Although it doesn't look like a Fiero, that is clearly the base. It doesn't seem like it could support a rocket attached to its side without breaking apart structurally.Most likely not. It would have to be capable of taking G forces. For example, all launches of the Space Shuttle were capable of taking up to three Gs. It would have to be able take whatever G forces are associated with the ride. It also needs to be able take vibrations, which can cause a lot of shaking. This is what you should be concerned about when your rocket launches. You need to be aware of vibration, thrust, and G forces. Because the atmosphere is where you get most of your turbulence, a lot of it is problematic. You're shaking around, you're fighting gravity on Earth, and youre moving through the atmosphere.AdvertisementAdvertisementAll these things are possible once the object is in orbit. You need oxygen, and atmosphere. Heat rejection is also necessary because direct sunlight can reach you at temperatures of a few hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It's a few hundred degrees below zero when you go into darkness. It is a wide temperature range. You can also build up heat in closed environments like those for pressure. It is important to have a way of absorbing heat and radiating it.They don't have space suits so they are wearing what looks like deep-sea dive suits. However, these suits are not made of brass but appear to be rubber. What concerns would you have if you built a pressure suit or space suit from scratch?AdvertisementPeople think that oxygen is what we need. For example, spacewalking required some pressure. We had lower pressure in our spacesuits. At sea level, we were at 14.7 PSI (pounds per square inch). It is called one atmosphere. We also had 14.7 PSI on the Space Station and the Space Shuttle, just like on Earth. We were wearing space suits when we went to spacewalk, but not in the spaceship. This was a lower pressure of 4.3 PSI. It is not advisable to go lower than this. What would I be most concerned about? Can this space suit provide enough pressure?AdvertisementAdvertisementYou will also need to remove carbon dioxide. You also need to maintain a comfortable temperature. Spacesuits can become very hot or cold so temperature control is essential. These are the essential things you'd want.One way they can get around the stress of the initial launch is to launch it on the back of cargo planes. The rockets fire in midair, and the craft then goes into orbit. This kind of mid-air launch could allow you to reach an exact orbit.Yes. Yes. Richard Branson's rocket ship works in a similar way. It launches from a mothership, then it is dropped, and can land on a runway again. You can fly wherever you want to with a similar device. This gives you the ability to fly into any orbit or inclination around the planet.AdvertisementYou see. This flexibility is possible because you can launch from any location, not just from a rocket launch facility.AdvertisementIt is not where the runway is. It's where your plane is pointed. You are observing the Earth's rotation. You can place stuff in a precise orbit depending on the runway. This is all related. However, an airplane allows you more freedom if you aren't restricted to one airport. With an airplane, you can sort of go in the right direction.Okay, so they plan to disable satellites. They have a powerful electromagnet mounted to the front of the thing. Then they will fry the electronics. Is there a way to disable your own systems while doing this?AdvertisementI don't know. You are concerned about electromagnetic interference. However, I don't know if it would work.It doesn't work in the movie. They end up smashing the car into the satellite.It will work. This thing will work.Let me clarify. We were concerned about space debris, about getting into things. While no one intended to cause us any harm, it could be very dangerous to run into anything while you are in orbit. We travel 17,500 miles per hour. You can do a lot of damage if you hit something fast in your car going 25 miles per hour. Imagine driving 17,500 miles per hour. If you hit a speck, it's a sign that youre in trouble.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRoman and Tej survived the crash. They are still in orbit.The car. I was curious about the type of insurance that they had.It didn't matter what it was, I'm sure it was a total. They kind of glossed over their plans to re-enter.That's the problem.The screenwriters came up with an excellent solution. It's like, there was a plan to return to Earth, but they didn't want to discuss it. Instead, they coast to a station in space. What protocol would you use if someone unexpectedly showed up like this?That's not possible. It is very difficult to reach that point. Once you are in orbit, your altitude can be adjusted up or down. You can speed up and go to a higher orbit. You can also go slower and reach a lower orbit. That's actually how we return home. We fire our engine into the velocity channel, which slows down you and lowers your orbit. The atmosphere is then picked up, which slows you down and lowers your orbit. That's how you land. This is how you re-enter. It is very difficult to turn left or right. It is almost impossible to change your direction or to move to another inclination when you are moving so fast.AdvertisementAdvertisementThey claim that they burned so much fuel to crash into the satellite they couldn't land. They would only need to slow down for landing.To change your path, you need more energy. Our inclination is never changed. Your altitude can be changed. This is done in every mission. Once you are in orbit, you will then go to a higher orbit and return to the lower orbit. It is always in the same orbital inclination, so you won't make any lefts and right. This would require that the thing be in the same orientation. Unannounced appearances are so unlikely that we don't have a procedure. What happens if an alien arrives? It's unlikely that this will happen, but it is possible.AdvertisementHowever, I have a general question about the door.How do you get in? That would be the trick.Is it possible? Is it possible for airlocks like those on such things to attach only to the standard docking ports? Is there a way outsider could get into an airlock?AdvertisementYou mean, how do they get in there? You can either walk in or attach a spaceship to it.They wave at the space station from outside the Pontiac Fiero. Then they appear on Earth.In that case, they would need to be able to open the outer airlock hatch from outside. This is usually not possible.These doors don't usually have manual handles.AdvertisementIt was not an option on our hatch. It was not possible to open the hatch from the outside. You don't want to be bothered and not be able get in or out so you won't lock the door behind your back. The door would be opened from the inside and closed from the outside. It was possible that there was a handle on each side. We most likely did so on the inner hatch.Are there any oxygen or food problems caused by having two guests uninvited on a space station?It would be possible. You would get by. We would have been stuck in orbit and not be able to return to Hubble. I did not know this until I returned to Earth. Then we would run out of cryogenic fuelliquid oxygen and hydrogen. That would have meant that you could not generate power. Your ventilation fans would also stop. This would make it impossible to scrub the CO2. The CO2 poisoning would eventually lead to you going to sleep and never waking up. This is probably how we would have died. You would need to ensure that you had enough water, food, air, and power. However, a space station is usually powered by solar panels so power is not an issue. You would need to ensure you have enough air. You could end up with a problem if you start to consume too much oxygen due to the increased number of people in your home. It's not a major problem. They are fine for a while, I believe. They would need to be brought home.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe other thing is that you don't have to deadhead on the extra seats for missions back to Earth.That would require you to think of a way. We are usually quite creative when it comes down to saving lives. If such an event occurred, we would find a way to bring them home. It was absurd, so we didn't worry about it.Are there any things you missed about space? Or are there activities you wish you had done while up there, but didn't get around to doing?It's a lot that I miss. It's hard to imagine going to space. NASA was a wonderful place to work. This job was, and will always be, the most fascinating job I have ever held. Yes. Yes, I do.Would you be willing and able to travel back to space in a Pontiac Fiero and a diving suit?That would be interesting to me.
