Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘Beyond a Year in Space’ uplifting experience
Anyone longing for an inspiring American story will find one in “Beyond a Year in Space.”
This stirring salute to the U.S. space program past, current and future debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on PBS. It’s part two of “A Year in Space.” Last year’s first portion repeats at 8 p.m. Wednesday; it won an Emmy in the outstanding science-technology documentary category.
Part two follows Scott Kelly’s progress after a 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station. After touching down in Kazakhstan in March 2016, Kelly marvels that the crisp air is refreshing. Back home, he jumps in the swimming pool fully clothed and says, “That feels good.”
Kelly explains that returning to Earth was harder than he expected because gravity gives a beat-down. He has suffered from inflamed skin and flulike systems. He endures a battery of medical tests that can be contrasted with his twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, to show how the body reacts to long periods in space.
“I’m just the lab rat. I’m the guinea pig,” Scott Kelly says goodnaturedly. But he speaks with wonder about the space station’s construction, and he is contributing to the future.
The program looks at two members of the 21st astronaut class. Former Navy pilot Victor Glover talks of how “awesome” it is to be part of the space legacy and speaks of his hope to walk on the moon.
Biologist Jessica Meir recalls that people have asked her why she wanted to be an astronaut now because they thought NASA had closed. Visits to Cape Canaveral and the Vehicle Assembly Building show otherwise in exhilarating style.
The program mixes talk of long-range missions with old news footage and cogent insights from speakers such as journalist Miles O’Brien. He asks viewers to contrast the makeup of Mercury 7 (all men) and class 21 (four men, four women).
In a poignant sequence, astronaut Jim Lovell of Apollo 8 shares his thoughts about looking back at Earth on the 1968 mission. “You go to heaven when you’re born — just think of what you have here,” he says. “You really see what you have back here.”
Timely and wondrous, “Beyond a Year in Space” reminds viewers that we’re all part of something bigger. Just look up.