Disclaimer:  As a Great Lakes Science Center member, my family and I received free admission to see the premiere of Amazon Studios “Good Night Oppy”.  As always, all opinions are my own.  I am also a contributing writer to the GLSC Curiosity Corner.

Since we are members at the Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC), my family and I had the opportunity to see the premiere of Amazon Studios “Good Night Oppy” this month. Our membership has allowed for us to receive invitations to fun special events like this one as well as discounts on camps, discounted parking rates, savings at the store and cafe, and more! I highly recommend it. If you are interested in a membership, be sure to check out the great discounts on memberships that the GLSC will have available November 24 – 28. This movie will be available on Amazon Prime starting November 23, 2022!

What is this movie about?

It is a documentary of an inspiring true story about NASA’s two ‘twin’ rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, that were sent to Mars on a 90 day mission in 2003. Spirit lasted 6 years, 2 months and 19 days while Opportunity lasted more than 15 years! This movie really portrays the remarkable connection and bond that formed between the humans (engineers and scientists) and the rovers.

What did you enjoy most about the movie?

My family and I loved so many great parts from this movie. As a mom of two girls and a female engineer, I loved that the movie shared inspirational stories on how and why each of engineers and scientists found their love for space exploration, especially the women. Those kinds of stories were few and far between when I was growing up and even more so in generations of women before.

My family especially loved listening to senior Mechanical Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Kobie Boykins. His personality was so fun and his passion for this project was so addicting to watch. We also loved Abigail Fraeman’s story. She was a junior in high school when both rovers launched. She won a contest to be in the room with engineers and scientists at NASA JPL when the Mars Exploration Rovers first reached Mars (there is video of this in the movie!). It inspired her to pursue her career path in planetary science and she is now a Deputy Project Scientist at NASA. Equally inspirational was Jennifer Harris Trosper’s story. Her father worked in the Army Corps of Engineers and told her stories of rocket launches that excited her.

My children loved watching how the engineers and scientists worked together as a team and also how they added some fun and light heartedness daily to their challenging jobs. The graphics and images portrayed in this movie are truly incredible. It made the technical parts of this movie easy for young and old to understand.

Is this movie good for children?

Absolutely. I would say that it would be good for children 5 and older, but best for children 7 and older. I personally will watch this movie again once it is available on Amazon Prime! My oldest child, who loves space and space exploration, really loved it and can’t wait to watch it again!  She loved learning about how the rovers were made, how math and science are used, and also how difficult some of the challenges were that the scientists and engineers faced. Both my children enjoyed learning about how the rovers and humans communicated with one another back and forth. There were certainly some pretty humorous moments throughout.

Would you recommend this movie to others?

This movie was informational, enlightening, fun, thought provoking, and it also had some funny parts that made all of us laugh. We would highly recommend it to others, especially those that love science and space exploration. We walked away more informed and inspired about the future of science and space exploration!

Don’t miss this movie on Amazon Prime starting Wednesday, November 23!

-Kristen