Touchstone Pictures, Burbank News Release
June 2, 1998
Joining the select group of celebrities and media will be "Armageddon" stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and Steve Buscemi, as well as producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
Commenting on the announcement, Cook said: "Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay have created an extraordinarily entertaining film with 'Armageddon,' and we wanted to give it a 'send-off' that would capture the excitement and spectacle. The Kennedy Space Center is the perfect site.
"With its unique blend of adventure, humor and emotion, we believe that 'Armageddon' holds a special place among the summer releases and is sure to be a major crowd pleaser with a wide range of moviegoers."
The screening will take place in a special state-of-the-art theater, which is being constructed just for the evening outside the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Before and after the film, guests will have a chance to see many of the sites actually used in the film and explore a wide range of exciting NASA artifacts and displays.
The evening will conclude with an exclusive appearance by Aerosmith, during which the band will perform "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," their new smash-hit single from the soundtrack of "Armageddon," for the very first time. The film is scheduled to hit theaters everywhere on July 1.
In preparation for the event, Disney's technical wizards are building a state-of-the-art theater in a tent just outside the Apollo/ Saturn V area at the Kennedy Space Center. As part of this, a 20-by-44-foot screen, 35mm projection equipment and a fully operational Dolby Digital sound system are also being installed just for the occasion.
After the screening, guests will be seated under an enormous 363-foot Saturn V rocket for dinner, following which they will go outside to enjoy Aerosmith's special guest performance.
"Armageddon" follows the fiery trail of an asteroid the size of Texas that is heading directly toward Earth at 22,000 miles per hour. NASA's executive director, Dan Truman (Thornton), has only one option -- to send up a crew to destroy the asteroid. He enlists the help of Harry S. Stamper (Willis) -- the world's foremost deep-core oil driller -- to drill into its surface and drop a nuclear device into the core.
On this heroic journey, they face the most physically and emotionally challenging conditions ever encountered ... to save the world and prevent ARMAGEDDON.
UA News Services Internet site
Tuesday, May 5, 1998
Calculating the size of the tsunami requires knowing the mass and speed of the comet. Kring says the fictional comet is going about the right velocity for a short-period comet, but its mass of 500 billion tons must be wrong because it would require a density 10 to 100 times greater than most metals. A more logical model would be to use the density of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which bombarded Jupiter three years ago, to calculate the mass of a 2 km diameter comet.
Using those values, If the "Deep Impact" comet hit somewhere in the North Atlantic, then the tsunami would tower more than 1,000 feet above New York. If the impact occurs within 2,000 km of New York, then the tsunami could be 3,000 feet high! A 1,000-foot wave would sweep inland about 125 km. (about 75 miles). A 3,000-foot wave would sweep inland 450 to 500 km. (about 270 to 300 miles).
"The impact would put new meaning in the phrase "get out of town," says Kring.
More news on ASTRONET:
Meteorieten en hun inslagkraters op aarde (Dutch)
Policies Needed for Reporting Potential Hazards Of Asteroid Collisions with Earth
Why study comets? Why study asteroids?
UA Catalina Sky Survey to make speedy searches for faint near-Earth asteroids and comets
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