{"id":17412,"date":"2022-03-11T01:10:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T17:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/last-exit-space-highlights-the-questions-and-the-quirkiness-behind-billionaire-visions-of-leaving-earth\/"},"modified":"2022-03-11T01:10:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T17:10:48","slug":"last-exit-space-highlights-the-questions-and-the-quirkiness-behind-billionaire-visions-of-leaving-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/last-exit-space-highlights-the-questions-and-the-quirkiness-behind-billionaire-visions-of-leaving-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Last Exit: Space\u2019 highlights the questions and the quirkiness behind billionaire visions of leaving Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-681898\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220309-lastexit3.jpg 2035w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An artist\u2019s conception shows a starship on a 5,000-year trip. (J\u00f6rgen Engdahl \/ Courtesy of Discovery+)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to have millions of people living and working in space \u2014 that\u2019s why he founded his Blue Origin space venture more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>But what if living in space turns out to be like holing up in an Amazon warehouse?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality of going to another planet in our current environment, I think \u2026 the best analogy is an Amazon fulfillment center,\u201d Taylor Genovese, an anthropologist at Arizona State University, says in \u201cLast Exit: Space,\u201d a new documentary about space settlement narrated by famed filmmaker Werner Herzog.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou won\u2019t be able to actually see where you are,\u201d Genovese explains. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be inside of a factory, and you\u2019re not going to experience what you think you\u2019re going to be experiencing \u2014 that is, the kind of awe of being on another planet and experiencing being off Earth. No, you\u2019re going to be working inside of a cubicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a perspective you won\u2019t often hear in the wave of space documentaries flowing through streaming-video outlets, including \u201cCountdown\u201d and \u201cReturn to Space\u201d on Netflix, and \u201cSecrets of the Universe\u201d on Curiosity Stream.<\/p>\n<p>But Rudolph Herzog \u2014 Werner\u2019s son and the director of \u201cLast Exit: Space,\u201d now playing on Discovery+ \u2014 wasn\u2019t that interested in doing a conventional documentary about the final frontier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just like the edgy, quirky stories,\u201d the younger Herzog, who\u2019s built up his own portfolio of film projects,  explains in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. \u201cI think everybody knows about Elon Musk, and everybody knows what Jeff Bezos is up to. \u2026 I just wanted to show the incredible lengths people will go to, to live this dream of going to space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; background: transparent;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/how-realistic-is-it-to-leave-earth-behind\/id1528078321?i=1000553622993\" height=\"175\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Herzog and his father went to incredible lengths as well: \u201cLast Exit: Space\u201d takes viewers to Denmark to meet the amateur rocketeers of Copenhagen Suborbitals; to Israel\u2019s Negev Desert for a visit to a simulated Mars base; to Mauna Kea in Hawaii for reflections on the balance between earthly and otherworldly concerns; and to Brazil for a look at the UFO religious movement known as Valley of the Dawn.<\/p>\n<p>There are also interviews with a \u201cspace sexologist,\u201d and with a geneticist who\u2019s thinking about ways to grow radiation-hardened skin for spaceflight, perhaps even containing chlorophyll for photosynthesis. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s fascinating to me,\u201d Rudolph Herzog said. \u201cI think that\u2019s more fascinating than stuff that I\u2019ve already seen in the media.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To delve more deeply into the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, the Herzogs also check in with retired British-American astronaut Mike Foale, who was on Russia\u2019s Mir space station when it experienced a life-threatening collision with a cargo spaceship in 1997; and with Judith Lapierre, who experienced sexual harassment and witnessed bloody fistfights in 1999-2000 during a 110-day space mission simulation in Russia.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-682136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RudolphWernerHerzog_Photographer_LenaHerzog-scaled-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>Rudolph and Werner Herzog teamed up for \u201cLast Exit: Space.\u201d (Lena Herzog Photo) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rudolph Herzog said such tales illustrate how daunting it could be to send settlers on a one-way trip to Mars \u2014 let alone on a one-way journey to the nearest star that could take thousands of years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould we go mad on the trip?\u201d he asked. \u201cI mean, even if we improved our bodies in a way, and had some kind of crazy radiation shield, and we had some way to grow food, wouldn\u2019t our minds be the obstacle to space travel?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the movie was made long before the crisis over Ukraine and its fallout for the Russian space program, Herzog said the current state of international relations suggests we still have work to do on our own planet before we reach for the stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt won\u2019t work if it\u2019s not a collaboration by all of humanity,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople have to realize that we are on a spaceship \u2026 It\u2019s full of great features, actually, but that\u2019s what it is. So we shouldn\u2019t mess with it too much, because that\u2019s all we have, and probably all we\u2019ll ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Last Exit: Space | Official Trailer | discovery+\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pdo79RD_1fs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In the documentary, Werner Herzog says the space efforts funded by Blue Origin\u2019s Bezos and SpaceX\u2019s Musk arise from a \u201ctestosterone-fueled competition.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of these projects are a bit ill-advised,\u201d Rudolph Herzog told me. \u201cOf course, we have no say in it because it\u2019s kind of their money. But I would feel happier if it were used to just look after our own planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledged that Musk is putting a lot of effort into solar power and electric vehicles as the CEO of Tesla. And to be fair, it should also be noted that Bezos is currently spending more money on environmental causes than on space shots.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Herzog argues that humanity isn\u2019t yet ready to head for the stars. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to clean up our act first on Earth before we venture out to Mars or anywhere beyond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cLast Exit: Space\u201d is streaming exclusively on Discovery+. Check out earlier installments of the Fiction Science podcast on Cosmic Log, and stay tuned for future episodes via&nbsp;Anchor, Apple, Google, Overcast, Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public and Reason. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to future episodes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows a starship on a 5,000-year trip. (J\u00f6rgen Engdahl \/ Courtesy of Discovery+) Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to have millions of people living and working in space \u2014 that\u2019s why he founded his Blue Origin space venture more than two decades ago. But what if living in space turns out to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3789,4652,4653,4654,4482,4655,4551,4656],"class_list":["post-17412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-discovery","tag-interstellar-flight","tag-mars-colonies","tag-rudolph-herzog","tag-science-fiction","tag-streaming-video","tag-television","tag-werner-herzog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}