Journey to Space

This forty-two-minute documentary was shot for the giant screen. Its subject is where human spaceflight has arrived: the closing of the Space Shuttle programme in 2011, the work continuing on the International Space Station, and the vehicles being prepared to send people to Mars. It describes how astronauts learn to live in space, what weightlessness does to the body, and why the journey back is the real problem. Patrick Stewart narrates. Mark Krenzien's film uses real NASA footage alongside animation; everything belonging to the Mars mission is of course animation. The tone is optimistic throughout: the obstacles are listed but none is shown as unsolvable, and the questions of cost and political will are not entered. Its short length and the giant-screen format make it a show rather than an argument. Where it is best is the sections showing daily life on the station.