Anyone who has ever attended a screening of an IMAX feature will know part of the impact is the huge screen, along with the vivid imagery and outstanding audio. This is the next best thing, the story of Space Station Mir (Russian for 'Peace').

Coupling together lifelong enemies, the US and Russia, we are shown a brief yet interesting view of how these two super powers began working together to further space exploration. Space Station Mir was built and orbited by the Russians in 1986. America was at the time rocketing forward with space shuttle technology. With the end of the cold war between the two, the realisation was made that they could join forces for the good of mankind. The theory was to house both Russian and US astronauts within Mir, working side by side for prolonged periods.

Much is covered in this brief documentary. The footage begins at the Russian launch site where (at the time) over 1000 rockets had been launched. Here we see the first filmed launch of a Soyuz (Russian for 'Union') rocket. We are then taken to Mir to see footage of the first ever docking of any spacecraft with the station. Predominantly the footage is from within Mir, showing the confines, and how the astronauts negotiate their way around.

All space footage was filmed by the US astronauts themselves and is quite spectacular. Other footage used is in the form of newsreel type film and NASA video and is either shown in full frame or within a reduced size screen. A definite highlight for me was seeing a shuttle launch from a very unusual angle, but there are many firsts on this release, including spectacular vision of the Earth, showing its fine detail and colour.

The one major thing lacking in this documentary is details about the end of the Mir mission after fifteen years in space. On March 22, 2001 the station was brought back to Earth off the coast of New Zealand. The reason the mission was brought to an end was a financial one. Having already spent over $4.2 billion to launch and maintain the station, funding could not be obtained to keep it in orbit. Many jokes circulated at the time about the Russians inability to keep the station in space due to it falling apart, but although built by the Russians, this was a joint venture with the US and the blame for its untimely end should therefore be shared.

Presented in full frame and therefore not 16x9 enhanced, the transfer is pretty much flawless, as expected. Picture is sharp throughout, especially in the space footage. There are a few minor cases of edge enhancement, but these do not detract from the overall quality. The only instances of poor visual quality is during archival footage and during some shots within the space station, due to poor usage of the camera rather than the transfer. Colours are vivid and very bold throughout, with little sign of over-saturation. Being a space feature, blacks needed to be good and they are. There is no noticeable aliasing and artefacts and grain pose no problems. Detail is also very good. Picture quality is what IMAX are renowned for and with this release they deliver. With 12 different subtitles and four different language audio tracks, most should be satisfied.

Audio is supplied in Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Spanish, French and German. Sound is predominantly kept to the front speakers for the narration and archival footage, with the sides and rears used for the excellent musical backing. The subwoofer kicks into overdrive during launch sequences and for some of the accompanying music, but is generally quiet. Separation is very noticeable, but the thing that impressed me the most here is the clarity. From the silence of space to the rumbling of launches, the sound is very crisp. Overall the audio is excellent and accompanies the visual treat nicely.

For extras we have firstly a behind the scenes featurette. Running for 5:35 and also in full frame, this documentary seems more like an advertisement for the main feature than anything else. It covers the making of the feature while constantly plugging the IMAX name. Still, it's an informative feature regardless.

The second feature is a one minute IMAX Trailer. With the first feature already doing this job the second feature seems a bit unnecessary, but it does show snippets of other IMAX films, either available or planned for release in the future.

Overall this is visually wonderful with a terrific soundtrack to match. With a running time of only 38:22 it is far too short - it's well worth a look, but needed to be longer. Releasing these features on DVD is great for the consumer and for those that never got to see them in IMAX theatres, however I fear only diehard IMAX fans will be able to warrant the purchase price to own the numerous releases. Perhaps additional extras or compiling several features onto one DVD would be the best way to combat the market place? A great demo disc and terrific for space buffs, but others I fear will spend their money elsewhere.