A highlight of the duo's lengthy career occurred when they worked with revered sound designer Ben Burtt. Best known for his work for George Lucas' action-packed Star Wars (1977) and the Indiana Jones films, Burtt has directed several IMAX films himself, including Blue Planet (1990) and Destiny In Space (1994).

For the immense imagery of the film's first shuttle launch, the veteran sound designer preferred a montage of authentic sounds. "He likes big, BIG effects," explains Solomon, "so we learned to work around it, but we really had a nice time with Ben. He was terrific to work with." Solomon and Erbe also traveled to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, where Burtt mixed the film.

“Burtt recognized that, when dealing with spacecrafts, the technology is often what fascinates people, so giving them the closest experience to an actual ride into space was the best way to satisfy that audience need,” she says. “After the first launch, all subsequent launches are less exciting - because the intricacies and imagery are now familiar - so that's where the score brings the audience back, adding the human element to the experience.”

Besides the esthetics, Solomon acknowledges that "you have to really know what the others guys are doing. You have to stay in touch, and [editor Toni Myers] will always guide us and say, ‘I want this to be a really musical moment, kind of larger than life and more magical, and maybe [in] this other scene I want the sound to carry it and let the music just go underneath.'"

Solomon and Erbe had met Myers in the early seventies through a musician friend, and also performed on the North of Superior soundtrack, which included a song composed by The Lovin' Spoonful's Zalman Yanovsky.

The allure of space has resulted in five outstanding IMAX films: the first shuttle launch in Hail Columbia! (1982); shuttle travel in The Dream Is Alive (1985); Earth’s environmental changes from space in Blue Planet (1990); exploring the universe in Destiny In Space (1994); and a Space Station precursor, Mission To Mir (1997).

Solomon and Erbe's involvement with an IMAX project begins when the film is in a rough cut stage, although both research the film's subject matter for more focused inspiration. In the case of the space films, personal contact with some of the astronauts provided the face of an experienced traveler, and someone whose heart has been affected by witnessing sights impossible to pretty much everyone else.

"We met a lot of the astronauts," explains Solomon, and "some of them came to our sessions… I learn so much about things I would never, never know about, and because it’s a short period of time, you really have to know what you’re doing."

Although Solomon and Erbe had already scored 3D films (Into the Deep), the Space Station 3D footage brought back from the various space missions and EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activity) - particularly the space walks looking down at the Earth - still packed an emotional punch.

‘Trundling down' to an IMAX theatre early in the morning, the duo donned the custom 3D glasses, and had to absorb information beyond the more familiar 2D realm. "Because it’s so macro and it’s so big, you have to understand what is hitting you," explains Solomon. "Music deals so much in the emotions, and we have to kind of underscore the first emotion that hits, and we have to know what that is, and it’s not readily evident unless you go to a screening."

Knowing the musical objective before writing is vital, but even the best plans can't determine the ultimate needs of a film's score. "Sometimes things come out amazing, and it just happens to be in the details, and the magic just happens. You can’t always predict how things are going to come together, and that’s part of the excitement of it.

“We kind of take our cue from the picture, and from Toni Myers, who’s usually involved in some way, and Graeme Ferguson; they’ve been incredible mentors, musically for us, because they’ve given us films with such heart, and given us so much carte blanche to do them.

"It’s been a highlight of our career to be able to punctuate our work with these films,” she concludes, “and to be able to go in and out of the rest of the industry and keep our hands in these films, because they’re every composer’s dream… The Dream Is Alive and The Blue Planet and Destiny in Space are so unbelievably popular, and they’re still running all over the place. I mean they don’t let up; some of these have been running for twenty years."