{"id":28564,"date":"2024-04-29T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=28564"},"modified":"2024-05-03T10:40:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T17:40:27","slug":"what-extreme-outer-space-isolation-can-teach-humans","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/what-extreme-outer-space-isolation-can-teach-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"What Extreme Outer Space Isolation Can Teach Humans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filmmaker Ido Mizrahy was fascinated by space travel isolation from a young age, inspired and awed by science fiction films like <\/span>2001: A Space Odyssey<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Alien<\/span><\/i>, and the original <\/span>Solaris<\/span><\/i>. And he eventually turned that fascination into the documentary<\/span> Space: The Longest Goodbye<\/i><\/b><\/a>, which explores NASA’s psychological research in preparing for mankind’s longest voyage yet: a mission to Mars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ido talks to us here about what he learned about the rigors of being isolated in space for a long haul and how it can connect with the isolation we all felt here on Earth during the pandemic. He also gives us his picks for the fictional works that most accurately capture what it is to be isolated in space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What led you to want to do a documentary specifically about the psychological strains of being isolated in space?<\/b><\/h5>\n

The evolution of how we\u2019ve arrived at this storyline, is the kind of unexpected turn of events that can only happen when you’re making a documentary. We had no idea we were going to make a human drama disguised as a space exploration story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When we started researching this story we knew we wanted to do something related to the mission to Mars. In fact, I was even trying to convince NASA’s mission to Mars folks they should let me get on that first crewed mission (“<\/span>You\u2019ll need a storyteller on that spaceship<\/span><\/i>,” I pitched). A few fascinating research trips later we were introduced to Dr. Al Holland, a psychologist based at Johnson Space Center whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in space. That changed everything.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s when we realized, we were not going to make a doc about the mission to Mars… not in a traditional way. We were so taken by how NASA, while trying to figure out how to send people to Mars, inadvertently became the world’s biggest isolation\/loneliness laboratory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Astronaut

Astronaut Cady Coleman and son speaking while on the space station Soyuz<\/p><\/div>\n

Back when we started, the idea that some of these efforts to help astronauts stay connected to their roots, while floating away to Mars, could be applied to Earthbound populations who experience isolation was incredibly inspirational. These ideas could really help the elderly, reclusive teenagers, and many others, we thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then COVID happened. And suddenly we ALL knew what it felt like to be removed from our social support systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This “space” challenge was suddenly about all of us. And the tension so many of us live with daily, between the desire to go as far as we can (to cultivate a better life for ourselves), and the need to stay connected to home, is universal, and as terrestrial as it gets.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Sign<\/a>\n

Related to that, what can learning about outer space exploration tell us about our own existence and mental health here on Earth? How does <\/b>Space: The Longest Goodbye<\/i><\/b> inform our pandemic isolation experience?\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

This story is a meeting place between space exploration and one of our most pressing terrestrial challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Space exploration continues to fascinate us and offer a sense of escape and wonder. It’s a powerful thing that unites all of us. But right here on Earth, this story opens a window into a threat we’ve all faced in recent years: having to isolate from the closest people to us, confined to our homes or temporary ones, and, for the first time for many of us, having to ask ourselves what our social contacts mean to us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Filmmaker

Filmmaker Ido Mizrahy<\/p><\/div>\n

How much of our mental well-being is supported by contact with our loved ones? The answer can be surprising at times. I’ll admit that while I missed physical contact with loved ones terribly at the beginning of the pandemic, when it was finally time to get back to seeing people in person, I dreaded it. And it wasn’t even the fear of catching anything\u2014it was this strange new feeling of not wanting to be around people. Of needing to get back to my…. isolation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a sense of comfort in loneliness that was suddenly gone. I thought our complex relationship with the idea of being isolated was worth exploring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This transformation in my feelings about isolation I felt while we were editing <\/span>Space: The Longest Goodbye<\/span><\/i>\u2014from dreading to accepting and eventually pining for a transformation<\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/i>had a big impact on the third act of the story, as the movie shows the difficulty of returning from space, of assuming old roles within the family, among loved ones who\u2019ve embarked on their own journeys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who are you to them now, and who they are to you, might be its own exploration mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"director

director Ido Mizrahy, astronaut Cady Coleman, astronaut Kayla Barron and Cady’s son Jamey Simpson at a Smithsonian screening for Space: The Longest Goodbye<\/p><\/div>\n

What’s your own relationship to stories about space and space travel? Did you grow up being fascinated by it?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Space movies inspired more joy, awe, and terror in me than any other films I was raised on, as a young filmmaker. <\/span>2001, Solaris, Moon, Gravity, Arrival, Alien:<\/span><\/i> All these masterpieces I love and admire turned space exploration stories into potent metaphors about our most basic existential questions. They \u201cbribe\u201d us with the allure of space travel to help us ask human questions which, undisguised, can be too painful to face.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, making films, especially documentaries, always felt like venturing into something bottomless. So you better be a good teammate, enjoy the freefall but never lose sight of the mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

What fictional film, series, or book do you think did the best job portraying the psychology of deep space isolation?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Of all the films that dare venture into this theme, Andrei Tarkovsky\u2019s <\/span>Solaris<\/span><\/i> [1972] stands out. Much like in the wonderful films <\/span>Gravity<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Moon<\/span><\/i>, that line between what\u2019s actually happening and what\u2019s a figment of the protagonist\u2019s ever-warping mind gets blurrier as the story moves forward. <\/span>Solaris<\/span><\/i>, like all Tarkovsky films, doesn\u2019t bother holding the viewer\u2019s hand as it spirals out of control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This kind of unforgiving storytelling reminds us there might not be a way back. Isolated in space, indefinitely, these protagonists lose touch with reality, at times driven to madness and at other times relieved [that they’re] able to let go of the illusion of having control over their destinies. Isolation in that sense, is both terrifying and freeing in these movies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n