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Adam Savage’s Tested
The Last Surviving Spaceship from 2001: A Space Odyssey
⏱ 12 min video · 2 min read29 Jun 2026Worth watching
TL;DR
Adam Savage visits the Academy Museum's Debbie Reynolds Conservation Center to examine the last surviving lunar lander miniature from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Conservators Rio and Sophie walk him through a 5-year restoration project that rescued the model from a shed, treated wood-boring beetle infestation, cleaned decades of grime, and rebuilt missing parts using period model kits.
Key points
1
This is the only surviving lunar lander miniature from 2001: A Space Odyssey — Kubrick was known for destroying props after filming, making this exceptionally rare.
2
The model was found in a shed in pieces, heavily soiled, and infested with wood-boring beetles; the wood core had to be placed in an anoxic chamber to suffocate the insects before any restoration could begin.
3
The 5-year conservation project was a collaboration between objects conservator Irena Calinescu and model maker John Goodson, using film stills blown up from the archive to map every missing detail around the full circumference of the model.
4
Missing surface details were identified by matching silhouette outlines to period model kits — 1950s-70s train cars, submarines, and scuba tanks — a technique confirming the original builders used the same kit-bashing approach.
5
The model weighs approximately 100 lb due to its wood core and electrical components; a new internal aluminum armature was designed and machined by John Goodson and Daniel Petrasku to safely mount and support it for display.
Key takeaways
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When restoring film props, use UV-reactive fill materials so future conservators can distinguish original surfaces from repaired areas under ultraviolet light.
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Film archive stills, blown up and printed at scale, can serve as a full reference map for missing details on a prop when no other documentation exists.
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Kit-bashing with period-accurate model kits is both how original film miniatures were built and how conservators can authentically replace lost surface details — silhouette ghosts left in old paint layers confirm exact placement.
Notable quotes
“I never thought as a human being that I would witness this up close.”
“John was telling me, he would like text me from here and be like, Dude, you have no idea how cool what I am working on is.”
“This is a funny Industrial Light and Magic thing, which is you always make the insides look just as good as the outsides. It is like the ethos of the place.”
Worth watching?
✅
Worth watching the full video?
Watch if you want to actually see the model up close and witness Adam Savage's genuine awe — the visual detail of the restoration and the kit-bashing discoveries are far more satisfying on screen than in text.
Saved you some time? The creator still deserves a like.
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