Burbank Lights Brighten Shuttle's Return

(this article appeared in the September 8th, 1983 edition of the Burbank Weekly Review) Bank of floodlights provided by Keylite Production Services Inc. of Burbank were used to illuminate the shuttle prototype Enterprise that was displayed at Edwards Air Force Base where space shuttle Challenger arrived Monday. Company's lights were also used to illuminate Challenger for television broadcast as it sat on landing strip after its first night landing.

 by Pat Wark - Staff Writer BURBANK -

The floodlit picture of space shuttle Challenger beamed to millions of television viewers worldwide was made possible by Keylite Production Services Inc. of Burbank. Lighting the shuttle as it say in the middle of the Mojave Desert after touching down in the middle of the night at Edwards Air Force Base Monday was a departure from the firm's usual work lighting up motion picture and television sets.

 "It was a first for us," admits Keylite advertising director Brian Hartley. "It was a helluva privilege. You can always make a movie but to get the chance to do something like that was really something. It was very emotional." It was the first night landing for the shuttle in the 28-month history of the program. NASA hired Keylite to light up the Challenger following the landing and it illuminate a hangar that served as the reception area for the astronauts after debriefing and medical checkups. 

Keylite also lit up a staging area where the shuttle prototype Enterprise sat on display and the NASA logo emblazoned on two other hangars. Keylite sent out three truckloads of equipment, two support vehicles and a crew of 12 Thursday to set up the cables and rigging and for briefing on what to do the day of the landing. A Hollywood extravaganza wouldn't awe the crew but watching the shuttle land did. Hartley said Keylite provided lighting for "King Kong," "Ordinary People" and the "Academy Awards."

 "It was an experience. It was a piece of history. I never would have expected tone there," said Damon doherty, who helped rig the lighting in the hangars. "It was a great feeling (to see the Challenger)." said Fred Jones, who has worked in the movie industry for nearly 24 years. "We were a part of it. It was almost like we were a part of the astronauts."

 Astronauts Richard Truly, Daniel Brandenstein, Guion Bluford, Dale Gardner and William Thornton "looked comical" when they stepped out of the ship after siex days in orbit. Jones recalled. "They were all smiling. The baled-headed guy (Thornton) was great. He was flapping his arms." Jones sat in a Keylite truck a half mile away from the landing site waiting for Challenger to appear in the sky. When the shuttle rolled to a stop and a convoy of 30 NASA vehicles drove out to greet the astronauts and check them over.

His job was to light up the shuttle so NASA and television film crews could record the event. The five fliers, smiling and waving, climbed down the steps from Challenger's cabin at 4:14a.m. They shook hands with NASA officials, inspected the ship briefly and drove off in a van for a quick medical check. Three and a half hours after landing, the astronauts met 1,200 cheering well-wishers gathered in a hangar lit up by Keylite. Truly, the veteran commander of the mission said he expects night flights to become routine now that the shuttle has demonstrated it can land in the dark well as in daylight.