Let's try to identify all of the ships, craft, and people seen during the opening sequence. This is what I could identify offhand.
unknown primitive boat
H.M.S. Enterprize
Orange balloon (it's on the tip of my tongue)
Spirit of St. Louis
Enterprise shuttle
unknown person near plane
the Wright Flyer
the X-1
unknown deep submersible
Chuck Yeager?
Apollo 11 astronauts?
unknown astronaut
Saturn V launch
space shuttle launch
unknown shuttle astronauts
Saturn V / unknown man writing equations
Saturn V stage separation
unknown shuttle astronaut and satellite
famous footstep on moon (can't remember who)
Apollo 11 LEM departing
Mars Pathfinder rover on Mars
shuttle astronaut in MMU over cargo bay
ISS assembly sequence
unknown space plane departing a space station
the Phoenix opening up
unknown warp ship aft end
Enterprise NX-01 flyby
Anybody care to fill in some blanks?
Posted by TheF0rce (Member # 533) on :
i think the unknown person near plane was emilia earhart??[sp?]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Okay, I just downloaded this thing, since I won't see the premiere 'til Saturday. But your "unknown person near plane" looks like Amelia Earhart, and the "unknown space plane" is, I think, supposed to be the X-33. Someone mentioned that one in another thread.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
On TV I thought I made out a small "OV-XXX" on the side of that spaceplane, but it's impossible to make out any detail that small on my digital copy of the credits.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
The Montgolfier Brothers balloon, no doubt.
Post caps of the images & I bet I can ID most of the unknown stuff.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
The balloon isn't the Montgolfiers'... more modern. Looks like authentic video footage of it flying over some mountains.
Posted by Praetorian Guard (Member # 499) on :
The unkown Apollo astronaut appears to be Alan Shepard.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
I mentioned that I thought that the space plane looked like the X-33... Though it's possilbe they made up a new ship similar in design, seeing that NASA cancelled the X-33 program. Bummer.
Posted by Soundwave (Member # 138) on :
The boat in the beginning is the type the Polynesians used to explore the Pacific Ocean, including settling in Hawaii among other islands.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Hey! Where can I download the opening? Or can somebody post them?
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
I just watched it and I must say, I like it better than I thought I would. It really has that exploration theme going. Here's an off-topic question though...on the vidiot file, before the song start, theres a surround sound test where a guy says "This is the left, this is the right, center, surround." or something. Is it just me, or does that voice sound a hell of a lot like Tim Russ from Voyager?
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Yeah, I noticed that too. Sounds just like him.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
The only thing I can add is that the fellow writing on the blackboard might be Robert Goddard.