William Hurt to star in Challenger shuttle disaster drama

William Hurt is to star in a BBC 2/Science Channel co-production about scientist Richard Feynman’s search for truth in the wake of the Nasa Challenger disaster.

Feynman, who’d worked on the Manhattan Project and won the Nobel Prize for his breakthroughs in quantum physics, was instrumental in uncovering the truth behind the space shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986.

Bruce Greenwood (Thirteen Days, Star Trek, Super 8, I, Robot) will join Hurt as US Air Force General Donald Kutyna, a member of the Presidential Commission set up to investigate the disaster.

Other cast members include Brian Dennehy, Joanne Whalley, Kevin McNally and Henry Goodman.

Announcing the drama, Kim Shillinglaw, BBC Commissioning Editor, Science and Natural History, said: “This is the gripping story of a brilliant physicist’s battle for scientific truth in the dark corridors of big government.

“With an impressive cast, including award-winning actor William Hurt, it promises to be a powerful factual drama for BBC Two and part of our mission to make science programmes ever more surprising and ambitious.”

“The Challenger disaster represents an indelible moment in American history – anyone who is old enough to recall it remembers exactly where they were then this terrible tragedy occurred,” added Debbie Myers, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Science Channel.

“Science Channel is honoured to work with the incomparable William Hurt to tell the story of Richard Feynman, a true-life hero and one of most controversial scientific minds of our time.”

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