ERIC PARREN

ERIC PARREN 2008-2024
FINAL FLIGHT OF THE SPACE SHUTTLES

Final Flight of the Space Shuttles is a live cinema performance about the last space shuttle missions to the International Space Station: STS-134 Endeavour and STS-135 Atlantis. It uses original audio and video from NASA's official Space Shuttle Audio Collection and the Kennedy Space Center Media Archive. The performance is a homage to the scientists and engineers who have worked on space shuttle missions and it commemorates the 135 attempted and successful Space Transportation System missions. In the performance, sound and visuals are manipulated in realtime through a custom developed live audiovisual system. The performance builds from a simple speech sample and a straightforward image to a wall of sound combined with a disorienting visual mashup. This mimics the astronaut's experience of being launched into a space. In the end, we part ways with the shuttles as they floats through space approaching the International Space Station.