TORONTO — When SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully launched Saturday afternoon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, live TV production gear specialists PSSI and Markham’s Nextologies were behind the scenes making sure the live pre-show broadcast featuring singer Katy Perry and MythBusters’ Adam Savage got to air.
The first attempt to launch the capsule, which transported NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, was scrubbed on Wednesday, May 27 due to weather at Cape Canaveral.
On Saturday, the hosts and talent for the live pre-show, Space Launch Live (part 2): America Returns to Space, regrouped to join the broadcast remotely from their homes. In addition to Perry and Savage, the pre-show included former astronaut Mike Massimino and NASA engineer-turned-YouTuber Mark Rober.
The live pre-show was broadcast on Discovery and online at the SpaceX website. The production team for the show was located in Burbank, Calif., and used remote technology to direct the live show.
PSSI’s CK35 mobile teleports were staged at the production studio in Burbank all week long and during the live broadcasts they ingested more than 30 discrete feeds via satellite, fibre and IP for remote production and redistribution of the show around the world, says the news release.
Nextologies’ NXT-4 and NXT-LITE technology and gear was deployed to the show’s producers in Burbank and talent at their homes, and was in ready mode since the first launch window opened earlier in the week. The producers on standby utilized the NXT-4 gear to remotely “robo-control” the cameras. Once the video feeds were received from PSSI, the production company worked their magic and Nextologies handed off the video to the producers and talent at their respective locations.
“Covid-19 puts a new spin on the way live television is being produced due to social distancing and precautionary measures,” Nextologies’ CEO Sasha Zivanovic said in the news release. “The live show on Wednesday served as a dress rehearsal; but it took an epic amount of communication to stay in place and be able to regroup so quickly. I am thrilled with the PSSI and Nextologies’ teams’ ability to regroup at a moment’s notice. Today’s show celebrated the SpaceX launch, and is a terrific win for the world, the astronauts and for our teams on the ground who were all ready at a moment’s notice.”
