Ultima fan Toryn Farr alerted me to this article at Wired, in which it is made known that the eight minute-long horror movie that Richard Garriott shot during his visit to the International Space Station — “the first sci-fi movie shot in space” — will, in fact, be released at some point.

Good news! Following many reports over the last few days that the first-ever science fiction film to actually be filmed in space was being kept from release by NASA, there is now word that the space agency has relented and that Apogee of Fear will see the light of day after all.

The eight-minute film was shot by Richard Garriott aboard the International Space Station on his trip there as a paid civilian in 2008. Based on a screenplay written for him by Tracy Hickman (best known as co-creator of the Dragonlance shared universe), Garriott made the film with the assistance of two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut.

He had hoped to release it along with the documentary he made about following in his astronaut father Owen Garriott’s footsteps (Man on a Mission, which is playing in indie theaters across the country). But NASA put the kibosh on those plans without giving a great many specifics as to reasons, except that it was outside the scope of Garriott’s agreement with them. It seemed as though Apogee of Fear would remain hidden from the public eye.

Not any more, it would seem! Wired does go on to note, however, that NASA would appear to be reserving the right to make selective edits to the movie. Still, the possibility that we might see the movie officially released in some form is now much, much greater!