"Among the Stars" Behind the Scenes Fun Facts with Executive Producer Ben Turner

Today, all six parts of the new docuseries Among the Stars landed on Disney+. Following NASA astronaut Captain Chris Cassidy, the show takes viewers into space for an experience that our reviewer Bill says you will “love every single minute of “

To mark the series’ premiere, executive producer Ben Turner shared some fun facts, insights, and behind the scenes tidbits about the program:

“Most space films shoot the world perfectly, we tried to use a more verité feel both in the shooting and how we edited the footage to give our audience a sense of really being there with our astronauts. Sometimes that was just leaving the shots longer, sometimes using the strange movement of the camera at zero g.”
“During the spacewalks NASA allowed us to rig cameras in some of the back rooms that have never been seen before. It gives an amazing insight into the way the spacewalk works and the tension that builds as they problem solve.”

“In Among The Stars we documented a changing of the guard on the astronaut front since Chris retired and we saw a new wave of astronauts in the ISS.”
“The series was shot all around the world – there was a crew in Houston at the Johnson Space Centre, in Tskuba Japan with Chris, at Cern, Geneva with Ting’s team, Boston with Chris’s family and of course in space. We also shot in Cologne Germany at the European Space Agency, in Star City Russia, Baikonur Kazakhstan, Aachen Germany. The show is a fully global show.”
“We applied the sports access documentary model to NASA. We really focused on the characters of NASA, focusing on Captain Chris Cassidy, and the series unfolds like a drama to give a 360 degree view of a NASA mission.”
“Because of the pandemic obtaining footage was a bit of a challenge, but it resulted in hours of self-shot footage that is incredibly intimate and personal. It gives the show a different register to any other in this sphere.”

Among the Stars is now streaming on Disney+.