All language subtitles for One.Strange.Rock.S01E06.Escape.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.Eng

CHRIS: From on board the
spaceship, you can see
the world has a secret.

At dawn or at dusk, where
the shadows are lining
up just the right way,

you're at just the
right place in time to
see an asteroid crater.

Where a bullet from the universe
left a perpetual hole in the
smooth surface of our planet.

There are a billion
years worth of impacts.

Huge asteroids have smashed
into the world, and turned
it into an enveloped fire.

Uninhabitable to almost
all life on the surface.

The world will get hit again.

It's just a matter of when.

So, what should we
do as a species?

Should we just, like the
dinosaurs, look up and die?

The reasons the dinosaurs
are extinct is they didn't
have a space program.

We do.

We have the capability to
perhaps escape the Earth.

NARRATOR: Escaping Earth?

Leaving home is hard
at the best of times.

Imagine how hard it would be
if you were never coming back.

Not just back to your home
town, but your home planet.

WILL: A one-way ticket away
from everywhere, everything and
everyone you know and need.

NARRATOR: 8 astronauts
with over 1,000 days
in space between then,

can tell us how being up there
helped them to understand

why we are going to
have to make a choice.

MIKE: Faced with extinction
of life on Earth.

Our best chance of survival
is to build another
colony somewhere else.

LELAND: Having a base
on Mars, a base on the
moon or in other places,

is important to keep
our civilization going.

CHRIS: It's really kinda
up to us how long we wanna
survive as a species.

NARRATOR: Can we really
cut the cord with the
planet that made us?

And face the physical extremes
and mental torment of space?

WILL: Theanswers are
right here on earth.

In some pretty
unexpected places.

NARRATOR: Like
multi-million-year-old blood.

Mutant bugs.

And humans that had
left the land behind.

CHRIS: It is not going
to be easy to get ourselves
safely away from the Earth

and onto another planet.

People will die.

This maybe what saves us.

WILL: It's decision
time on The Rock.

Escape or extinction?

NARRATOR: Earth's been
through some big changes.

Ice ages have come and gone...

Volcanoes have blanketed
the world in ash.

And all of this
could happen again.

In fact, sooner or
later, it's going to.

So, if we knew a huge
asteroid was bearing down...

Or a giant eruption was about
to suffocate the planet...

We'd feel a lot better
if we had a Plan B.

CHRIS: To put a human
base on another planet,
it will involve risk.

It pushes our technology
right to the very
edge of our capability.

But the benefit is
for the whole species.

CAPT. BOWEN: So today, what
we're going out there to do
is intercept the eclipse.

Really experience the
full eclipse since
it happens so rarely.

Fly and chase the moon.

You can't do it every day.

At 15 is rated almost
up to mach 2.5.

So, our goal is
approximately three minutes
of time in the shadow.

NARRATOR: Alright, let
me break that down.

Luckily, my dad was in the
Air Force, so I can do this.

These guys are going to
try something they've
never done before.

Something that shows how
hard it is to go from
1 planet to another.

Everything in our
galaxy is moving.

During an eclipse, when the
moon slides across the sun...

Its shadow speeds over the
air at 1700 miles per hour.

But it's easy to forget
that we're moving too.

Our planet spins at
1,000 miles per hour.

To stay in the moon's
shadow, the planes have to
fly faster than earth spins.

CAPT. BOWEN: 3 3 units,
mark ready, ready now.

This is definitely
the ultimate intercept.

Chasing the fastest object
that we could chase.

If we can do this, we
can intercept anything.

Keep it tight, the
eclipse is coming.

PILOT: Here comes the shadow
out in front of us now.

CAPT. BOWEN: Alright
stand by for.

OK.

PILOT: That's pretty cool.

CAPT. BOWEN: 20 seconds.

It's almost like
you're in outer space.

As a kid, you know, you
always think about
astronauts and travelling

to space and circling the moon.

But I never thought of how
fast the moon was travelling.

OK 5:30 into the eclipse.

Here comes the daylight.

And it's daytime.

CHRIS: If you're in an
aeroplane and trying
to chase that shadow,

that's really just a little hint
of how hard it is to launch a
rocket ship and go intercept

the moon or go all the
way out to Mars where
everything is moving.

And the Earth isn't
just rotating.

It's moving through space at
almost 70,000 miles an hour.

While Mars is moving at
over 50,000 miles an hour.

It's like grabbing
a gun and trying to hit
a bullet with a bullet.

We've sent probes to Mars
and to Jupiter and to Saturn.

But probes are machines.

Getting people there?

That's a whole other
level of difficult.

So before we make
that commitment and
fire those engines,

we really wanna be sure
we know what we're doing.

The natural human reaction
to the unknown is fear.

But the greatest antidote
for fear is preparation.

Part of the reason I love
flight is how it makes me feel.

It pushes me a little bit closer
to the limit of my capabilities.

Especially when you're
flying an older plane.

Just barely give it
a couple of these.

You have to focus, you have to
constantly thing about what are
the things that are gonna try

and kill me.

Try and predict what the
dangers are going to be.

And then try and
get ready for those.

Pull her out.

Yeah.

Here we go.

Permanently leaving the earth.

Turning our tail
to the planet and firing the
engines to go somewhere else,

that is still right on
the edge of impossible.

But in 1902, flying
was impossible.

But after the Wright
Brothers, it was something
we knew how to do.

Summer of '69, impossible
to walk on the moon.

And then 12 people put their
grey, dusty footprints into
the surface of the moon.

So I think we'll go from a
space station to the moon
and eventually onto Mars.

Because it's a necessary thing
for the survival of our species.

NARRATOR: They call it
a Goldilocks planet.

A world that's not too
hot and not too cold.

Just like Earth.

WILL: Until we find it, we're
looking at the next best thing.

Life on Mars.

But even if we have
the technology to leave our
home, do we have the biology?

NARRATOR: Nothing
good lasts forever.

Earth is no different.

WILL: If we want to outlast our
home, we need to franchise.

Set up an outlet
on another planet.

NARRATOR: When we leave
earth, we leave behind
more than a rock.

Earth is a living planet.

An interconnected web of life.

We are part of it
and it is part of us.

WILL: So when we go, what
comes and what stays.

CHRIS: One of the final
stages of preparation
for my third space flight

to fly a Russian spaceship,
was wiping my entire body
with rubbing alcohol.

To try and get rid of as
many bacteria as possible.

You don't want the spaceship
to become unhealthy for the
people living there.

But bacteria have been
colonizing the planet
for billions of years.

And they're pretty good
at getting everywhere.

To spot them we have to
use something else that's
survived for a long time.

Horseshoe crabs were
alive 200 Million years
before the dinosaurs.

And yet, they've turned out to
be surprisingly useful in space.

Their immune system is
primitive but effective.

So we make use of their
incredible blue blood.

When cells in their blood come
into contact with bacteria,
they instantly release enzymes.

And these enzymes can be used
to detect bacteria at less
than one part per trillion.

That's like detecting
one grain of sugar in an
Olympic size swimming pool.

So we can use a tiny spec
of horseshoe crab blood
to spot contamination.

It's easy to think of the
bacteria on my body as some
foreign matter that I would like

to get rid of.

But if you look
at us under a microscope,
we're crawling with life.

There are more bacterial
cells in our body than
there are human cells.

An entire universe inside me.

The more we study the human
microbiome, all of the little
microbes that live within us,

and especially when we
start thinking about leaving
earth, the more we realize,

the bacteria aren't
stowaways, they're crew.

And we're going to have to
bring some of them with us,
when we go to another planet.

(music)

DR. KERR: How far are
they, ahead, do you think?

MALE CREW: I would
say absolute minimum of two,
probably at least three miles.

NARRATOR: We are searching for
the world's biggest creature.

The blue whale.

Most species on the planet
are totally dependant on
their microbiomes to survive.

It's amazing how similar
whales and humans are.

Even though we walk on the land
and they swim in the abyss,

the same biological
mechanisms are in play here.

The reality is,
it's very difficult to
collect data on whales.

Imagine if an elephant
disappeared under the Serengeti
and came up five miles away.

MALE CREW: Whale's right
over here at ten o'clock.

NARRATOR: Every time a whale
exhales, it's throwing up this
biological treasure trove.

DR. KERR: Starting
engines, clear.

NARRATOR: So how can you
collect biological data
in a non-invasive manner?

The answer is, snot bot.

DRONE OPERATOR: 30
plus feet, you're just
going off for visual?

MALE CREW: Yeah,
you're in good shape.

DR. KERR: And I
see the whale now.
DRONE OPERATOR: OK.

You're right to 16 feet, 16.

14.

(music)

DR. KERR: Alright. She's dived.
No words, lovely dive.

Might not have liked that
head on approach, but
there's no way to know.

As excited as we are with this
tool, you've gotta be at the
right place at the right time.

OK, so the whale's been
doing 9-minute dives.

Let's launch the drone at
8 minutes and then we're
ready when it comes up.

Hopefully we'll get
the second blow.

DRONE OPERATOR: Looking good,
right on track. That's 14 feet.

DR. KERR: They're exchanging a
lung full of air, probably
bigger than a VW

in one or two seconds.

It's incredible.

DRONE OPERATOR: Staying with it.
DR. KERR: What's my height?

DRONE OPERATOR: You're at 14.

DR. KERR: Whale's
looking really calm.

Moving very slowly.

Bingo.

Good job team, good job.

Alright, you guys ready
for landing, bring her in.

And this is gonna
be a snotty dish.

We know bacteria in the
stomach of whales is
necessary for digestion,

but we're starting to see
that the microbiome in the
lungs plays a key role

in fighting infection. Just
like it does in humans.

(music)

NARRATOR: There's a world of
bacteria outside us and a world
of bacteria inside us.

WILL: And nobody knows what
will happen when those two
worlds are pulled apart.

But we know one thing that
we can't take with us.

And it's something that
keep us all grounded.

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JONATHAN: The feeling in the
platform is full of emotion,
is fear, pressure, tension.

It's something that
you love to do.

Even when you know that
you can kill yourself.

(music)

You have only 2.9 seconds.
Anything can go wrong.

If you did a mistake
in the air...

That's it, it's over.

(music)

CHRIS: We are all intimately
familiar with gravity.

The huge mass of the
world pulls us down.

We call it 1 G, that's
how the world pulls on us.

But we're the only species that
has found a way to cheat that.

Perhaps the most magic moment in
an astronaut's life is when the
rocket ship has done its job.

You are at the right height,
you're at the right speed,
the engine's shut off.

You're in space and for
the first time in your
life, you're weightless.

You feel like something
is magically pulling
you towards the ceiling.

It's just fun to be weightless.
And leaves a smile on your face.

You wanna play with it.

You wanna play with
your food, you wanna do
a thousand somersaults.

You wanna get into a big part
so the space station so you
could push off the wall

and fly across like superman.

But even as you feel super
human, you quickly start
to realize just how much

the human body needs gravity.

With gravity, I can
tell which way up is.

The weight of my body as
I sit down, the weight
of lifting my arms.

All of those things constantly
tell me which way is up.

But as soon as
your weightless...

all that's gone.

And it makes you nauseous.

MIKE: I was feeling terrible
when I first got to space.

And I thought to myself,
is this really fun?

When you wanna throw up,
really nothing's fun.

I did puke on my
first day in space.

MAE: When you're on Earth,
gravity is pulling all the
fluids in your body down.

When you're up in space,
there's a major fluid shift.

It feels like you've been
standing on your head
for about three hours.

CHRIS: Gravity defines
how big our heart has to be
and what the configuration

of our cardiovascular
system looks like.

The whole design of the human
body, the skeleton underneath
it, the strength of the muscles,

it's really shaped by the
gravity of the Earth.

We don't really think about
it, but we're constantly
weight lifting on Earth.

Holding our head up, holding
our body up, fighting gravity.

Without gravity, your
muscles and your bones
start to waste away.

We have machines that, that we
push against and lift against
and elastics that hold us

on the treadmill.

Sort of gravity simulations.

But even with the best exercise
equipment we've invented so far,
I lost about eight percent

of the bone density across
my hips and my upper femur.

My skeleton started
to waste away.

What do the effects of
weightlessness mean for
interplanetary exploration?

With that long time in
weightlessness have degraded
our bodies enough that

we'd be useless
when we get there?

We're working on it, but we
definitely haven't solved
all those problems yet.

WILL: Astronauts.

Their heads swell and
they throw up a lot.

You don't see that
in the movies.

The truth is, we are
a part of this planet.

It is baked into our bones.

Down here we're
nurtured and protected.

But when we go, we'll
be going it alone.

NARRATOR: If humanity wants to
survive, sooner or later we are
going to have to get off planet

Plan B.

WILL: But the second we
step outside the safety of
our home, we are exposed.

CHRIS: Our sun is constantly
spewing out radiation.

And occasionally there's
a huge solar flare, where
a big mass ejection

that could threaten
life on Earth.

The Earth is protected
by a magnetic field
in the atmosphere.

And that force field helps
deflect the deadly radiation.

And it keeps it from
driving right through
and hitting our bodies.

On board the International
Space Station, we
are much more vulnerable.

If the scientists on earth have
seen one of these huge storms
from the sun coming towards us,

we go to the parts of the space
station that have the best
protection from the storm

of radiation that's
about to pour past.

You're subject to not just the
sun's radiation, but all of
the radiation of the universe.

A strange thing
sometimes happens.

You see a flash of light
out of the darkness.

A reminder that you're
not in Kansas anymore.

When a star out in our galaxy
dies in an enormous explosion
that we call a supernova,

it releases a huge
amount of energy.

Cosmic rays racing across
the universe at essentially
the speed of light,

186,000 miles a second.

So fast that those little
radiation particles come by
Pluto and make it all the way

to the earth in just five hours.

And if you're above
the earth's atmosphere,

there is nothing to stop
them slamming into your body.

Most of them you're unaware of.

But sometimes one of these
little cosmic rays goes
through your optic nerve.

And because of the way our
vision is designed, it actually
reacts like a flash of light.

And what you're actually seeing
is radiation going through you.

JEFF: I'd be lying there in my
sleeping bag and zap, zap, zap.

One of the best light shows I've
ever seen but at the same time,
I knew that that meant

that my head was getting
zapped by charged particles.

JERRY: And it can be a show
stopper, it can be a bombardment
of radiation than not only,

you know, increases your chances
of cancer down the line.

But literally gives you
radiation sickness on the way.

If you're gonna spend weeks or
months or years on a space ship,

you have to start considering
that this causes mutations.

It overwhelms your body's
ability to repair itself.

NARRATOR: So, on our trip to
colonize the stars, we know
we'll get seriously zapped.

We need to prepare for that.

We can start in a place where
the Geiger counter clicks
like it would

in a deep space mission.

PROF. MOUSSEAU: Despite the fact
that this is a dangerous place,

Chernobyl provides this unique
opportunity to examine what
happens to the evolutionary

process when you kick it with
a little extra mutation.

NARRATOR: Back in '86, I
was a senior in high school.

And I remember the nuclear
meltdown that caused 400
times more fallout

than the first atomic bomb.

(music)

When the reactor
exploded, it was kind of
like a volcano erupting.

With radioactive metals being
ejected into the atmosphere.

That landed on the ground
in a haphazard way, so
there are these hot spots.

(music)

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You come into this landscape
that was once thriving with
happy people doing their thing.

It gives you an eerie feeling.

You really have to look around
and see what's being affected.

Many of the spiderwebs that
were draped alongside some of
the houses in the villages

were extremely unusual.

Some of the webs end up
looking extraordinarily messy.

They were very irregular.
They had big holes in them.

The spiders were having a
problem spinning a normal web.

It's not just behavior
that's changing.

Some of the creatures are even
starting to look different.

And firebugs are pretty
hard to miss. f you
look at it straight on,

you'll see what looks
like an African face mask.

Two big eyes, a nose and a chin

And because of the
symmetry, it makes it very
easy to detect deviations.

One of my colleagues picked
one up and said, "Look, Tim,
it's a mutant."

This one bug was missing
one of the eye spots.

So, we starting collecting as
many bugs as we could find.

Bugs with really unusual color
patterns were only found in
these areas of high radiation.

This is more serious than
changing your spots.

Mutations can kill you.

Humans in space
have a big problem.

WILL: So, mission cancelled?
Oh, not so fast.

There might be a fix.

NARRATOR: One of the more
striking, unexpected
observations

is that some species
appear to have adapted.

Some of the bacteria where
there have been thousands of
generations since the accident

are becoming more
radiation resistant.

As a species, humans
are interested in
expanding our horizons.

Moving into space,
moving to other planets.

If we can develop a
better understanding of the
defenses used by organisms,

that maybe useful in developing
ways to protect humans.

Both here on this rock...

As well as in outer space.

A traveler to Mars has to
survive 9 months in space and
a 30-Million-mile journey.

WILL: But once they get
there, they'll face their
biggest challenge of all.

And this time, it's personal.

CHRIS: One of my favorite
things so see from space
is a pace that you know.

You know, somewhere you grew up.

The town you were born in.

Or where you got married or
where you went on vacation.

It's a delight to have
a memory, like a present
unwrapping itself.

The further you get
from earth, one of the
significant problems is,

how do we mental the mental
health of the crew when
you're so isolated from the
rest of humanity?

NICOLE: We don't really know
how difficult it's gonna be
for humans to leave Earth.

I mean, we're a part of earth.

JERRY: There you are just
removed from mankind and that
distance, being off the planet,

you feel a disconnect.

And I'd say, you know,
I'm sort of in a prison.

You know, I didn't do
anything wrong for sure,
but I am in a prison.

CHRIS: If I were the commander,
heading to Mars, I would have
a talk with the crew and say,

"Earth is now behind us.
We are now Martians."

NARRATOR: Have they really been
living in this 1,000 square
foot done for over 130 days?

After surpassing the halfway
point in the mission, I'm
feeling utter disbelief.

With the nature of an isolated
and confined environment,
we are effectively trapped.

HI-SEAS stands for the
Hawaii Space Exploration
Analogue and Simulation.

We want to know how to keep
people safe and happy in space.

Can they stay
friends, not go crazy?

Work well together for
the two to three years it will
take to go to the Red Planet

and back again.

DR. DUNN: Contact.

Testing, one, two, three.

ASTRONAUT: Go with
the exit protocol now.

NARRATOR: You begin to think
about how harsh it is to live
on Mars, all the technology,

all the trouble you have to go
through just to go for a walk.

One of the greatest
challenges to space travel
isn't technical at all.

It's the human vulnerability.

You don't see the ocean,
you don't see palm trees.

And you just see this
black and red lava.

It doesn't have the
different gravity, the
real harsh danger of Mars.

But it does have
the confinement.

And it has the isolation from
your family and friends.

I was surprised by how much the
stress affected not just how I
felt, but how I performed.

Being away from your
family can be tough,
even for a week or two.

Life on Mars is an entirely
different kind of separation.

You're a pioneer.

You're never going
to see home again.

Everything you'll ever
own, you brought with you.

The rest? You'll have
to use what you find.

Luckily, that's something
humans are pretty good at.

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CHRIS: We're already using
simulated Martian dust to figure
out how to build a settlement,

somewhere besides our planet.

So, we're definitely
taking the first step.

NARRATOR: Even if we survive
the journey, and make
the place feel like home,

we still might not
save our species.

WILL: Because just
by being there, we might
turn into something else.

CHRIS: Life tends to
naturally settle where the
conditions are best for it.

And from orbit, you
can actually see where
we have chosen to live.

Those patterns of human
habitation repeat themselves.

Some parts of the world are so
desirable that there's not
enough land to support everybody

who wants to live there.

(music)

We've taken nature and modified
it to make the earth more
habitable for more human beings.

(music)

We don't really think about
it, but we've significantly
terraformed earth.

The farmer's fields, the
terraces, the dams we've put up.

And when we go somewhere else,
we're going to inevitably have
to do the same thing.

But at the same time,
we are influenced by the
environment around us.

That shapes us.

Your body is constantly changing
itself and adapting to best
perform in the environment

that you put it into.

(music)

(music)

NARRATOR: The Bajau live
in a world of water.

Their kids swim
before they walk.

(music)

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No need for goggles or oxygen
tanks, their bodies have
learned to do without them.

(music)

The differences go deeper.

As children, the lenses in
their eyes adapt so their
underwater vision is twice
as sharp as ours.

Pretty handy when
you're hunting.

In the short term,
humans can adjust.

In the long term...

We evolve.

Maybe there is a Goldilocks
planet out there, another Earth

If so, we'll be spending
lifetimes getting there.

WILL: What might happen to
generations born in space?

(music)

CHRIS: One of the ways to test
that is to take life forms from
Earth that have a very rapid

life cycle and take them
up to the space station
and see how they develop.

Jellyfish have small
sensors, like hairs.

And that lets them know about
gravity and which way's up.

Sort of like the balance system
we have in our inner ear.

When we took jellyfish to
the space station, they
did not develop normally.

When they came back to Earth,
the ones born in space couldn't
tell which way was up.

It's a sobering thought, getting
to a new home might change us in
ways we can't predict.

I'm confident that no matter
what is thrown at us during
this incredible journey,

we'll find a way to survive.

But there is a cost.

What we think of as us,
can only exist here.

We will no longer be
earthlings when we get there.

We will be become aliens.

NARRATOR: Sometimes
you can only really see
something from a distance.

WILL: No one ever got
homesick staying at home.

NARRATOR: Earth has been
our constant companion.

WILL: There when the first
cell flickered to life, here
now as we turn to the stars.

She's in our bones.

And in our guts
and in our minds.

NARRATOR: We may one day ventur
out from our strange rock.

(music)

WILL: But we'll never
get the Rock out of us.

(music)

NARRATOR: Next time.

How our paradise planet
was made by life.

(music)

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