In 2037, a devastating tragedy in the colony forces everyone on Mars and Earth to question the mission. While the Olympus Town settlement tries to cope and continue its mission, controlling groups back on Earth struggle with a potential decision to end the mission. In the present-day documentary, commercial space company SpaceX again attempts to pioneer the rocket technology that would help mankind reach the red planet.
Mae: Previously on Mars. Hana Seung: When you believe in a goal the way we believed in Mars, conviction alone will sustain you through almost any test. Leslie Richardson: Robert! If you find evidence of a second genesis. Marta Kamen: Evolution can begin again. Ed Grann: I've got faith. Paul Richardson: You know, I used to stand in the doorway of the farmhouse where I grew up looking at all of the crops, thinking about all the people they'd feed. Joon Seung: If you push too hard too fast, something's gonna break. Ed Grann: If they fail, everyone's out. Hana Seung: But faith doesn't guarantee success. Paul Richardson: Without plants we're nothing. Hana Seung: The real test is what happens when you fail. ♪ [THEME MUSIC PLAYS] ♪ [SCENE_BREAK] Leslie Richardson: Richardson, Leslie. Phase 2, personal entry. [HEAVY BREATHING] Robert Foucault: Damn tragedy. Oh God. Hana Seung: The entire west section is destroyed. [SCENE_BREAK] Leslie Richardson: Paul was always late. He would get so caught up in his work that he would just lose time, completely forget about it. And then he would show up hours later, filthy, like a kid that had been playing out in the mud all day. And always with that look on his face, that look as if he knew that he was in trouble. But it was all worth it. There was this one night I remember, It was while we were living out in South America, he was still in the forest collecting samples. He was late, as usual. But somehow it was different. Morning came. Another day went by. Finally I could hear his footsteps approaching. So, I rushed out to meet him. And all of the sudden all of that fear and worry that I'd felt turned into anger, rage. I couldn't believe how selfish he'd been. And then he appeared. Javier Delgado: Victor. There he is. Leslie Richardson: Covered from top to bottom in mud. With that look on his face... that look. And all I could say was, "I love you." Paul Richardson: Without plants we're nothing. Javier Delgado: We are not nothing, my friend. [SCENE_BREAK] Hana Seung: We'd lost seven of our own. The lab and the greenhouse were destroyed. Olympus Town was on complete lock down until the nations of the IMSF decided on the fate of our mission. Was Mars going to be a giant leap forward, or just a passing novelty. It wasn't the first time humankind had faced this question. Ann Druyan: We accomplished the impossible by stepping on the Moon. This was, the first hop. And there would be a skip, and a jump afterwards. And we'd keep going and going and going, and the future would be one of endless possibilities, where the Cosmos was ours. Man: What do you think about this Moon landing? Man 2: Well it's the beginning of a new frontier, a gateway to Mars. Ann Druyan: That came to a very abrupt halt. Roger Launius: A major turning point for Apollo was the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Man: Alright Houston, we've got a problem. Reporter: There is a bulletin from ABC news. The Apollo 13 spacecraft has had a serious power supply malfunction. A late report says the spacecraft now is operating on battery power alone, all unnecessary equipment is being turned off. Man: Let's everybody keep cool. Let's not make it any worse by guessing. Roger Launius: We came close to losing astronauts. And it scared the living daylights out of lots of people. And some leaders at NASA said we gotta stop this. This is too risky. John Logsdon: We all lived through that in real time. We were all wrapped up with the fate of the astronauts. It was a close call to get them back and that really spooked Nixon. It soured him on the notion of sending humans away from Earth into deep space. So it was a catalytic turning point in attitudes towards space exploration. James A. Lovell: Jack and Fred and I are very proud and glad to be back here in Texas tonight. There were times when we really didn't think that we'd make it back here. After the anomaly on 13, I thought that our space exploration would continue to go. But the extreme rate of progress slowed down. Peter Diamandis: Apollo was this massive promise of what was going to be going on, right? We were going to the Moon, not to stop. There were plans beyond the Moon but all this got killed as the political will petered out and was gone. Roger Launius: On a Mars mission there may be some loss of life in the process, there may be failures along the road, but people will take it on. One of the things that you have to ask is: 'Are the rest of us willing to allow them to do that?' Space exploration is subject to public opinion, and political support. There's no question about that. If you send astronauts to Mars and they die there, I guarantee you, public opinion will prohibit you from ever doing it again. Hana Seung: As we buried our friends, the fate of the mission was back on Earth in the hands of my sister and the IMSF. Joon Seung: Hi Ed. Ed Grann: How long until we know? Joon Seung: I told the press everything I know; the nations are meeting to discuss how to proceed and then we'll make an official announcement. Ed Grann: You can't let them give up. You just can't. They knew something like this was a possibility, we all did. Joon Seung: Seven of the world's most beloved scientists and astronauts are dead. Does that mean anything to you? Ed Grann: Of course it means something to me. What are you talking about? It's a time to be strong, to make a statement that says we're here to stay. Joon Seung: You're not going to influence my recommendation to the committee. Ed Grann: We've come too far Joon. Joon Seung: If the train is derailing, there's nothing I can do to keep it on the tracks. Ed Grann: The nations respect you, they will listen to you; you can inspire them to stay the course. Joon Seung: Even if we can Ed, I'm not sure that we should. Ed Grann: What? Joon Seung: I'm not sure that we should. Ed Grann: Me, I'm sure of one thing. I won't let go. John Logsdon: Dreamers of space have always had their eyes, their hopes, their aspirations, on getting to Mars. Casey Dreier: Mars has been the goal since Wernher Von Braun got involved with NASA. Mission Control: Liftoff, we have a liftoff! Stephen Petranek: Von Braun overbuilt entirely the rocket to go to the Moon. Saturn 5 is the largest, longest, and heaviest machine ever built by humans. It's absolute overkill for going to the Moon. And the reason is, Von Braun didn't wanna go to the Moon. He wanted to go to Mars. The only reason he got involved in rocketry was because ever since he's a little kid, he's focused on this idea of getting to Mars. He invented the V2 rocket when he was in his late twenties and it was the first thing that ever went into space from Earth. Man: Von Braun surrenders to US forces. He and his fellow rocket scientists actually welcomed by the Americans. Stephen Petranek: After the war, he writes a book called 'das Marsprojekt', which is basically a manual on how to build a fleet of ships that can get to Mars and get humans back. He's worked out all the equations, all the details, of how it could actually be done. And it captured the mind of the world. Nobody was thinking about going to the Moon; they were all imagining going to Mars. Man: This closes a golden chapter in the age of space exploration. Stephen Petranek: At the end of the Apollo program, NASA's beginning to lose its focus: what do we do next? And there are two proposals on Richard Nixon's desk. One proposal is that we build a spaceplane, called the Space Shuttle. The other proposal was from Von Braun and he was really storming the halls of Congress, to say that we can go to Mars. Interviewer: When would you see a man on Mars? Wernher Von Braun: We could land a man on Mars in a little over 10 years if we really wanted to do it. Casey Dreier: Richard Nixon was never that big of a supporter of the space program. He came in wanting to cut the budget to lower taxes, and space just was not a high priority for that administration. Basically they just wanted fewer leaps for mankind, right? small steps, small steps. Stephen Petranek: So Nixon chooses the Space Shuttle over going to Mars. Von Braun quits NASA, and within a few years has cancer and dies. Interviewer: It must have taken a great deal of determination to carry on and, in view of some the early failures that you've had. Von Braun: Well, yes uh, you just have to, shouldn't give up. It's very simple, something blows in your face, try again, try again, try again. One fine day you'll wind up on top. Hana Seung: After the devastation to the west section we needed to scavenge from our other resources to rebuild, even the old workshop. Javier Delgado: Figure we use the housings to patch the corridor the best we can. If we can get the section sealed with scrap, my team can start working on the damage done to Olympus Town. Marta Kamen: Mm-hmm, Javier! Javier Delgado: What? Marta Kamen: Ven mira. Javier Delgado: Que, what is that, corrosion? Marta Kamen: It looks like, uh, aragonite crystal. Javier Delgado: Possible the metal catalyzed perculate carried by the storm? Marta Kamen: Unless something reacted with the water that came out of the condensation filter. It would be nice if I had a lab. It's getting dark. Let's get out of here. Phobos and Deimos. Javier Delgado: Fear and terror, good names for the Moons of Mars. Russian Member: We lost two of our finest cosmonauts to this catastrophe; the support of the Russian people is fading. American Member: We've known this since Apollo: once the novelty passes, so does public support, and no one ever died on the Moon. British Member: Is this not the time to make a statement that we're here to stay? We have committed resources, delivered speeches. Giving up now could be a great embarrassment. American Member: More embarrassing than another tragedy? We only accepted the risk in the 60s because it was a matter of national defense. Committee Member: People love space, but not when it means watching heroes die. Russian Member: Secretary Seung, you are as personally invested as any of us. I would like to hear your recommendation to the committee. [SCENE_BREAK] Hana Seung: May I? I'm so sorry. Paul was my responsibility. Leslie Richardson: We don't need to do this. Hana Seung: They all were. Leslie Richardson: You didn't kill them and neither did Paul. Hana Seung: And neither did you. I gave that order, not you. We didn't have a choice Leslie. Leslie Richardson: Paul was right in front of me and I didn't see him. Hana Seung: If we have any chance in this place we need you with us. Joon Seung: Hana... they asked me to make a choice, whether to keep pushing, or to bring you home. I tried to go back to that feeling, that feeling we had, staring up at those stars imagining what was beyond. Hana Seung: Unnie, do you remember that recurring dream I used to have? Walking along the regolith under the twin Moons before I even knew it was Mars I was dreaming about. Joon Seung: When I think about you up there, if it had been you in that corridor... Hana Seung: If it had been me in that corridor, I only hope someone else would have done the same. This mission, it's bigger than all of us. I've made my peace, and I'd do it again if I have to. That dream I used to have about Mars. I could never tell Mom why I would wake up crying every time. It wasn't because it was a nightmare. It was because the dream was over. Joon Seung: Hana, I told them to bring you home. I'm going to make a public announcement next week. I'm sorry. Hana Seung: The mission had failed, I'd failed the crew, I failed Ben. [HANA CRYING] Ben Sawyer: Oh man, this reminds me of a place I used to go with my father when I was a kid. Hana Seung: So beautiful. Ben Sawyer: Yeah. Hana Seung: You know, they can give us a rover; put us in EVA suits, but that blue sky, gonna miss that. There's really no way of knowing if we actually make it up there, is there? Ben Sawyer: Nope, but... What good would we be if we didn't even try? Let's get moving. [SCENE_BREAK] Ann Druyan: The tragedy, for me, of the shuttle... it was as if we'd lost our nerve. Instead of building on the technology that had gotten us to the Moon, and saying okay, let's go to Mars, we ended up to a shuttle which was going nowhere. Casey Dreier: We went into lower Earth orbit for the next forty years. And I think a lot people felt a certain amount of betrayal. So far, the previous generations since Apollo have not picked up that torch and carried it forward. Robert Zubrin: We're approaching the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing. People who watched it happen are still around and still remember a time when we did things like this. And if anybody had told me that I would be 64 and we wouldn't be on Mars, I would have thought they were crazy. John Mccain: Dr. Zubrin, you're mad that this vision has been stolen from a generation? Robert Zubrin: Yes, we turned our back on the whole Apollo vision. It's like Columbus coming back from the New World and Ferdinand and Isabella saying, "ah, so what, forget it, burn the ships." The purpose of space ships is to actually travel across space and go to new worlds. Mars is where the science is, Mars is where the challenge is, and Mars is where the future is. That if we say no, that is beyond us, then it would really indicate that we have become less than the kind of people we used to be and that is something that this country cannot afford. Hana Seung: As the others prepared Olympus Town for the official evacuation order, Robert and I took a trip to visit an old friend, we needed her help taking us back. There she is. Robert Foucault: Never thought we'd be trying to take her back. Hana Seung: Me neither. It looks like she's been through a war. Robert Foucault: She has. Ed Grann: This is it, your home for the seven-month journey and the first two years you'll be living on Mars surface, when the time comes to face the unknown, there has never been another suit of armor more skillfully crafted than this one. Take good care of her. She'll take good care of you. [SCENE_BREAK] Ben Sawyer: I want you to stop and ask yourself what really is important to you about this mission; and if the answer to that question is not the most important thing in your life, then I'm gonna invite you to walk out that door and pursue that thing, whatever it is. And don't ever look back, because no one will ever have the right to hold it against you. Well alright, welcome home. Robert Foucault: External solar arrays are online. Hana Seung: Initializing for start up on my mark... [SCENE_BREAK] Robert Foucault: Engage. Mae: Pressurizing. Joon Seung: No pressure now Hana, this is all of humanity relying on you. Ben Sawyer: You ready for this? Robert Foucault: Three. Hana Seung: Are you? Robert Foucault: Two, one, ignition. Mae: Pressurization complete. Robert Foucault: NDEs are registering no micrometeoroid damage. She'll need the new parts to address the damage from landing, but Cygnus brought everything we need to get her flight-ready. Hana Seung: How will it be? Robert Foucault: What's that? Hana Seung: Going home. Robert Foucault: I'm already home. Leslie Richardson: Marta... I thought you might be interested in this. It was Paul's. I'd like you to have it. Is there anything I can do to help? Marta Kamen: Thank you. Leslie Richardson: When Paul was working on his early climate resistant hybrid studies, I went with him to the western highlands of Guatemala. We knew that if we didn't plan our lives around our work we'd never see each other at all. He was always gone, sometimes weeks. Because on top of his own research, he also decided that he could figure out how this particular pathogen was spreading through local communities, so I barely got to see him. And I resented him for it. It was as if, plants were more important to him than human beings. Certainly to my mind, more important than me. Eventually I understood that for Paul, every time he looked at those plants, he could see all the people they could feed, all the people they could heal. Marta Kamen: So how did he figure it out? Leslie Richardson: Figure what out? Marta Kamen: The pathogen. How was it spreading? Leslie Richardson: Paul realized that the outbreak pattern followed the same vectors as one of the airborne blights he'd been tracking. He'd also been mapping these very complex wind flows from the mountains. And from that, he was able to conclude that the pathogen must have mutated, and it was able to survive in the air Both: and travel on... the wind. Leslie Richardson: Yeah. Announcer: By executive order, all non-evacuation related extra-vehicular activity is now prohibited. Javier Delgado: The biggest failure in history... biggest failure in history. It's easy... yeah, easy. Four years of my life... 20 years preparing. Very good and it's over. Amelie Durand: Hey. Leslie Richardson: We'd be looking for another location with moisture to replicate the reaction use on the WAVAR so we'd be following the wind patterns. Hana Seung: Wind patterns. Marta Kamen: Javier and I found something. The samples were too contaminated to analyze but I figured it blew in from the east in the storm because of the easterly arc of the wind, no way to track its source. Your story made me think. Even though I may not be able to pinpoint where it came from, I can figure out where else it might have blown to. The way the Tharsis Plateau affects the wind flow, it would have blown straight into the recurring slope lineae. On these elevated bedrock outcrops just to the west. Leslie Richardson: If there wasn't a moratorium on nonessential EVAs... Hana Seung: What moratorium? Robert Zubrin: The history of space exploration begins with individuals taking the road not taken, with people with a vision. Wernher Von Braun: I really never had any doubts that it was possible to go to the Moon. Today I know. Robert Zubrin: People being able to see with their minds what others had yet to be able to see with their eyes. Peter Diamandis: There is a direct correlation between the dreams and the works of science fiction and the reality. We as humans over and over again create the future, we create the future we envision. And then we bring to bear our resources, our capital, our technology, our friendships, and then we make it real. Kai Musk: What is this building called? Elon Musk: This is the launch tower, so this is where the astronauts would go up, and then there would be a big arm that would swing over to the spacecraft, and then they'd walk down the gangway, climb in the spacecraft, go to space. This isn't floors, this is feet. the long-term goal of SpaceX is to establish a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. Pretty cool. It's always seemed like we should have gone there by now, that's what everyone expected. We just kind of lost our way. It's a long way down. But now we're gonna get back there. Mission Control: SpaceX Falcon 9 go for launch. Mission Control 2: Stage 1 tanks pressing for flight. Mission Control: VC verify F9 is in startup. Mission Control 2: F9 is in startup. Mission Control: T-minus 4 minutes. Mission Control: SpaceX Falcon 9 go for launch. Mission Control 2: Vehicle's in manual. Mission Control: T-minus 1 minute. Elon Musk: This is a return to flight launch. We'd had a failed mission on June 28 of 2015. [EXPLOSION] After the failure, the whole launch program ground to a halt. That obviously put a lot of strain on the company. Mission Control: All stations verify ready for launch. T-minus 30 seconds. Stephen Petranek: Elon Musk has said the key to get to Mars is the reusability of rockets. He wants to be able to fire a rocket into orbit, launch a payload into space, and then fire retro rockets and bring that rocket down to land vertically, and reuse it. That's an extremely difficult concept. If he cannot make rockets truly reusable then he cannot launch a new civilization on Mars. So the stakes for every rocket launch are huge. Misson Control: T-minus 20 seconds. Stage Two tanks pressing for flight. Flight computer has control of the vehicle. Elon Musk: Do we see anything on the sensors that's a problem? Woman: No, nothing. Man: They all say go for launch. Mission Control: T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... [SCENE_BREAK] [CROWD CHEERING] Elon Musk: It's gone, baby. Let's go, check it out. Man: Speed 1.2 kilometers down range distance 11 kilometers. Shortly after main engine cut off, we're going to separate the stages and begin the second stage ignition. Elon Musk: Come on. [CROWD CHEERING] Man: Main engine cut off. The first stage is returning to land as the second stage powers the OrbComm satellites to low Earth orbit. The fairings have successfully deployed. The first stage will soon begin its series of three burns to head back towards Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk: Oh... where is it going? Okay, this is bad. Potentially bad. [CROWD CHEERING] Woman: That is that first stage, coming back down. History in the making guys. [CROWD CHEERING] Elon Musk: It's standing up! Coming in, it sounded like an explosion. Yeah man! Lee Rosen: Oh my God! Look at this, look at this! It's just sitting there, look at that. Elon Musk: What... holy smokes man. [CROWD CHEERING] It's kind of amazing that this window of opportunity is open for life to go beyond Earth. And we just don't know how long that window is going to be open. The thing that gets me most fired up is that creating a self-sustaining civilization on Mars would be the greatest adventure ever... ever in human history. It would be so exciting to wake up in the morning and think that that's what's happening. Robert Zubrin: Apollo is still within living memory. Neil Armstrong: Houston the Eagle has landed. Robert Zubrin: But the longer we let it fade into the past, the dimmer our prospects become. We do need to make discoveries, we do need to find out the truth about life, and the universe. To resolve mysteries that thinking men and women have wondered about for thousands of years. Look up, look up! There's everything out there! There's trillions of other Earths. That's why we're gonna do it and the next time we go, we're gonna go to stay. Marta Kamen: The story Leslie Richardson told me sparked a thought. Javier and I found something at the old workshop. I need to go there. Hana Seung: The wind patterns lead to a location 87 kilometers west of Olympus Town. We hoped to find a new sample of the substance Marta found on the WAVARs. Marta Kamen: Leslie, have you ever driven one of these? Leslie Richardson: No, I haven't. Marta Kamen: Do you want to have a go? Come. Reporter: We're here at IMSF headquarters waiting for Secretary Seung to make her announcement regarding what we believe will be the end of the Mars mission. Ed Grann: We've come so far, we stop now the Mars dream is dead. [SCENE_BREAK] Joon Seung: Today marks the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. ♪ ♪ There is life on Mars. [CROWD CHATTER] Hana Seung: We had come so far. Overcome so many obstacles. And though there were times when our faith flagged, we persevered. There would be no evacuation. And as we prepared for the next phase, one thing was clear. Our dream was alive.
Crossroads