“We are making this film to help push the people of the world and the decision makers that govern them to look up at the stars instead of at our feet.”

This weekend, millions of people across the U.S. will sit in front of their TVs to eagerly watch two professional football teams fight over the title of Super Bowl XLIX champions. But how many people will be thinking about another fight that’s going on – the fight for funding to take our nation’s space program – and the future of humanity – boldly into the “final frontier?”

Most definitely not nearly as many, and that’s sad.

Fight for Space, a project by documentary filmmaker Paul Hildebrandt, is attempting to change that by bringing awareness of the challenges faced by NASA – both past and present – to our representatives in Congress, citizens of our country, and people around the world. In the works since 2012, the film is nearing completion – but it still needs help.

Today, NASA is promoting a “Journey to Mars”. They have nice graphics, and their PR team is doing a great job telling everyone how Orion is going to get to Mars in the 2030s. The reality is, there’s no money for any of this. The Space Launch System is under funded, and cannot fly at any safe or continuous rate with the current NASA budget.

What is the solution? Does NASA need a budget increase? Or is there a different way to get into space? We explore these issues in Fight for Space.

“Our film asks, why in over 40 years haven’t we returned to the Moon, or sent humans onto Mars?,” says Hildebrandt. “We explore issues and we bring problems to light that always are not the most positive things to talk about. But it’s important to remember that NASA has been the only organization to send humans to the Moon, or a rover to Mars, or do many of the exciting things that make up our space program today. We love NASA, what it stands for, and all that it has done.”

This isn’t a cheerleading promotion for NASA nor is it intended to bash the agency for its shortcomings. What Fight for Space attempts to do is create a wake-up call to U.S. citizens and policymakers and remind them what NASA’s ultimate goals are… and why it can’t achieve them without direction, support, and funding.

You can help, but there’s not much time left.* The campaign to back Fight for Space ends on Feb. 1 – show your support with a pledge on Kickstarter here.

*Note: the campaign will be funded as it has currently achieved its goal of $80,000! So any support you give will be above and beyond that amount – this is now a win-win situation for the film and for space.

Update: The campaign has ended with a grand total of $100,581 and 2,049 backers! Congrats to Fight for Space and thanks to everyone who helped!