A spectacular PBS screening of “The Farthest – Voyager in Space” at the Museum of Natural History in New York hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
For a person who has always quietly dealt with his space phobia (astrophobia) an invitation to attend a special PBS screening on the subject of Nasa’s historic Voyager mission might not have seemed like an obvious match.
Exactly what it is about space that troubles me I can’t place. Perhaps it has something to do with the infinite magnitude of the great beyond that my brain cannot wrap itself around; or perhaps it’s about the eternal sobering reality of our place within this unconquerable universe.
It always gets me. I become anxious; I start breathing heavily; at times I have to stop and think of other (more terrestrial) subjects…it’s quite embarrassing.
A photograph from the Voyager mission: “Jupiter”
This film, however, was actually a pleasant reprieve from the average Nova documentary. Instead of diving into the unknowable marginal secrets of the heavens and riddling off fact and hypothesis to delight in the of novelty of speculation alone, “The Farthest” takes you on a true journey that no other space documentary can do.
What makes it so unique is that the legend of Voyager is neither hypothesis nor speculation. The man-made mission to send two hi-tech satellites on a one-way mission through our solar system to take a closer look at the heavenly bodies we can only dream of from Earth is a true story. The footage that it sent back to Earth, shown in the film, is authentic footage from its flybys of Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and, is absolutely mesmerizing.
Photo from Voyager mission: “Neptune”
The fact that humanity can be privy to this vantage point is an idea I am still trying to digest. Voyager 1 & 2 has done what no human organism can do – or at least anytime soon – by standing up to the impossible measures distance and time.
Now 40 years after its launch, Voyager has exited our solar system. It is the only man-made object to have done this. Furthermore, it has not lost contact with it’s Earthly roots. However infinitesimal, Voyager’s presence can be detected at less than 1000th of a Kilowatt. At 10 miles/second it continues on. Intrepid, resolute, courageous.
Depiction of Voyager in Space
There was something settling in this film for me because even though the realization that our species’ footprint may one day be washed away with the sands time remains as a tough concept to get over, Voyager shall endure as a materialization of the best qualities of the human being: curious, persistent, and brave. The endless abyss of time, or Goliath, has finally met its David.
The film premieres Wednesday, August 23 on PBS.
