'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Showing Onboard the ISS, NASA Confirms
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is showing to theaters everywhere this week, and astronauts aboard the International Space Station are not about to miss out. NASA and Disney both confirm that the off-world premiere will be happening in low Earth orbit.
It could be the most immersive way of experiencing the new "Star Wars" movie as anyone can have, surrounded by stars and spacecraft equipment. Spaceflight reporter Robin Seemangal was first to report via Twitter on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
"I received confirmation from Disney and NASA sources that the crew aboard the International Space Station will be screening Star Wars: The Last Jedi. More details soon," he posted on his Twitter account earlier this week.
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The report was later supported by a reply that Inverse received from NASA. The agency's Public Affairs Officer Dan Huot said that the astronauts and the ISS do have the capability to run a showing onboard.
"[I] can confirm the crew will be able to watch it on orbit," Huot said. "Don't have a definitive timeline yet. They typically get movies as digital files and can play them back on a laptop or a standard projector that is currently aboard," he added.
Small digital files or even a communications link might be enough to bring small video clips or video messaging to the International Space Station, but that might not be good enough to get the full "Star Wars" experience.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule is due to dock with the station this Friday, Dec. 15, an important event that marks the first fully recycled spacecraft to be used by SpaceX, as well as the 13th resupply mission for the space station.
This historic launch could be a good way to bring Blu-ray discs of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" to the crew of the ISS so that they can watch in full 4K resolution the movie fans and critics have been raving about.
