{"id":28592,"date":"2024-05-06T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=28592"},"modified":"2024-05-06T10:19:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:19:46","slug":"how-science-fiction-confronts-the-real-isolation-of-space","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/how-science-fiction-confronts-the-real-isolation-of-space\/","title":{"rendered":"How Science Fiction Confronts the Real Isolation of Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Anthony Ha<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n

[Note: Some movie spoilers within.]<\/span><\/p>\n

If decades of science fiction have taught me one thing about being an astronaut, it\u2019s that you have to watch out for existential terror and loneliness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Movies like <\/span>Sunshine<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Interstellar<\/span><\/i> are full of characters who lose their grip on reality after spending too much time alone. \u201cSpace Isolation Horror\u201d even has <\/span>its own page<\/span><\/a> on the TV Tropes website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is this such a common science fiction plot device? Maybe it\u2019s an update to the old, mad scientist clich\u00e9\u2014it\u2019s pretty easy to draw a line between <\/span>Frankenstein<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Colin Clive screaming \u201cIt\u2019s alive!\u201d and Sam Neill\u2019s demonic glee in <\/span>Event Horizon<\/span><\/i>. But where the mad scientist fable usually argues <\/span>there are some things man was not meant to know<\/span><\/i>, the space isolation story suggests something inherently ill-advised about venturing beyond Earth\u2019s atmosphere\u2014that there are places man was not meant to <\/span>go<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related<\/div>
WATCH Space: The Longest Goodbye<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

As the mechanic Kaylee puts it in the movie <\/span>Serenity <\/span><\/i>(2005), screenwriters seem convinced there\u2019s an inherent risk of reaching \u201cthe edge of space,\u201d seeing \u201ca vast nothingness,\u201d and going \u201cbibbledy over it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing quite so dramatic has happened in the real world\u2014but the documentary <\/span>Space: The Longest Goodby<\/i>e<\/a><\/strong> examines a more mundane challenge: how astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) struggle to remain connected to their old lives while spending months away from home, in cramped quarters, with unreliable internet. As NASA operational psychologist Al Holland notes in the film, understanding how crew members cope with a six-month tour on the ISS\u00a0provides crucial data about the challenges facing a manned, three-year Mars expedition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n