a flexible conduit that could be attached between Starflight and Columbia. Cody has power restored, electrifying the conduit damaged by rocket debris. Columbia and six astronauts arrive with the tunnel, intending to rescue 20 passengers. Five passengers, including Hal, are successfully brought through. The next five people, including Freddie Barrett, are lost when the flexible tunnel swings too close to the sparking electric line on the damaged underside of the airliner and ignites. Forty-seven passengers remain aboard. Josh is frustrated but an exchange with his wife Nancy reminds him of a fuel tank built by Culver Aviation that can be repurposed to carry people. Columbia with the container and takes 38 more passengers, leaving only nine aboard. Cody sends electrical engineer Joe Pedowski on EVA to repair the damaged conduit. Josh suggests Starflight follow a shuttle on re-entry, believing the shuttle's heat shield would offer protection. Columbia cannot make a launch in time, but another shuttle, XU-5, in orbit on a military mission, arrives to assist just as Starflight is to hit the atmosphere. The two craft ride in together, and once into the atmosphere, XU-5 veers off, while Cody manages to land Starflight after a harrowing steep descent through the upper atmosphere. Cast Production The film's visual effects were supervised by veteran effects guru John Dykstra's Apogee effects house. Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land made use of stock footage of launches by the space shuttle Columbia and an Apollo-era Saturn V on the launch pad. Columbia makes three launches in 24 hours to help Starflight (something completely impossible given turnaround times for shuttle launches). The Saturn V shown at the Kennedy Space Center was depicted as carrying the communications satellite from a fictitious launch site near Sydney. Each time Columbia lands, the touchdown footage is from the early shuttle days when they landed on the dirt runway at Edwards AFB, rather than the concrete runway that Thornwell would be expected to have. Footage of the approach and landing tests with the shuttle prototype Enterprise was used. A chase plane is also visible. Strong similarities are seen to the novel Orbit by Thomas Block (1982), whose "Star Streak" aircraft was jet-and-rocket powered and intended for high-atmospheric flight, only to end up in space, but important differences also are seen. In Orbit, the failure to shut down engines, requiring entry into space lest it burn up, was an act of