In 1972 NASA scientists proposed two-spacecraft mission to
make a grand tour and closely study the outer planets of our solar system. The
astronomers realized that the 1970s was the perfect time to make this journey
since the alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune would make it
possible for the spacecraft to visit all four on a single flight. Using the
slingshot effect of the planets’ gravity (to accelerate the probes’ speed), the
scientists decided to use a rare phenomenon that allegedly occurs once every
176 years. In 1973, Nixon gave permission to create two ‘Voyager’ crafts to
exploit this rare opportunity. Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977 (Jimmy
Carter was the President), 16 days after the launch of its twin Voyager 2. The
probes’ primary mission was finished when the spacecrafts made
the first-ever flyby of Neptune in August 1989. Later in August 2012, NASA
announced that Voyager 1 has finally left the Solar System and became the first
human-made object to travel into the interstellar space. Apart from gleaning
myriad of scientific knowledge from Voyagers’ fly-by mission, the probes
continues to enthrall common populace – maybe to the annoyance of mission
scientists – due to the on-board implantation of the Golden Record – a
consolidated album of music and pictures (including greetings in 55 languages)
to illustrate humanity to any intelligent extra-terrestrials that encounters
the probe in the farthest space.
The 1970s may have hinted the onset of unprecedented
technological advancement and propagated the idea of globalized community. Yet,
it was the era where the threat of nuclear holocaust seemed imminent. It was
also the era when human race started to contemplate on environmental
degradation amidst all political and sociological quagmires. However, the
Voyager and its Golden Record happened to send a bold, optimistic message into
the cosmos that also doubled up as a reflection of our higher values and common
responsibilities (which often gets lost among our pettiness and
absurdities). The possibility of Alien life finding the golden record and
coming to greet our planet (using positions of pulsars embedded in the disc) is
not likely to happen, but the fact that our message is moving deep into the
space reminds us of what we are truly capable of (humans may bring destruction
upon themselves in the next few centuries and that record would eventually be
all that’s left of our race). The Voyager missions were initially built to
broaden our scientific horizon; to capture the mind-blowing aspects of solar
system. But over these 40 years, it has also metamorphosized into a human
interest story (thanks to the great American astronomer Carl Sagan). It is this
beautiful marriage between hard-science and human element (of the Voyager
missions) that was explored in Emer Reynolds’ magnificent documentary The
Farthest (2017).
It would not be an
exaggeration to say that the design of Voyager was inspiring and ground-breaking.
The spacecrafts, which became humankind’s greatest journey of exploration,
relied on comparatively meek 70s technology with memory space 240,000 times
lesser than that of our average Smartphone. Alternately insightful and poetic,
Emer Reynolds incorporates innumerable exciting information behind the mission.
She shows us the sheer epic scale of the Voyagers’ achievements. Reynolds
gathers impressive bunch of scientists closely involved with the Voyager program.
The scientists rather than limiting themselves to elaborate on the specifics of
science, speak like a curious, overjoyed kid embarking on his/her first
journey. Reynolds focuses both on the overwhelming amount of knowledge the
talking-heads express as well as delicately draws out each one of their
personality. Humble, humorous and extremely smart, the scientists offer some
interesting analogies for the non-scientific persons to wholly grasp the sheer
scale of the project. It never feels like that the greying, elderly astronomers are dumbing down things, but it feels like the lecture of a
passionate teacher, passing off the fervor to wider populace.
The fascination behind Golden Record get its due focus,
although director Reynolds doesn’t forget to lend more weight to Voyager’s
astounding physical journey and stories of the people inside the NASA control
room. The thrill of Voyager flying-by each planet is visualized with
considerable impact. The director definitely incorporates a strong audio-visual
experience while focusing on the travel between planets. In one of the fascinating
episodes, when Voyager 2 leaves Saturn, the enrapturing imagery of Saturn is
accompanied with soundtrack of Pink Floyd’s ‘Us and Them’ song. Similarly,
Reynolds tries her best to push the emotions within the strictly scientific
story by careful choice of soundtracks and well harnessed visuals. In turn,
it makes the scientific notions to gracefully blend in with philosophical and
profoundly emotional thoughts. Moreover, Reynolds doesn’t treat the Voyager
probes as a finished project, but as living part of humanity or ongoing
experiment. Of course, there have been numerous documentaries and science
articles which have conveyed the astronomical scale of our ever-expanding
universe. Nevertheless, The Farthest (121 minutes) effectively breathes
astonishment and hope to slightly wake us from our nihilistic somnambulism. In
the end, it’s hard not to be elated over these anthropomorphized space probes,
carrying a 'message in a bottle' into the unknown future. It’s an unadulterated
educational piece, accessible to learners of all ages.
Trailer