Thanks to a little help from some friends, a NASA announcement highlighting the agency's space exploration efforts will be shown before the next "Star Trek" move in some theaters across the U.S. in May.
Actually, you might call it a lot of help from a lot of friends.
The Aerospace Industries Association, a private group that represents manufactures involved in spaceflight, crowdsourced funding for the NASA announcement on the website IndieGoGo.com.
The AIA met its fundraising goal of $33,000 in only six days with the help of more than 1,000 backers, according to NBC News.
"By backing this 30-second trailer in the top movie theater markets around the United States, you can show our students and young people that we're in an exciting new era of space exploration," officials from the AIA wrote on the campaign page. "Now is the time to reach them - to remind them that an inspiring space program awaits, one that is worthy of their ambition."
The trailer will play before "Star Trek Into Darkness" in 59 movie theaters across the U.S. for eight weeks. The film will be released May 17.
The request for crowdfunding comes on the heels of the announcement that some NASA activities will be scaled back due to budget sequestration, including public outreach programs aimed on getting children and adults involved in the space program, NBC reported.
"By funding this campaign, we can remind students and the general public that our nation's space agency is working hard on the next era of exploration," AIA officials wrote in the campaign statement. "Keeping the public informed of NASA's activities is a key element of sustaining the health of our space program."
The campaign is still open to donations and will be until May 1, 2013.
If $94,000 or more is raised, the 30-second promotion will be played in 750 cinemas nationwide.
The promotional clip will be taken from the video below.