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Edge of Space

Role

Production Designer

Director

Jean de Meuron

Year

2024

Format

Short Film

A Swiss American short film set at the height of the 1961 US Soviet space race, following an ambitious USAF test pilot recruited by NASA for a daring suborbital mission aboard the X-15 hypersonic rocket aircraft. The production design built out a historically faithful X-15 cockpit interior and dressed and painted full-scale helicopters on location, grounding the world of early NASA in physical, tactile detail. Myra received Best Production Design nominations across multiple film festivals for her work on this film, and won Best Production Design at HollyShorts Film Festival. The film itself was shortlisted for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards and won six Telly Awards, including Gold for direction, cinematography, and science and technology.

Selected Stills Click any still to enlarge →︎

Mid-century office with venetian blinds in warm sunlight, Edge of Space, production design by Myra Barrera

Character at a table with a period radio set in a darkened room, Edge of Space

Test pilot in an orange flight suit before a mid-century instrument console, Edge of Space

Pilot in a silver pressure suit climbing into the X-15 cockpit at golden hour, Edge of Space

NASA X-15 rocket aircraft on the desert lakebed with a pilot in orange flight gear, Edge of Space

Desert military cemetery at sunset with rows of white headstones, Edge of Space

The X-15 cockpit interior built for Edge of Space, staged in a white hangar with equipment carts and a US flag

Pilot in a silver pressure suit and helmet lit against darkness, Edge of Space

Full-scale helicopters dressed and painted on location for Edge of Space, lit by sparks in a dark hangar

The X-15 in suborbital flight above the curve of the Earth, Edge of Space

Mid-century domestic interior with letters scattered through the air, Edge of Space

Character seated at a desk with a period radio beside a window, Edge of Space

Mid-century diner booth in warm light through venetian blinds, Edge of Space

Pilot in a silver pressure suit and bubble helmet inside the built X-15 cockpit, Edge of Space

Airfield with a dressed and painted UH-1 medevac helicopter and uniformed crew, Edge of Space

B-52 carrying the X-15 beneath its wing in flight, Edge of Space