Hey Space Placers!
Well, I finally got to see the movie 'Interstellar' today. I saw it in IMAX and I had to wear earplugs for most of the movie as the sound was WAY TOO LOUD!!! During the launch and space scenes I actually felt the sound waves in my chest…..
There have been reviews on the science - right and wrong - in the movie as well as what movie critics think of it.
Quite frankly I think I will be telling you things that I have not read so far about 'Interstellar'. To me there was a match up of things and themes in the movie to present day.
To start off I think everyone interested in space should see the movie just for the visuals. They are exquisite and on par with what we saw in 'Gravity' but a tad more active in that the space scenes go to places other than Low Earth Orbit (LEO) - just like present day NASA is trying to do with the Orion/Space Launch System (SLS).
I was amazed to see what is clearly a Saturn V launch vehicle used to launch an advanced wormhole transiting spacecraft into space.
The spacecraft used to go to and fro from orbit to the surface and vice versa reminded me of the Sierra Nevada Corporation's "Dream Chaser" spacecraft. This was especially my thought in scenes when looking down the side view of the spacecraft in the movie.
The movie hit upon some anti-science themes that were the norm for the society depicted. Most notably was the history book citation that we never landed on the Moon, that it was all propaganda designed to outwit the Soviet Union.
With the mentioning of the Soviet Union I can't help but think of how we are now reverting back to Cold War ways in our time - Russia says they will be sending strategic (read nuclear capable) bombers to patrol areas in the Caribbean and elsewhere near the U.S. All because of tensions over the insanity in Ukraine.
The main themes I picked up from the movie is how the most basic of human emotions - love and individual survival - showed the worst and best of humans. The power of love is described as possibly being a force that transcends space-time and can guide humanity in ways never before thought of, perhaps even to save humanity from the climate disaster befalling the planet.
Well, this made me think of climate change and how it is now and will be affecting the planet and humanity. What is happening to Earth and humanity in the movie is what spurs the characters to the stars in hopes of finding a new world to inhabit.
My thought in seeing all of this in the movie is that we have to take care of this planet we are on - together. There are NO other worlds nearby that can afford us the same benign (for now) living conditions. I doubt that there will be a wormhole that appears in the solar system that can be used to go to another galaxy to explore possible planets for colonization.
Here is the simple truth - we cannot continue to propagate and exploit the planet like we are doing. There is going to be a tipping point in numbers of human beings that the planet can support in terms of food (like the movie), water and resources. We just can't keep up the way we are going - we can't.
This movie more than any other sic-fi space flick I have seen made me think of the present more than the timeframe depicted in the movie. My guess is that the peril faced by humanity in the movie transcends to current day.
I don't know where humanity is headed unlike what happens in the movie which has a good ending and I'll leave it at that.
I can't say the same for present day humanity, the good ending part that is. What I can say with total conviction is that our efforts in space bring out the best we have in us. With all of the turmoil from war and evil that abounds in our world this is still the golden age of space exploration.
We sail the sea of space like never before to destinations and mission that astound us. The future of humanity is in the stars and it must be reached from our continued habitation of Mother Earth.
To get elsewhere in the Universe it will be from here. The best and worst in us will be competing to see which part of us wins.
That is the message I got from Interstellar.
Sky Guy in VA
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