Red Heaven (2020) Movie Script
3
[rumbling music]
[wind]
[building music]
[interviewer] OK, recording on.
[Christiane] Obviously, many
people can live in big cities
without being able to go hike in
the woods or hike in
the mountains or anywhere
outside for a very long time.
[door squeaks]
[footsteps]
You can live without
plants, without sunlight,
without friends or family.
It's a difficult question.
What do humans really need to
be happy, healthy and sane?
[dreamy music fades]
[car rumbles]
[reporter] For centuries, humans
have looked up and wondered
what life on Mars might be like.
Well, NASA scientists, setting
their sights on a
manned expedition,
are already testing
the limits of the human mind
to see if astronauts can
even handle the trip.
[inspirational music builds]
[cheers]
[interviewer] Six scientists
are living in
a Mars simulation habitat
for one year to study
the effects of isolation.
The experiment will
create guidelines for
future missions
to the Red Planet.
[music continues]
[male reporter] The project
is known as
the Hawaii Space Exploration
Analog and Simulation,
or HI-SEAS, for short.
[Dr. Kim Binsted] These are
problems that we need to solve
before we can send
people on long duration space
flights and crew cohesion,
that very question, how do you
keep astronauts sane and happy?
We're going to go a long
way towards solving that.
[music continues]
[applause]
[woman] Bon Voyage!
Enjoy Mars! [door shuts]
[music continues]
[camera beeps]
Okay, sorry.
[laughs]
Hi!
We're the Hi-Seas
Four Mission crew.
We're currently simulating
a one year mission
on the planet Mars.
[camera rattles]
[inspirational music]
[camera rattles]
[lens whirs]
[camera beeps]
[Sheyna] Welcome to our Habitat.
Upstairs are the crew quarters.
It's pretty roomy for
a 1200 square foot place.
[muffled voices and music]
OK, let's see what's
going on in the airlock.
Hey!
[laughs] It's our
astrobiologist.
How is the beach?
It was cool. Warm.
Warm, yeah.
[chuckles]
Alright, so, this is the C-Can.
We have a wide assortment of
freeze dried everything
you could ever imagine.
[Christiane] Yay.
[Sheyna] Yeah. Alright.
Our bathroom.
[laughs]
And the probably most
important piece, the timer.
[laughs] The timer.
[Christiane] So, don't take a
20 minute shower please.
[Sheyna] Yeah, no.
Our showers are like, on the
order of 30 seconds
to two minutes.
[footsteps]
And that's the view
from simulated Mars.
This is what we see. Every day.
[footsteps]
[clicks]
[air hisses]
Testing, testing.
One, two, three.
[Sheyna] Camera.
Hi, I'm Christiane Heinicke,
and I'm the Chief
Scientific Officer of
HI-SEAS Mission Four.
And, as you can hear from
my accent, I'm German.
When I heard about this project,
I thought it was
a very cool project,
which is advancing
space exploration.
But also, it's a personal
challenge for me because
not everyone can
endure the darkness,
can endure the isolation,
being around the same
people all the time.
I was just curious if, you know,
if I have the right stuff
to go to Mars.
Oh, yeah, and so far,
I'm doing good.
[dreamy music]
[music continues]
[typing]
[dialogue from The Martian]
Alert the media?
[character] Sorry, what are you
doing today, Martinez?
Making sure the mav
is still upright.
[dialogue continues]
The quiche is really,
really good.
Very good.
[razor whirs]
I'd never shaved anybody
before coming here.
I'd never grown a beard
before coming here.
Fair enough.
[Andrzej] We essentially started
as six strangers.
NASA is testing our
psychological and mental
well-being while
we're here to learn
how a small crew
gets along together
when separated
from planet Earth.
The psychological aspect,
how do we deal with that?
[device rattles]
[Andrzej] Surveys.
[Sheyna] Surveys.
[Andrzej] So many surveys.
[Sheyna] So many surveys.
So many surveys.
[laughs]
[Sheyna] I'll be right there
to do mine. [chuckles]
I think this one's better
than the forecast.
[Carmel] A quiet night?
- Yeah.
I think so.
- Yeah, those--
[camera beeps]
Zooming?
[Christiane] Yeah.
Okay. [chuckles]
[stammers] Voila.
[laughs]
She's official.
[harmonica and ukelele play
"House of the Rising Sun"]
[harmonica and ukelele play
"House of the Rising Sun"]
[music continues]
[treadmill whirs]
[Sheyna] See? [laughs]
[Cyprien] Yeah!
OK, high five.
Sure, well done.
[claps]
[Sheyna] We are science.
Everything about our perceptions
and our communication
and how we work together
as a group,
everything about us
in our lives,
inside and out,
is being studied.
[cheerful music continues]
Yep, that's it.
Turn this over?
- Yep.
[orchestral music]
[typing]
[music continues]
[treadmill whirs]
[Tristan] I originally
had no intention
of running a marathon.
You look out the window and
watch the sunlight change,
which when you don't have
most technology
or Internet connection
is actually fascinating -
and I just kept going.
[contemplative music]
[water spritz]
Come on, run faster!
[treadmill continues]
[Carmel laughs]
I think a big part of this
for me is that I'm doing
graduate school for
architecture and have chosen
to focus very exclusively
on space architecture,
which is, kind of a less
than typical thing.
[Tristan] What I'm working
on is more of
the design side
of space architecture.
You leave the ship to
the guys, you can, sort of,
do the math and
the engineering and work
much more on the human elements.
So, instead of going to
school and reading some
lecture-y things
and going through journals,
all that stuff, I actually am
kind of getting to live it.
[inspirational music]
[treadmill beeps]
[Sheyna] Tristan! Tristan!
Oh yeah I just got it.
That's how I'm walking now.
[Cyprien] Yay!
[claps]
[Tristan sighs]
[Tristan] And it turns out,
that treadmill's motherboard is
a little shot and everything is
not measured so appropriately,
that at the pace I was running,
I actually ran 32 miles.
It's kind of an interesting
forced environmental
change, like,
everybody sort of reacts to
the places they're at, you know,
people go to college
and put on their Freshman 15
or start grad school,
put on the Grad School 45,
or more sometimes.
I mean, we always sort of change
based on where we're at,
and up here, it's sort of--
[Sheyna] You're losing weight.
Yeah, basically losing weight.
You have to work out every day
and you need to find
something to fill
the hours because
you can't really
browse online
or go see your friends.
There's no drinks, no
parties, no, you know,
place you can go
get a crazy tan.
It's like almost forced into
the austere,
vaguely monkish life.
[treadmill whirs]
[Andrzej] Gonna get the potatoes
done and out the way.
[Sheyna] OK.
[Andrzej] Turkey constituting
and gravy going.
We'll figure that bit out last.
[spoon taps]
[Andrzej] I made this turkey
all by myself.
[Sheyna] You did, I saw you
add the water.
[Andrzej] Yeah!
[laughs]
Ooh! I get my own little one.
[murmurs]
[chairs creak]
[laughs]
[Cyprien] Christiane,
what is your favorite
part of the habitat?
[footsteps]
[Christiane] So,
that's the airlock
my favorite part of the Habitat.
One, because
it's the brightest, well,
one of the brightest parts
of the Habitat.
See? It's all bright.
And two, the other reason
why I like it so much,
right now, there's a lamp
in front of it.
But if we get to go on E.V.A.,
that is the door right
there through which
we're leaving for E.V.A.'s.
[murmurs]
Good, hold the face plate.
- Yeah.
[suit rustles]
Good?
Alright, arms in first.
[Andrzej] So battery goes in.
[velcro crinkles]
[Andrzej] Putting weight on you.
[Christiane] Mhm.
And black with black?
[Andrzej] Yeah. Make sure
you're connecting
the one that says battery.
OK.
So, top fan all the way
and then slightly back.
[taps]
[footsteps crunch]
[Carmel] Tristan, Christiane,
Cyprien and I
are always exploring,
learning something new about
this foreign landscape
that we knew nothing
about when we got here.
[radio crackles]
[footsteps]
[Christiane] Lava tubes are
very important for Mars research
because, one hand,
they might provide shelter
for the crew
from solar radiation events,
and they might also
be the place where
you could find life
that has survived on Mars.
[dreamy music builds]
[breathing]
[radio crackles]
[deep breaths]
[heavy breathing]
[radio crackles]
[music continues]
[music builds]
[footsteps]
[heavy breathing]
[heavy breathing]
[tense music]
[Christiane] Suddenly I noticed,
huh, it's quiet in here.
[deep breathing]
If it's quiet, that means
there's no fan.
If there's no fan, that
means there's no air.
I mean, it's not
a fully functional suit,
but it's functional
enough so that you don't
get any air into
the suit if the fan is out.
[music builds]
[breathing]
So, I signaled Cyprien.
He immediately
went to my backpack
and he tried to turn it off,
turn it back on again,
didn't help.
He checked the cables,
didn't help.
And then, we were like, well,
if I don't have any air,
we have to go back to
the Habitat immediately.
[music and breathing continue]
[Christiane] So, I was like,
"OK, stay calm.
If you start panicking, well,
then you're using up
your air even faster."
[music quickens]
[footsteps crunch]
[tense music fades]
[breath slows]
[door squeaks]
[Christiane breathes deeply]
[zipper whirs]
[footsteps]
[plastic crinkles]
[Christiane]
I mean, we were on Earth.
If I had passed out, I mean,
all Cyprien had to do was
take the helmet off.
But then, the whole
accomplishment
of surviving the dome
with these five other people
would be for nothing.
[Tristan] Worse comes to worst,
there is an emergency
phone where you could
call Mission support,
who could always do something.
And if I want to leave, I mean,
I can. Nothing's stopping me.
I could walk out the door
any time I want,
but there are probably
hundreds of people
and I'm sure something
over a million
dollars making
everything happen.
The more I suffer in there,
the more accurate
all of the data will be.
[pensive music]
NASA will use the data
after it's been processed
and published for
the actual mission to Mars,
and there's so few people
in the whole of humanity
that are doing this
kind of research.
If I even went and screwed
around the data a little
bit somehow,
left or lied on my surveys,
That would end up having
a huge impact negatively on
the whole of what people are
trying to do with space travel.
[music continues]
[murmurs]
[silverware clinks]
[Sheyna] It's winter.
I think a lot of the people...
[uplifting music]
[ice creaks]
[wood creaks and shatters]
[music continues]
[wind howls]
[music fades]
[Christiane] If you
read accounts
of any expeditions,
if you think of mutiny
and you know,
there must be something
that makes it difficult for
people to be in isolation
for a very long time.
If we want to send
humans to Mars,
can we as a group
manage surviving
essentially just the six
of us for an entire year?
[peaceful music]
[inhales]
[Sheyna] I'm a physician,
but it's a childhood thing,
I've always wanted
to be an astronaut.
For humans to travel in space
to Mars, to other planets,
to other stars and other
planets around other stars
is interestingly us being
the most human we can be.
Our bravest,
our most innovative,
our boldest,
our most courageous.
It really epitomizes who
we are as a species.
[music continues]
I have been thinking about
this since I was 18 years old,
what it would be like to
do a real Mars mission.
I have imagined that
and it's something I want.
It has to be something
you really are driven to do.
The fact that I have two
cats, a home in St.
Louis, a husband
is almost irrelevant.
Family, that's not useful
in space.
So, in this V.R, the sun is
coming in from that side.
[Andrzej] I want to be
an astronaut for NASA
and a lot of the missions
that NASA is
looking at doing in the future
are more long duration
type missions.
So, six month stays on
the International Space Station,
missions to asteroids,
mission to Mars.
And these are missions that
take months or even years.
So, NASA is looking for the kind
of people that have experience
being isolated for
extended periods of time.
[Sheyna] OK, is that toastie
good or toastie bad?
That was toastie Australia.
[laughs]
[Sheyna] OK, well, that is,
'cause
this is actually
a beach in Australia.
[Andrzej] So, I think
at least in my case,
I'm the sort of person
who's OK with
not feeling the sunshine on his
face or the wind in his hair.
I'm OK with that.
It turns out I feel quite at
home and quite comfortable
in very cold
mechanical environment.
Thank you for brunch.
No, no worries.
[Sheyna] From a
medical perspective,
any time people step out
the door
even to do simple things,
I'm worried.
That's just part of my job.
I worry professionally.
Humans, if they're going to
make it to Mars in one piece,
they've done
a great job already.
But the real trick of it is to
stay alive and come back alive.
People are scrabbling
down rocks.
You're wearing a suit.
Can't see well,
it's very slippery.
This is real danger.
Real need to follow protocols
to ensure of everybody's safety.
[slow guitar music]
[rocks crumble]
[deep breathing]
[Carmel] So, four of us
really like to have fun
and we like to go out
and do all different
crazy things
you can do out here without,
like, being dangerous
because you can't really
hurt yourself when you're
out there anyways.
[Tristan] Caramel and I
and the Europeans
very much enjoy going outside,
running around the rocks.
We'd have E.V.A. 's
with something of an objective,
but it was more us just
like exploring and having
a good time getting
out of the dome.
[music continues]
Alright same thing as before.
Down and to the side.
[Sheyna] So, NASA talked about
the knowledge gaps that
exist, that we have
to solve before we,
any of us can go
to Mars or actually...
[Sheyna] We're up there
to survive and do the work,
get the data, prepare for
the mission to space.
That's just the way
priorities have to be.
[Tristan] Both Shey and Anjay
want to join NASA
and become an astronaut,
and they were extraordinarily
rigid in what they
were perceiving as
the right thing to do.
The by-the-book thing to do.
This is how NASA does it.
This is the only way.
[Sheyna] This is a hard fact.
You want less partial pressure
to go through
cause you don't like it
when things catch on fire.
[Tristan] Like you could totally
get hurt out there.
You get a couple of
little cuts or whatever.
But there's being safe
and then there's Shey and Anjay,
who would not leave
the dome to do anything
except the absolute
mandatory tasks.
[Sheyna] Draw a line, draw
a line down the middle
from the little notch
in their neck.
How was it?
[grunts]
[lights buzz]
We can see a change
in how people behave
because in the beginning,
you know,
people don't really know each
other and they're--
they're at their best,
they show their best side,
but you cannot do that
for many months.
Yeah, so, as time goes by,
people reveal themselves
more and more.
[soft music]
[murmurs]
I would not object to that.
[Tristan vocalizes]
[inaudible conversation]
[Tristan laughs]
[music continues]
[music fades]
[grunts]
[Tristan] Oh!
[laughs]
[stair creaks]
[thud]
[footsteps]
Forward. [laughs]
[grunts]
[fans whir]
[wind]
[suits crinkle]
[Tristan] People might be out
there in those suits,
two teams of two people
for four hours,
and so I'm just like
drinking coffee,
hanging out at my desk
in the living room.
I'm just like, [vocalizes]
"Got all this time to myself,
nobody's around,
This is the best thing I ever."
Everybody on Earth
sort of is like, "Oh,
dinners must be
everybody's favorite time,
you finally get to be social
and talk to everyone,
get your quota
of human interaction."
That is not the actual case.
You're very isolated
from everybody else,
but the people you're with
are always right there.
There's no soundproofing,
you hear everything.
[guitar plays]
[treadmill whirs]
[pipe plays]
[inaudible conversation]
I'm waiting a little bit
because they're very loud.
Can you be a bit quieter?
I'm teaching myself here
how to play the harmonica.
[Tristan] How does
everybody tell?
[laughs]
[Christiane] Right.
How do you and your fellow crew
members define personal space
and recognize each other's
boundaries
in such tight quarters?
Boundaries, which boundaries?
[Christiane laughs]
[laughs]
apparatus,
[Christiane] Let me ask them
to be a little bit quiet.
[tent zipper]
Um, guys, can you tone it
down a little bit?
We're recording.
[Tristan] You can see
into almost
every other spot from any spot,
especially in the living room.
You can look up and see which
rooms have their door closed.
Even if the light is on, you
can see into the kitchen,
half the c-can,
down into the bio lab.
You're always just
a little tense or watching
what you say or
psychologically wound up.
I wouldn't mind
if friends and family sent
a few more e-mails
or video messages.
We're actually up here in
isolation and confinement.
There is very little news.
There's no real contact
with the outside world.
Starts to get to you
a little bit.
[can thuds]
[cauliflower crinkles]
[ham crinkles]
[water splashes]
[water splashes]
[food sizzles]
[Carmel] I like being isolated
and not being connected
to the real world.
It's nice to not hear about
another school shooting
or another tragedy
that's happened.
We get news probably once
a week from mission support.
They give us a big batch
of news that's happened.
Other than that really the only
thing you find out is from
friends and family when they
send you e-mails and they say,
"Oh yeah like,
the farm down the road
is now becoming
a bunch of condos."
And all sorts of
other crazy things that,
you're like, "I don't
want to know about that."
[Carmel] There's so much grass.
Oh, my gosh,
look at this guy.
These are the only chives
that have survived
and only chives that
have been able to start.
And so, now we will have--
This guy's growing good.
[Sheyna] Yeah.
Christiane has got a pea,
that has a flower on it.
[Sheyna] Aw.
And you can see
her little flower.
[Sheyna] Yeah.
- So pretty.
So, growing plants is
really important both for
a nutrient aspect as
well as mental health.
Because I'd say that growing
plants definitely helps keep
some of us more sane than
we would be otherwise.
[soft music]
Pretty much anywhere you can
put plants, we have put them.
We have them under the stairs
and in our bedrooms
and in the c-can.
[Tristan] Let's see.
So, we've got this Nalgene
bottle that Carmel put by
the toilet and she demands
that all the boys pee in it.
Cause I use the pee
to water the plants.
[music continues]
[Tristan sighs]
It makes me so happy.
[Sheyna chuckles]
This is my tomato
and the tomato was about
this big and it was dying,
and now it's growing,
and it's happy,
and it's very healthy,
and it's very--
it makes me happy
to watch plants grow because
it's nature in the Hab
and it smells [sniffs]
it smells like a tomato.
Let's let the camera smell.
You know,
I wonder what
the psychology is behind
why plants make people happy.
It probably has to do
with a connection to nature
and a meaning in your life,
and I don't know enough
about it, but...
[camera beeps]
[Christiane]
Camera is on.
Alright.
So, we're going to harvest
some radish greens.
[snip]
[snip]
I will give everybody two today.
[inaudible]
It has a purpose.
[Sheyna]
These the radish greens?
[Cyprien] Yes.
[Sheyna] Awesome.
[murmurs]
Wow, those are so good.
It's OK.
Whoever made the radish
greens, good job.
[Carmel] The sun and the light
and water and the rock.
Delicious. How long
did they take?
About three months.
Wow.
So, every three months
we get a bowl with
about six leaves in it?
[wind]
[foreboding music]
[background chatter]
[Tristan] We try very,
very hard to
conserve as much
water as we can.
I think our average
is something like five
to seven gallons
per person per day.
So, when you compare that to
the typical 80 to 100 gallons
of water used by most people
a day, it's ridiculous.
[music continues]
[pan sizzles]
[foreboding music]
[water runs]
There's no perfect solution
for this problem.
I'm kinda worried that
when I get out of here,
I'll go back to my old place
and start annoying my
roommates with constant
bickering about washing
suds off of plates
and taking 15-minute showers
when you can do it totally
fine in 50 seconds.
We only had so much water
and we would seriously
jeopardize the data
if we went over.
[music continues]
[background chatter]
Why don't you just--
keep up and try it, right?
OK.
So, we're making
some fresh cream cheese,
and starting from scratch.
We had some dry cultures
that we started the mission with
that we can bring along with us,
and we've just kept them
going throughout.
[Tristian] Do you want
me to just, like,
chat at you and you can
pontificate?
Into the camera.
Don't look at me.
Sorry.
Until Mr. Loud Face
downstairs shuts up.
No, I'll just finish
and then bedone.
[Tristan] OK.
- OK.
What's the next one?
[Tristan] Uh...
What has surprised you about
your experience
living in the dome,
aside from the fact that
you have not yet killed anyone?
I honestly think
that if they actually
got to Mars
and they had their like,
little line of tiny
tin can habitats,
the number one cause of
death would be eople
airlocking other people
for being annoying.
[laughs]
Like,
that's what's going to
happen if they survive
the radiation and the pressure
and the trip and everything
and managed to get there,
they'll just kill each other.
Yeah, there's little things
that start to bother you
that in normal life you
can just walk away from.
If you have a co-worker
at home that chews food
in a weird way
or they walk really loudly
or they snap their fingers
when they're
walking or whatever
it is that they do,
you can just ignore it
or you can walk away
from it and know
at the end of the day
you can go home and
you never have to see
them until you see
them the next day.
But here you see
them all day, every day,
and you never, ever, ever
get a break from them.
And eventually it comes to
the point where you can't
live with it anymore because
it's so goddamn annoying.
And you're like,
"I cannot take this anymore."
Like, do your fucking dishes.
Sorry.
And we do get to go outside
on E.V.A., which is nice,
but that's only twice a week
and for only a couple hours,
whereas I would just love
to be outside all day,
every day for the rest
of my life, which is
what I plan on doing now.
Um... [laughs]
Yeah, I like being outside.
It's just weird that I chose
to live inside for a year.
Who's the 1,000 pound
goblin stomping around outside?
Maybe we can put more
pillows and stuff here.
[Tristan] That's not gonna
block out his voice.
[Andrzej speaks distantly]
It's doing something at least...
Oh, it did nothing.
[Tristan] Did nothing.
- Okay, next question.
[Tristan] What do you enjoy
about dome life?
Hm...
Um...
[Andrzej] Alright
there should be plenty
I saved a little bit,
just in case
we lose this batch--
[Carmel] Alright remember to
look at the camera.
There we go.
[sighs]
As possessed as you can do.
How does it feel
to stay in touch with
family and friends only
through delayed email?
It feels like
they never write back,
and no one's keeping in touch.
So that's pretty much it.
Yeah.
I'll write them a big
email and then I'll get
maybe a paragraph back,
maybe once a month,
a couple of sentences and all
except maybe two friends
who've just completely
stopped writing.
So, it's not so much
a delay as it is an ignore,
But I would presume that
on a real Mars mission,
NASA would have like
correspondance ninjas
forcing people to
actually respond, hopefully.
But really, we have been
totally forgotten up here,
by even family.
[Carmel] Yep.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
[pensive piano music]
Hey Cash, happy birthday!
It's Auntie,
and I just wanted to say that
I love you very much,
and that I hope you had
a very happy birthday.
I want you to know that
I think about you all the time.
And I've got pictures of you
up on that wall,
and I've got
your drawing pictures
up on my other wall
with my plants that I'm growing.
Love you! Happy birthday.
[music continues]
[Tristan] When you remove TV
and social media,
all your familial networks,
all the distractions of life,
for hours and hours
every day, and it's just you,
and the only thing you can do
is have yourself a company.
And I mean, I had five other
people up there, but, you know,
sometimes you wouldn't
share more than three or
four words with them
over a couple of days.
It's just a horrible
psychological nightmare.
[salt shaker]
[dishes clink]
[wind]
[dreamy violin music]
[music continues]
[typing]
[music continues]
[chatter]
[microwave beeps]
It's really because the noodles
are kind of, they're too long.
Have you heard?
- Start heading up that way...
- Yep.
Alright, two cards please.
[table creaks]
Beijing gets a second one.
You think that you can go there.
- Miami gets a third.
- Uh oh.
[dreamy music]
[chatter]
[music continues]
[dishes clatter]
[kiss]
[ukelele plays]
[Cyprien] Because that's another
part of the habitat where
we are growing plants
and cyanobacteria.
You know, there was room.
[laughs]
Now I have to do it again.
Okay, this is another part--
[Christiane] Having someone
that you can talk to,
that you can vent to,
but also someone
who is venting to you
so that you feel useful,
that you feel needed.
I felt like a sponge
that had been compressed
for a long time
and was suddenly released.
[ukelele continues]
[Christiane]
So I'm a French media now.
Do you have a girlfriend?
[laughs]
Alright, does it ever get
boring and monotonous?
[laughs]
[chatter]
[Christiane] I had a
conversation with Carmel
once our relationship
was public within the crew
and she asked me,
"Do you know what you're
doing?" I'm like, "Yes,
I know what I'm doing."
So she was like, "I trust you."
NASA is kind of trying to
keep the topic down,
you know, relationships, sex,
those things, they don't happen.
That's kind of
the official line.
You know, if we really want
to think about sending humans
on missions that are two
and a half years long,
it's totally idiotic to believe
or to try to make people believe
that there's not going to be
any kind of relationship.
Alright, ready
to just give it up?
Yep.
[razor buzzes]
[beeping]
[Christiane] Are there
any plain ones here?
[grunts]
Sure.
[laughs]
[beeps]
[clatters]
Hey sweetie! By now you've
gotten the photos I sent.
I hope you had a good day,
and I love you a lot
and I will make another
video for you tomorrow.
I just want to give you
a quick goodnight video,
and I'll see you tomorrow, bye.
[silence]
[Shey] I have always liked
the idea of being an astronaut,
but I didn't know what
it meant to actually
commit yourself to being
at work 24 hours a day,
seven days a week
for months on end.
I thought I knew what it
was like to always be
at work when I was
working in the hospital,
arriving at 5am,
going home at 8pm.
This is different.
[treadmill whirs]
I think the primary lesson
in coming to Mars is that
pretty much all you need
to survive and be happy:
water, food and someone to
talk to the end of the day.
[gentle music]
[camera beeps]
[Cyprien] Certain.
Sorry, another question.
Stop it!
You're making fun of me.
Not true.
[Cyprien] Have you been
reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since we got here,
I've been reading the news
quite frequently,
Um...
although less frequently
than back at home.
So maybe several times
a week or so.
Um...
I basically read everything
that, you know,
comes through
to me,
that makes it to my screen,
Um...
Um, too much um,
I'm gonna try again.
What was the question?
[laughs]
Have you been reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since I got here,
I've been following the news
quite frequently,
although not as frequently
as I would have if I would
have been at home,
Um...
What else? Damn it.
I'm too tired, I can't focus.
I have...
What have you most kept...
I've been reading
and whatever, whatever happens,
[coughs]
- Yep.
- Okay, I will try again.
OK. OK...
Have you been reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since...
[stammers]
[uneasy tone]
[Sheyna] Knock knock.
Yeah.
[zipper]
[uneasy music builds]
What else can I say?
[music continues]
[shaky breathing]
[breaths continue]
[treadmill whirs]
[Christiane] One of the side
experiments of HI-SEAS was
to test our cognitive
development during
the mission because there's
some suspicion
or some fear that
people in isolation,
because there's
a lack of stimuli,
that their cognitive
abilities are declining.
We were picked for
certain characteristics,
not being the kind of person who
panics about something
very easily.
But there was always this
nagging question
I was wondering about
is the stress level
that we're experiencing,
is that like the normal stress
level that you're supposed
to experience or is it
already going beyond?
[muffled conversation]
Should we worry about this,
what we are experiencing,
is it normal or is it
already so high that
we should take
some action against it?
[conversation distorts]
[dark music builds]
It creeps up on you.
Like the frog that you're
putting into the water,
if it's boiling,
then it jumps right out.
but if you gradually
increase the temperature,
then it stays there
until it's dead.
And it's just overwhelming.
[muffled wind]
[somber music]
[disconcerting music]
[disconcerting music]
[wind]
[typing]
[typing]
[camera rattles and beeps]
[air whirs]
[treadmill whirs]
It's just kind of frustrating
because it was the middle
of the night in Paris.
It was evening in the beginning,
but then when I--
I was getting more news,
towards getting into
the night and so I don't
have any way to contact
my friends and family.
I could not pick up
the phone, of course.
I could just send emails, which
I know would arrive later on,
probably not being answered
before the next day.
That's why I didn't know before
the day after whether anyone
within my family
and friends had been killed.
So we are reading mostly
what people send us,
which is mostly what people
expect us to want to know.
So most of the news we have
here are space related,
like I knew quite well to...
news about space,
but I just learned that
Paris was rioting because
of a new law which was presented
already several weeks ago.
And that it's very hard
to find gas.
It's very hard to take
the train and so on.
And there are people
mobilizing the streets.
There are violence against
the cops and things like these.
And, well, I just heard
about it weeks after.
It's going to be weird to
come out and see everything.
[somber music]
[somber music]
[muffled chatter]
[laughs]
[Christiane]
OK, camera... running.
I think that...
[Christiane] Why do you care?
You will be dead anyway.
Yeah, but...
[laughs]
[laughs]
[serene music]
[seagulls call]
[flesh tears]
[ship bell tolls]
[wind]
[chuckles]
[murmurs]
[laughs]
[Tristan] We had taken the
pump apart,
moved all these tubes,
drained the solar water here,
trying to find out why
we can't get the PSI on
everything above 20,
because we needed to be 30 or 40
to actually run
all the water systems.
And for two weeks, we're like
trying to have people
troubleshoot things.
[footsteps]
[foreboding music]
[breaths]
[lid rattles]
[Tristan] You know, they're
arguing about how to do this.
Should we leave the pump on?
And they're just back
and forth, back and forth,
completely disagreeing about
how it should be done.
[Tristan] People were very
intense and emotional.
No one's had a shower
or anything
and nothing's working at all.
[somber music]
[soap squelches]
[brush rustles]
[wind]
[camera rustles]
[sighs]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
OK.
[laptop rattles]
[hammer thuds]
[hopeful music]
[saw]
[music builds]
[suits crinkle]
[music continues]
[footsteps]
[breathing]
[hopeful music continues]
[driving music]
[laughs]
Things that are popular
right now, we're not aware of.
We're gonna go back out
at the end of the mission
into a world full of
jokes we've never heard,
music we've never listened to.
[Carmel] I love the outside.
I don't what else to say
other than that. [laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
The sky is burning.
[Andrzej] The sky is burning?
- Have you seen this?
[Andrzej] Yes.
[Sheyna] The door's gonna open.
I'm sure the sun
will be blinding.
I'm sure the wind
will feel great.
My husband is gonna
be right there.
Irrespective of whatever
else is in the way,
they better move.
They will need to part,
so that I can pass.
I'm looking forward to
that very much.
It will also be great to
see friends and family again.
Be able to run outside,
to swim.
I'm going to enjoy also some
good wine and cheese too.
[Carmel] It is recording.
[peaceful music]
Goodbye.
[laughs]
[music fades]
[crowd chatters]
[woman] Right, Oops, okay.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Come on.
- They have returned!
[applause]
[cheers]
[inspirational music]
Yeah, it's really surreal.
So I don't even know if--
[laughs]
[crowd chatter]
[laughter]
I haven't felt this, though.
This is pretty great.
[laughs]
This is pretty great.
Little rain, little winds. Yeah.
[inspirational music continues]
[interviewer] Psychologically,
how are you guys
feeling right now?
Is it very overwhelming?
- Happy!
[laughs]
[Carmel]
It's great to be out here
and have so many
people out here also,
'cause we're used to just
the four of us walking
around and never seeing
another soul, so.
This all seems kind of illegal.
Yeah.
[laughs]
[music continues]
[music continues]
[waves]
[traffic]
[plane whirs]
[footsteps]
[waves]
[seagulls]
[music fades]
[waves crash]
["Inner World" -
Dirty Projectors]
What if I don't
know the way
to get back
to the way I was?
What if I don't wanna stay
along the path
uninterrupted?
Is there a prayer
I could say
to click my heels
and be above it?
Lost the habit
Calling to get through
Remedy calls
I'm losing me for you
All through the undertow
I pursue the bay
Ceaselessly swept out
though
Swimming the other way
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Wanted to help it
Fold it up in two
Spaces for roses
They forgot to hold
Where is it taking me?
I can only know, yeah
After the tides recede
And we are free to grow
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Lost the habit
Calling to get through
Remedy calls
I'm losing me for you
All through the undertow
I pursue the bay
Ceaselessly swept out
though
Swimming the other way
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
[rumbling music]
[wind]
[building music]
[interviewer] OK, recording on.
[Christiane] Obviously, many
people can live in big cities
without being able to go hike in
the woods or hike in
the mountains or anywhere
outside for a very long time.
[door squeaks]
[footsteps]
You can live without
plants, without sunlight,
without friends or family.
It's a difficult question.
What do humans really need to
be happy, healthy and sane?
[dreamy music fades]
[car rumbles]
[reporter] For centuries, humans
have looked up and wondered
what life on Mars might be like.
Well, NASA scientists, setting
their sights on a
manned expedition,
are already testing
the limits of the human mind
to see if astronauts can
even handle the trip.
[inspirational music builds]
[cheers]
[interviewer] Six scientists
are living in
a Mars simulation habitat
for one year to study
the effects of isolation.
The experiment will
create guidelines for
future missions
to the Red Planet.
[music continues]
[male reporter] The project
is known as
the Hawaii Space Exploration
Analog and Simulation,
or HI-SEAS, for short.
[Dr. Kim Binsted] These are
problems that we need to solve
before we can send
people on long duration space
flights and crew cohesion,
that very question, how do you
keep astronauts sane and happy?
We're going to go a long
way towards solving that.
[music continues]
[applause]
[woman] Bon Voyage!
Enjoy Mars! [door shuts]
[music continues]
[camera beeps]
Okay, sorry.
[laughs]
Hi!
We're the Hi-Seas
Four Mission crew.
We're currently simulating
a one year mission
on the planet Mars.
[camera rattles]
[inspirational music]
[camera rattles]
[lens whirs]
[camera beeps]
[Sheyna] Welcome to our Habitat.
Upstairs are the crew quarters.
It's pretty roomy for
a 1200 square foot place.
[muffled voices and music]
OK, let's see what's
going on in the airlock.
Hey!
[laughs] It's our
astrobiologist.
How is the beach?
It was cool. Warm.
Warm, yeah.
[chuckles]
Alright, so, this is the C-Can.
We have a wide assortment of
freeze dried everything
you could ever imagine.
[Christiane] Yay.
[Sheyna] Yeah. Alright.
Our bathroom.
[laughs]
And the probably most
important piece, the timer.
[laughs] The timer.
[Christiane] So, don't take a
20 minute shower please.
[Sheyna] Yeah, no.
Our showers are like, on the
order of 30 seconds
to two minutes.
[footsteps]
And that's the view
from simulated Mars.
This is what we see. Every day.
[footsteps]
[clicks]
[air hisses]
Testing, testing.
One, two, three.
[Sheyna] Camera.
Hi, I'm Christiane Heinicke,
and I'm the Chief
Scientific Officer of
HI-SEAS Mission Four.
And, as you can hear from
my accent, I'm German.
When I heard about this project,
I thought it was
a very cool project,
which is advancing
space exploration.
But also, it's a personal
challenge for me because
not everyone can
endure the darkness,
can endure the isolation,
being around the same
people all the time.
I was just curious if, you know,
if I have the right stuff
to go to Mars.
Oh, yeah, and so far,
I'm doing good.
[dreamy music]
[music continues]
[typing]
[dialogue from The Martian]
Alert the media?
[character] Sorry, what are you
doing today, Martinez?
Making sure the mav
is still upright.
[dialogue continues]
The quiche is really,
really good.
Very good.
[razor whirs]
I'd never shaved anybody
before coming here.
I'd never grown a beard
before coming here.
Fair enough.
[Andrzej] We essentially started
as six strangers.
NASA is testing our
psychological and mental
well-being while
we're here to learn
how a small crew
gets along together
when separated
from planet Earth.
The psychological aspect,
how do we deal with that?
[device rattles]
[Andrzej] Surveys.
[Sheyna] Surveys.
[Andrzej] So many surveys.
[Sheyna] So many surveys.
So many surveys.
[laughs]
[Sheyna] I'll be right there
to do mine. [chuckles]
I think this one's better
than the forecast.
[Carmel] A quiet night?
- Yeah.
I think so.
- Yeah, those--
[camera beeps]
Zooming?
[Christiane] Yeah.
Okay. [chuckles]
[stammers] Voila.
[laughs]
She's official.
[harmonica and ukelele play
"House of the Rising Sun"]
[harmonica and ukelele play
"House of the Rising Sun"]
[music continues]
[treadmill whirs]
[Sheyna] See? [laughs]
[Cyprien] Yeah!
OK, high five.
Sure, well done.
[claps]
[Sheyna] We are science.
Everything about our perceptions
and our communication
and how we work together
as a group,
everything about us
in our lives,
inside and out,
is being studied.
[cheerful music continues]
Yep, that's it.
Turn this over?
- Yep.
[orchestral music]
[typing]
[music continues]
[treadmill whirs]
[Tristan] I originally
had no intention
of running a marathon.
You look out the window and
watch the sunlight change,
which when you don't have
most technology
or Internet connection
is actually fascinating -
and I just kept going.
[contemplative music]
[water spritz]
Come on, run faster!
[treadmill continues]
[Carmel laughs]
I think a big part of this
for me is that I'm doing
graduate school for
architecture and have chosen
to focus very exclusively
on space architecture,
which is, kind of a less
than typical thing.
[Tristan] What I'm working
on is more of
the design side
of space architecture.
You leave the ship to
the guys, you can, sort of,
do the math and
the engineering and work
much more on the human elements.
So, instead of going to
school and reading some
lecture-y things
and going through journals,
all that stuff, I actually am
kind of getting to live it.
[inspirational music]
[treadmill beeps]
[Sheyna] Tristan! Tristan!
Oh yeah I just got it.
That's how I'm walking now.
[Cyprien] Yay!
[claps]
[Tristan sighs]
[Tristan] And it turns out,
that treadmill's motherboard is
a little shot and everything is
not measured so appropriately,
that at the pace I was running,
I actually ran 32 miles.
It's kind of an interesting
forced environmental
change, like,
everybody sort of reacts to
the places they're at, you know,
people go to college
and put on their Freshman 15
or start grad school,
put on the Grad School 45,
or more sometimes.
I mean, we always sort of change
based on where we're at,
and up here, it's sort of--
[Sheyna] You're losing weight.
Yeah, basically losing weight.
You have to work out every day
and you need to find
something to fill
the hours because
you can't really
browse online
or go see your friends.
There's no drinks, no
parties, no, you know,
place you can go
get a crazy tan.
It's like almost forced into
the austere,
vaguely monkish life.
[treadmill whirs]
[Andrzej] Gonna get the potatoes
done and out the way.
[Sheyna] OK.
[Andrzej] Turkey constituting
and gravy going.
We'll figure that bit out last.
[spoon taps]
[Andrzej] I made this turkey
all by myself.
[Sheyna] You did, I saw you
add the water.
[Andrzej] Yeah!
[laughs]
Ooh! I get my own little one.
[murmurs]
[chairs creak]
[laughs]
[Cyprien] Christiane,
what is your favorite
part of the habitat?
[footsteps]
[Christiane] So,
that's the airlock
my favorite part of the Habitat.
One, because
it's the brightest, well,
one of the brightest parts
of the Habitat.
See? It's all bright.
And two, the other reason
why I like it so much,
right now, there's a lamp
in front of it.
But if we get to go on E.V.A.,
that is the door right
there through which
we're leaving for E.V.A.'s.
[murmurs]
Good, hold the face plate.
- Yeah.
[suit rustles]
Good?
Alright, arms in first.
[Andrzej] So battery goes in.
[velcro crinkles]
[Andrzej] Putting weight on you.
[Christiane] Mhm.
And black with black?
[Andrzej] Yeah. Make sure
you're connecting
the one that says battery.
OK.
So, top fan all the way
and then slightly back.
[taps]
[footsteps crunch]
[Carmel] Tristan, Christiane,
Cyprien and I
are always exploring,
learning something new about
this foreign landscape
that we knew nothing
about when we got here.
[radio crackles]
[footsteps]
[Christiane] Lava tubes are
very important for Mars research
because, one hand,
they might provide shelter
for the crew
from solar radiation events,
and they might also
be the place where
you could find life
that has survived on Mars.
[dreamy music builds]
[breathing]
[radio crackles]
[deep breaths]
[heavy breathing]
[radio crackles]
[music continues]
[music builds]
[footsteps]
[heavy breathing]
[heavy breathing]
[tense music]
[Christiane] Suddenly I noticed,
huh, it's quiet in here.
[deep breathing]
If it's quiet, that means
there's no fan.
If there's no fan, that
means there's no air.
I mean, it's not
a fully functional suit,
but it's functional
enough so that you don't
get any air into
the suit if the fan is out.
[music builds]
[breathing]
So, I signaled Cyprien.
He immediately
went to my backpack
and he tried to turn it off,
turn it back on again,
didn't help.
He checked the cables,
didn't help.
And then, we were like, well,
if I don't have any air,
we have to go back to
the Habitat immediately.
[music and breathing continue]
[Christiane] So, I was like,
"OK, stay calm.
If you start panicking, well,
then you're using up
your air even faster."
[music quickens]
[footsteps crunch]
[tense music fades]
[breath slows]
[door squeaks]
[Christiane breathes deeply]
[zipper whirs]
[footsteps]
[plastic crinkles]
[Christiane]
I mean, we were on Earth.
If I had passed out, I mean,
all Cyprien had to do was
take the helmet off.
But then, the whole
accomplishment
of surviving the dome
with these five other people
would be for nothing.
[Tristan] Worse comes to worst,
there is an emergency
phone where you could
call Mission support,
who could always do something.
And if I want to leave, I mean,
I can. Nothing's stopping me.
I could walk out the door
any time I want,
but there are probably
hundreds of people
and I'm sure something
over a million
dollars making
everything happen.
The more I suffer in there,
the more accurate
all of the data will be.
[pensive music]
NASA will use the data
after it's been processed
and published for
the actual mission to Mars,
and there's so few people
in the whole of humanity
that are doing this
kind of research.
If I even went and screwed
around the data a little
bit somehow,
left or lied on my surveys,
That would end up having
a huge impact negatively on
the whole of what people are
trying to do with space travel.
[music continues]
[murmurs]
[silverware clinks]
[Sheyna] It's winter.
I think a lot of the people...
[uplifting music]
[ice creaks]
[wood creaks and shatters]
[music continues]
[wind howls]
[music fades]
[Christiane] If you
read accounts
of any expeditions,
if you think of mutiny
and you know,
there must be something
that makes it difficult for
people to be in isolation
for a very long time.
If we want to send
humans to Mars,
can we as a group
manage surviving
essentially just the six
of us for an entire year?
[peaceful music]
[inhales]
[Sheyna] I'm a physician,
but it's a childhood thing,
I've always wanted
to be an astronaut.
For humans to travel in space
to Mars, to other planets,
to other stars and other
planets around other stars
is interestingly us being
the most human we can be.
Our bravest,
our most innovative,
our boldest,
our most courageous.
It really epitomizes who
we are as a species.
[music continues]
I have been thinking about
this since I was 18 years old,
what it would be like to
do a real Mars mission.
I have imagined that
and it's something I want.
It has to be something
you really are driven to do.
The fact that I have two
cats, a home in St.
Louis, a husband
is almost irrelevant.
Family, that's not useful
in space.
So, in this V.R, the sun is
coming in from that side.
[Andrzej] I want to be
an astronaut for NASA
and a lot of the missions
that NASA is
looking at doing in the future
are more long duration
type missions.
So, six month stays on
the International Space Station,
missions to asteroids,
mission to Mars.
And these are missions that
take months or even years.
So, NASA is looking for the kind
of people that have experience
being isolated for
extended periods of time.
[Sheyna] OK, is that toastie
good or toastie bad?
That was toastie Australia.
[laughs]
[Sheyna] OK, well, that is,
'cause
this is actually
a beach in Australia.
[Andrzej] So, I think
at least in my case,
I'm the sort of person
who's OK with
not feeling the sunshine on his
face or the wind in his hair.
I'm OK with that.
It turns out I feel quite at
home and quite comfortable
in very cold
mechanical environment.
Thank you for brunch.
No, no worries.
[Sheyna] From a
medical perspective,
any time people step out
the door
even to do simple things,
I'm worried.
That's just part of my job.
I worry professionally.
Humans, if they're going to
make it to Mars in one piece,
they've done
a great job already.
But the real trick of it is to
stay alive and come back alive.
People are scrabbling
down rocks.
You're wearing a suit.
Can't see well,
it's very slippery.
This is real danger.
Real need to follow protocols
to ensure of everybody's safety.
[slow guitar music]
[rocks crumble]
[deep breathing]
[Carmel] So, four of us
really like to have fun
and we like to go out
and do all different
crazy things
you can do out here without,
like, being dangerous
because you can't really
hurt yourself when you're
out there anyways.
[Tristan] Caramel and I
and the Europeans
very much enjoy going outside,
running around the rocks.
We'd have E.V.A. 's
with something of an objective,
but it was more us just
like exploring and having
a good time getting
out of the dome.
[music continues]
Alright same thing as before.
Down and to the side.
[Sheyna] So, NASA talked about
the knowledge gaps that
exist, that we have
to solve before we,
any of us can go
to Mars or actually...
[Sheyna] We're up there
to survive and do the work,
get the data, prepare for
the mission to space.
That's just the way
priorities have to be.
[Tristan] Both Shey and Anjay
want to join NASA
and become an astronaut,
and they were extraordinarily
rigid in what they
were perceiving as
the right thing to do.
The by-the-book thing to do.
This is how NASA does it.
This is the only way.
[Sheyna] This is a hard fact.
You want less partial pressure
to go through
cause you don't like it
when things catch on fire.
[Tristan] Like you could totally
get hurt out there.
You get a couple of
little cuts or whatever.
But there's being safe
and then there's Shey and Anjay,
who would not leave
the dome to do anything
except the absolute
mandatory tasks.
[Sheyna] Draw a line, draw
a line down the middle
from the little notch
in their neck.
How was it?
[grunts]
[lights buzz]
We can see a change
in how people behave
because in the beginning,
you know,
people don't really know each
other and they're--
they're at their best,
they show their best side,
but you cannot do that
for many months.
Yeah, so, as time goes by,
people reveal themselves
more and more.
[soft music]
[murmurs]
I would not object to that.
[Tristan vocalizes]
[inaudible conversation]
[Tristan laughs]
[music continues]
[music fades]
[grunts]
[Tristan] Oh!
[laughs]
[stair creaks]
[thud]
[footsteps]
Forward. [laughs]
[grunts]
[fans whir]
[wind]
[suits crinkle]
[Tristan] People might be out
there in those suits,
two teams of two people
for four hours,
and so I'm just like
drinking coffee,
hanging out at my desk
in the living room.
I'm just like, [vocalizes]
"Got all this time to myself,
nobody's around,
This is the best thing I ever."
Everybody on Earth
sort of is like, "Oh,
dinners must be
everybody's favorite time,
you finally get to be social
and talk to everyone,
get your quota
of human interaction."
That is not the actual case.
You're very isolated
from everybody else,
but the people you're with
are always right there.
There's no soundproofing,
you hear everything.
[guitar plays]
[treadmill whirs]
[pipe plays]
[inaudible conversation]
I'm waiting a little bit
because they're very loud.
Can you be a bit quieter?
I'm teaching myself here
how to play the harmonica.
[Tristan] How does
everybody tell?
[laughs]
[Christiane] Right.
How do you and your fellow crew
members define personal space
and recognize each other's
boundaries
in such tight quarters?
Boundaries, which boundaries?
[Christiane laughs]
[laughs]
apparatus,
[Christiane] Let me ask them
to be a little bit quiet.
[tent zipper]
Um, guys, can you tone it
down a little bit?
We're recording.
[Tristan] You can see
into almost
every other spot from any spot,
especially in the living room.
You can look up and see which
rooms have their door closed.
Even if the light is on, you
can see into the kitchen,
half the c-can,
down into the bio lab.
You're always just
a little tense or watching
what you say or
psychologically wound up.
I wouldn't mind
if friends and family sent
a few more e-mails
or video messages.
We're actually up here in
isolation and confinement.
There is very little news.
There's no real contact
with the outside world.
Starts to get to you
a little bit.
[can thuds]
[cauliflower crinkles]
[ham crinkles]
[water splashes]
[water splashes]
[food sizzles]
[Carmel] I like being isolated
and not being connected
to the real world.
It's nice to not hear about
another school shooting
or another tragedy
that's happened.
We get news probably once
a week from mission support.
They give us a big batch
of news that's happened.
Other than that really the only
thing you find out is from
friends and family when they
send you e-mails and they say,
"Oh yeah like,
the farm down the road
is now becoming
a bunch of condos."
And all sorts of
other crazy things that,
you're like, "I don't
want to know about that."
[Carmel] There's so much grass.
Oh, my gosh,
look at this guy.
These are the only chives
that have survived
and only chives that
have been able to start.
And so, now we will have--
This guy's growing good.
[Sheyna] Yeah.
Christiane has got a pea,
that has a flower on it.
[Sheyna] Aw.
And you can see
her little flower.
[Sheyna] Yeah.
- So pretty.
So, growing plants is
really important both for
a nutrient aspect as
well as mental health.
Because I'd say that growing
plants definitely helps keep
some of us more sane than
we would be otherwise.
[soft music]
Pretty much anywhere you can
put plants, we have put them.
We have them under the stairs
and in our bedrooms
and in the c-can.
[Tristan] Let's see.
So, we've got this Nalgene
bottle that Carmel put by
the toilet and she demands
that all the boys pee in it.
Cause I use the pee
to water the plants.
[music continues]
[Tristan sighs]
It makes me so happy.
[Sheyna chuckles]
This is my tomato
and the tomato was about
this big and it was dying,
and now it's growing,
and it's happy,
and it's very healthy,
and it's very--
it makes me happy
to watch plants grow because
it's nature in the Hab
and it smells [sniffs]
it smells like a tomato.
Let's let the camera smell.
You know,
I wonder what
the psychology is behind
why plants make people happy.
It probably has to do
with a connection to nature
and a meaning in your life,
and I don't know enough
about it, but...
[camera beeps]
[Christiane]
Camera is on.
Alright.
So, we're going to harvest
some radish greens.
[snip]
[snip]
I will give everybody two today.
[inaudible]
It has a purpose.
[Sheyna]
These the radish greens?
[Cyprien] Yes.
[Sheyna] Awesome.
[murmurs]
Wow, those are so good.
It's OK.
Whoever made the radish
greens, good job.
[Carmel] The sun and the light
and water and the rock.
Delicious. How long
did they take?
About three months.
Wow.
So, every three months
we get a bowl with
about six leaves in it?
[wind]
[foreboding music]
[background chatter]
[Tristan] We try very,
very hard to
conserve as much
water as we can.
I think our average
is something like five
to seven gallons
per person per day.
So, when you compare that to
the typical 80 to 100 gallons
of water used by most people
a day, it's ridiculous.
[music continues]
[pan sizzles]
[foreboding music]
[water runs]
There's no perfect solution
for this problem.
I'm kinda worried that
when I get out of here,
I'll go back to my old place
and start annoying my
roommates with constant
bickering about washing
suds off of plates
and taking 15-minute showers
when you can do it totally
fine in 50 seconds.
We only had so much water
and we would seriously
jeopardize the data
if we went over.
[music continues]
[background chatter]
Why don't you just--
keep up and try it, right?
OK.
So, we're making
some fresh cream cheese,
and starting from scratch.
We had some dry cultures
that we started the mission with
that we can bring along with us,
and we've just kept them
going throughout.
[Tristian] Do you want
me to just, like,
chat at you and you can
pontificate?
Into the camera.
Don't look at me.
Sorry.
Until Mr. Loud Face
downstairs shuts up.
No, I'll just finish
and then bedone.
[Tristan] OK.
- OK.
What's the next one?
[Tristan] Uh...
What has surprised you about
your experience
living in the dome,
aside from the fact that
you have not yet killed anyone?
I honestly think
that if they actually
got to Mars
and they had their like,
little line of tiny
tin can habitats,
the number one cause of
death would be eople
airlocking other people
for being annoying.
[laughs]
Like,
that's what's going to
happen if they survive
the radiation and the pressure
and the trip and everything
and managed to get there,
they'll just kill each other.
Yeah, there's little things
that start to bother you
that in normal life you
can just walk away from.
If you have a co-worker
at home that chews food
in a weird way
or they walk really loudly
or they snap their fingers
when they're
walking or whatever
it is that they do,
you can just ignore it
or you can walk away
from it and know
at the end of the day
you can go home and
you never have to see
them until you see
them the next day.
But here you see
them all day, every day,
and you never, ever, ever
get a break from them.
And eventually it comes to
the point where you can't
live with it anymore because
it's so goddamn annoying.
And you're like,
"I cannot take this anymore."
Like, do your fucking dishes.
Sorry.
And we do get to go outside
on E.V.A., which is nice,
but that's only twice a week
and for only a couple hours,
whereas I would just love
to be outside all day,
every day for the rest
of my life, which is
what I plan on doing now.
Um... [laughs]
Yeah, I like being outside.
It's just weird that I chose
to live inside for a year.
Who's the 1,000 pound
goblin stomping around outside?
Maybe we can put more
pillows and stuff here.
[Tristan] That's not gonna
block out his voice.
[Andrzej speaks distantly]
It's doing something at least...
Oh, it did nothing.
[Tristan] Did nothing.
- Okay, next question.
[Tristan] What do you enjoy
about dome life?
Hm...
Um...
[Andrzej] Alright
there should be plenty
I saved a little bit,
just in case
we lose this batch--
[Carmel] Alright remember to
look at the camera.
There we go.
[sighs]
As possessed as you can do.
How does it feel
to stay in touch with
family and friends only
through delayed email?
It feels like
they never write back,
and no one's keeping in touch.
So that's pretty much it.
Yeah.
I'll write them a big
email and then I'll get
maybe a paragraph back,
maybe once a month,
a couple of sentences and all
except maybe two friends
who've just completely
stopped writing.
So, it's not so much
a delay as it is an ignore,
But I would presume that
on a real Mars mission,
NASA would have like
correspondance ninjas
forcing people to
actually respond, hopefully.
But really, we have been
totally forgotten up here,
by even family.
[Carmel] Yep.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
[pensive piano music]
Hey Cash, happy birthday!
It's Auntie,
and I just wanted to say that
I love you very much,
and that I hope you had
a very happy birthday.
I want you to know that
I think about you all the time.
And I've got pictures of you
up on that wall,
and I've got
your drawing pictures
up on my other wall
with my plants that I'm growing.
Love you! Happy birthday.
[music continues]
[Tristan] When you remove TV
and social media,
all your familial networks,
all the distractions of life,
for hours and hours
every day, and it's just you,
and the only thing you can do
is have yourself a company.
And I mean, I had five other
people up there, but, you know,
sometimes you wouldn't
share more than three or
four words with them
over a couple of days.
It's just a horrible
psychological nightmare.
[salt shaker]
[dishes clink]
[wind]
[dreamy violin music]
[music continues]
[typing]
[music continues]
[chatter]
[microwave beeps]
It's really because the noodles
are kind of, they're too long.
Have you heard?
- Start heading up that way...
- Yep.
Alright, two cards please.
[table creaks]
Beijing gets a second one.
You think that you can go there.
- Miami gets a third.
- Uh oh.
[dreamy music]
[chatter]
[music continues]
[dishes clatter]
[kiss]
[ukelele plays]
[Cyprien] Because that's another
part of the habitat where
we are growing plants
and cyanobacteria.
You know, there was room.
[laughs]
Now I have to do it again.
Okay, this is another part--
[Christiane] Having someone
that you can talk to,
that you can vent to,
but also someone
who is venting to you
so that you feel useful,
that you feel needed.
I felt like a sponge
that had been compressed
for a long time
and was suddenly released.
[ukelele continues]
[Christiane]
So I'm a French media now.
Do you have a girlfriend?
[laughs]
Alright, does it ever get
boring and monotonous?
[laughs]
[chatter]
[Christiane] I had a
conversation with Carmel
once our relationship
was public within the crew
and she asked me,
"Do you know what you're
doing?" I'm like, "Yes,
I know what I'm doing."
So she was like, "I trust you."
NASA is kind of trying to
keep the topic down,
you know, relationships, sex,
those things, they don't happen.
That's kind of
the official line.
You know, if we really want
to think about sending humans
on missions that are two
and a half years long,
it's totally idiotic to believe
or to try to make people believe
that there's not going to be
any kind of relationship.
Alright, ready
to just give it up?
Yep.
[razor buzzes]
[beeping]
[Christiane] Are there
any plain ones here?
[grunts]
Sure.
[laughs]
[beeps]
[clatters]
Hey sweetie! By now you've
gotten the photos I sent.
I hope you had a good day,
and I love you a lot
and I will make another
video for you tomorrow.
I just want to give you
a quick goodnight video,
and I'll see you tomorrow, bye.
[silence]
[Shey] I have always liked
the idea of being an astronaut,
but I didn't know what
it meant to actually
commit yourself to being
at work 24 hours a day,
seven days a week
for months on end.
I thought I knew what it
was like to always be
at work when I was
working in the hospital,
arriving at 5am,
going home at 8pm.
This is different.
[treadmill whirs]
I think the primary lesson
in coming to Mars is that
pretty much all you need
to survive and be happy:
water, food and someone to
talk to the end of the day.
[gentle music]
[camera beeps]
[Cyprien] Certain.
Sorry, another question.
Stop it!
You're making fun of me.
Not true.
[Cyprien] Have you been
reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since we got here,
I've been reading the news
quite frequently,
Um...
although less frequently
than back at home.
So maybe several times
a week or so.
Um...
I basically read everything
that, you know,
comes through
to me,
that makes it to my screen,
Um...
Um, too much um,
I'm gonna try again.
What was the question?
[laughs]
Have you been reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since I got here,
I've been following the news
quite frequently,
although not as frequently
as I would have if I would
have been at home,
Um...
What else? Damn it.
I'm too tired, I can't focus.
I have...
What have you most kept...
I've been reading
and whatever, whatever happens,
[coughs]
- Yep.
- Okay, I will try again.
OK. OK...
Have you been reading the news?
What have you most kept up on?
So since...
[stammers]
[uneasy tone]
[Sheyna] Knock knock.
Yeah.
[zipper]
[uneasy music builds]
What else can I say?
[music continues]
[shaky breathing]
[breaths continue]
[treadmill whirs]
[Christiane] One of the side
experiments of HI-SEAS was
to test our cognitive
development during
the mission because there's
some suspicion
or some fear that
people in isolation,
because there's
a lack of stimuli,
that their cognitive
abilities are declining.
We were picked for
certain characteristics,
not being the kind of person who
panics about something
very easily.
But there was always this
nagging question
I was wondering about
is the stress level
that we're experiencing,
is that like the normal stress
level that you're supposed
to experience or is it
already going beyond?
[muffled conversation]
Should we worry about this,
what we are experiencing,
is it normal or is it
already so high that
we should take
some action against it?
[conversation distorts]
[dark music builds]
It creeps up on you.
Like the frog that you're
putting into the water,
if it's boiling,
then it jumps right out.
but if you gradually
increase the temperature,
then it stays there
until it's dead.
And it's just overwhelming.
[muffled wind]
[somber music]
[disconcerting music]
[disconcerting music]
[wind]
[typing]
[typing]
[camera rattles and beeps]
[air whirs]
[treadmill whirs]
It's just kind of frustrating
because it was the middle
of the night in Paris.
It was evening in the beginning,
but then when I--
I was getting more news,
towards getting into
the night and so I don't
have any way to contact
my friends and family.
I could not pick up
the phone, of course.
I could just send emails, which
I know would arrive later on,
probably not being answered
before the next day.
That's why I didn't know before
the day after whether anyone
within my family
and friends had been killed.
So we are reading mostly
what people send us,
which is mostly what people
expect us to want to know.
So most of the news we have
here are space related,
like I knew quite well to...
news about space,
but I just learned that
Paris was rioting because
of a new law which was presented
already several weeks ago.
And that it's very hard
to find gas.
It's very hard to take
the train and so on.
And there are people
mobilizing the streets.
There are violence against
the cops and things like these.
And, well, I just heard
about it weeks after.
It's going to be weird to
come out and see everything.
[somber music]
[somber music]
[muffled chatter]
[laughs]
[Christiane]
OK, camera... running.
I think that...
[Christiane] Why do you care?
You will be dead anyway.
Yeah, but...
[laughs]
[laughs]
[serene music]
[seagulls call]
[flesh tears]
[ship bell tolls]
[wind]
[chuckles]
[murmurs]
[laughs]
[Tristan] We had taken the
pump apart,
moved all these tubes,
drained the solar water here,
trying to find out why
we can't get the PSI on
everything above 20,
because we needed to be 30 or 40
to actually run
all the water systems.
And for two weeks, we're like
trying to have people
troubleshoot things.
[footsteps]
[foreboding music]
[breaths]
[lid rattles]
[Tristan] You know, they're
arguing about how to do this.
Should we leave the pump on?
And they're just back
and forth, back and forth,
completely disagreeing about
how it should be done.
[Tristan] People were very
intense and emotional.
No one's had a shower
or anything
and nothing's working at all.
[somber music]
[soap squelches]
[brush rustles]
[wind]
[camera rustles]
[sighs]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
[hammer thuds]
OK.
[laptop rattles]
[hammer thuds]
[hopeful music]
[saw]
[music builds]
[suits crinkle]
[music continues]
[footsteps]
[breathing]
[hopeful music continues]
[driving music]
[laughs]
Things that are popular
right now, we're not aware of.
We're gonna go back out
at the end of the mission
into a world full of
jokes we've never heard,
music we've never listened to.
[Carmel] I love the outside.
I don't what else to say
other than that. [laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
The sky is burning.
[Andrzej] The sky is burning?
- Have you seen this?
[Andrzej] Yes.
[Sheyna] The door's gonna open.
I'm sure the sun
will be blinding.
I'm sure the wind
will feel great.
My husband is gonna
be right there.
Irrespective of whatever
else is in the way,
they better move.
They will need to part,
so that I can pass.
I'm looking forward to
that very much.
It will also be great to
see friends and family again.
Be able to run outside,
to swim.
I'm going to enjoy also some
good wine and cheese too.
[Carmel] It is recording.
[peaceful music]
Goodbye.
[laughs]
[music fades]
[crowd chatters]
[woman] Right, Oops, okay.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Come on.
- They have returned!
[applause]
[cheers]
[inspirational music]
Yeah, it's really surreal.
So I don't even know if--
[laughs]
[crowd chatter]
[laughter]
I haven't felt this, though.
This is pretty great.
[laughs]
This is pretty great.
Little rain, little winds. Yeah.
[inspirational music continues]
[interviewer] Psychologically,
how are you guys
feeling right now?
Is it very overwhelming?
- Happy!
[laughs]
[Carmel]
It's great to be out here
and have so many
people out here also,
'cause we're used to just
the four of us walking
around and never seeing
another soul, so.
This all seems kind of illegal.
Yeah.
[laughs]
[music continues]
[music continues]
[waves]
[traffic]
[plane whirs]
[footsteps]
[waves]
[seagulls]
[music fades]
[waves crash]
["Inner World" -
Dirty Projectors]
What if I don't
know the way
to get back
to the way I was?
What if I don't wanna stay
along the path
uninterrupted?
Is there a prayer
I could say
to click my heels
and be above it?
Lost the habit
Calling to get through
Remedy calls
I'm losing me for you
All through the undertow
I pursue the bay
Ceaselessly swept out
though
Swimming the other way
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Wanted to help it
Fold it up in two
Spaces for roses
They forgot to hold
Where is it taking me?
I can only know, yeah
After the tides recede
And we are free to grow
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Lost the habit
Calling to get through
Remedy calls
I'm losing me for you
All through the undertow
I pursue the bay
Ceaselessly swept out
though
Swimming the other way
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world
Inner world