Thanks to the BFI, I spent the evening with this extraordinary human, who received a BFI fellowship. He is clearly much loved by the people who work with him. Congratulations to Tom Cruise.

May 17 1997: In a very different political era, STS-84 docked with the Russian MIR station. It was Eileen Collin's 2nd mission as shuttle pilot. Our image shows a celebration meal aboard MIR. Against any NASA-like regulation, the Russians had a bottle of brandy in reserve.

Jackie Cochran was a trail-blazing female aviator. Among many achievements, on May 18 1953 Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier in a Sabre jet. She would become a sponsor of the Mercury 13 group, to prove women could be fully capable astronauts. [📷 USAF, 1947]

May 22, 1997 28 years ago, Eileen Collins departed the MIR space station as pilot of STS-84. She'd be home in two days. "The Sun was rising over the Atlantic Ocean. It was totally clear. We could see all the way down to Florida, where my family was waiting for me."

May 19, 1965 Ed White and Jim McDivitt at the Cape, days away from Gemini 4 - the first American spacewalk. 60 years ago Project Gemini tested the foundation of #NASA's plan for a Moon landing - long-duration spaceflight, orbital rendezvous and extravehicular activity.

60 years ago today, Ed White did the first American Spacewalk, looking cooler than a chilled martini in Antartica in a classic white space suit. Here's a painting of that spacewalk presented to him personally by artist Robert McCall.

June 18, 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman to reach space with STS-7. This was the first time five people had ever crewed a single spacecraft. The mission was commanded by Bob Crippen, who had flown with John Young on the first Space Shuttle flight. #NASA

Our new film SPACEWOMAN lands at the Cradle of Aviation, Long Island, 25/26 July, with Eileen Collins in person. Endless inspiration. More at cradleofaviation.org

Happy 4th July. [Image credit: NASA]

NEWS, NEWS, NEWS: Our new film APOLLO 1, directed by Mark Craig, will be broadcast on ARTE in Germany and France on 9th August. And big news for the UK coming soon!

"40 feet, down 2 1/2. Picking up some dust". July 20th, 1969: Apollo 11 lands on the Lunar surface - a triumph of human ingenuity and ambition.

As a father of four (that I know of 🤣), this chart is one of the happiest graphs I’ve ever seen. One of the greatest tragedies imaginable is losing a child—and we have made orders of magnitude reductions. Go technology! Go civilization!

He had a long and extraorindary life, but it is still a moment of great sadness to lose Jim Lovell, who we worked with on multiple films. With love and respect, we wish you blue skies and bright stars , sir. bbc.com/news/articles/… James Lovell, who commanded Apollo 13.

wer sich dafür interessiert, TV-Tipp heute Abend auf arte: Apollo 1, Doku prisma.de/tv-programm/Ap…

Keine 5 Monate nach der Weltpremiere schafft es die 90-minütige Dokumentation "Apollo 1" ins deutsche Fernsehen. Heute um 20:15 Uhr auf ARTE und bis zum 06.11. in der Mediathek: arte.tv/de/videos/1102…

A week ago, I went to Starbase with Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a US spacecraft. We played our spacewomanfilm near where a fleet of spacecraft are being built, and took a lift to the top of the launch tower. Electrifying day. Brilliant, positive SpaceX team.

NEWS: SPACEWOMAN hits the UK big screen from 21st October with very special guests. Each screening will be followed by an IN-PERSON Q&A with astronaut Eileen Collins & director Hannah Berryman. Find out more at: picturehouses.com Hope to see you there!!

Super proud to be a producer of Spitfire from which this wonderful sequence is taken. Honour to the Few.

Happy Birthday Charlie Duke!