While the BBC/Discovery Communications Docu-Drama The Challenger (aka The Challenger Disaster) was generally well regarded, with critics especially praising William Hurt’s performance as the not-to-be-purturbed physicist Richard Feynman as he helped to investigate the Space Shuttle Challenger’s launch disaster, others were apparently not so keen. This docu-drama has now become the subject of a defamation court case.
Former NASA manager, Judson Lovingood has sued the makers of the film and those that broadcast it: The Science Channel, The Discovery Channel, BBC Films, The Open University and Kate Gartside , for $14million in damages in Madison County Court, noting that the film’s portrayal of him and his views was unfair. Lovingood also accuses the film as being inaccurate with some of the quoted probabilities of failure of the Space Shuttle and its systems. The full story is here.
