NASA film titled "Comets-- Windows into Time". Regards proposed and ultimately aborted space exploration of Halley's Comet in mid-1980s.
Ext observatory at night, dome rotating. MS/CUs Caucasian male & female astronomers working in observatory, peering through telescope lens. Stills of comet in space. Detail of comet over Nativity scene in painting by Giotto. Archival drawings illustrating the unfounded terror historically associated w/ comets. Portrait of Edmund Halley. Archival illustrations of Halley's Comet at various points in history. MS/CUs white men at work in NASA's jet propulsion laboratory; CU date on computer screen. MSs white man working at computer; CU hands typing on keyboard; printout simulation of Halley's comet trajectory. Illustrations of nucleus, coma & tail of comet.
Interesting computer animation of space travel beyond the planets of solar sytem, revealing view of primordial comets. LS space shuttle & booster rocket on launch pad, day; MS/CUs electronic observation gear being fitted for mission by scientists in clean outfits (photo camera & euip to measure Halley's magnetic field, ultraviolet radiation, chemical composure). Animation of Space Shuttle launch-- this is a simulation of proposed mission to intercept Halley for observation, a project that never came to fruition b/c Congress ultimately vetoed their funding.
MS/CUs white male engineers working on ion drive rocket engine in laboratory-- includes nice shots of 1970s high technology. Animation of solar-powered spaceprobe following comet, then venturing towards Saturn, then headed towards the sun.