Civics at the Movies: NASA and Hollywood

We're launching a new series called Civics at the Movies, where we'll talk about the fun we have (and the inaccuracies we count!) when government and civics appear on screen...from All The President's Men to Veep to...don't even get us started.

For our inaugural edition, we're talking about NASA and Hollywood. Why does the agency in charge of science and technology relating to air and space have such a close relationship with the movie industry? And is it true that NASA scientist sometimes get inspiration from science fiction when they invent new gadgets?

We turned to NASA's Chief Scientist James Green to find out.

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This episode was produced by Jacqui Fulton and features music by AnimalWeapon, Chris Zabriskie, Uncanny Valleys, Nangdo, Sci Fi Industries, Ansia Orchestra, Blue Dot Sessions, and Karl Casey.

(Note: Nangdo's work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License)

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To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.

Release date

Lydbog: 9. december 2021