The UnXplained Mysteries of the Universe s01e02 Alien Earthlings.eng Movie Subtitles

1 00:00:02,042 --> 00:00:03,958 WILLIAM SHATNER: Genetically-modified astronauts, 2 00:00:04,125 --> 00:00:08,083 massive underground bases on Mars 3 00:00:08,208 --> 00:00:12,792 and futuristic rockets that will send humanity 4 00:00:12,958 --> 00:00:15,250 across the universe. 5 00:00:16,667 --> 00:00:18,292 Humans have been traveling through space 6 00:00:18,458 --> 00:00:21,000 for more than 60 years, and during that time, 7 00:00:21,208 --> 00:00:24,917 we've put men on the Moon and robots on Mars. 8 00:00:25,083 --> 00:00:28,042 But how much further can we go? 9 00:00:28,208 --> 00:00:30,792 Will we be able to send astronauts 10 00:00:30,917 --> 00:00:32,625 to the far reaches of the universe? 11 00:00:32,792 --> 00:00:36,042 And when we arrive on these strange new worlds 12 00:00:36,208 --> 00:00:38,500 will that make us... 13 00:00:38,625 --> 00:00:40,167 alien earthlings? 14 00:00:40,333 --> 00:00:43,375 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 15 00:00:43,542 --> 00:00:45,542 ♪ ♪ 16 00:00:56,833 --> 00:00:59,500 SHATNER: Since the dawn of humanity, 17 00:00:59,708 --> 00:01:04,333 Earth has been the only home we've ever known. 18 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:08,083 Mankind has explored, settled 19 00:01:08,208 --> 00:01:12,833 and conquered nearly every nook and cranny of our planet. 20 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,625 Now, tens of thousands of years into the age of modern man, 21 00:01:17,792 --> 00:01:21,333 it seems that the only place left for us to go 22 00:01:21,458 --> 00:01:23,458 is up. 23 00:01:25,583 --> 00:01:28,333 GRAHAM LAU: For all that we know from our history, 24 00:01:28,542 --> 00:01:31,125 we humans are explorers in our very nature. 25 00:01:31,292 --> 00:01:33,208 And so, it seems to make sense that we would want to go out 26 00:01:33,375 --> 00:01:37,000 and explore the other worlds of our solar system and beyond, 27 00:01:37,125 --> 00:01:40,167 and maybe even settle there 28 00:01:40,333 --> 00:01:44,500 to send people to live, perhaps permanently, 29 00:01:44,708 --> 00:01:47,500 in the other worlds that exist out there. 30 00:01:47,708 --> 00:01:51,167 MICHIO KAKU: It is a law of physics, practically, 31 00:01:51,375 --> 00:01:54,292 that one day, we will have to leave the planet Earth. 32 00:01:54,458 --> 00:01:56,000 We have to have an escape clause 33 00:01:56,208 --> 00:01:58,500 in case something devastating happens 34 00:01:58,625 --> 00:02:01,333 to threaten the very existence of human life. 35 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:05,417 In fact, one of the goals of NASA is 36 00:02:05,583 --> 00:02:09,667 to create a Martian colony with human inhabitants. 37 00:02:09,875 --> 00:02:14,083 And so, why not this be the destiny for humanity 38 00:02:14,208 --> 00:02:17,875 to become a multi-planet species? 39 00:02:18,042 --> 00:02:19,875 But then, the bigger question is 40 00:02:20,042 --> 00:02:21,917 is it possible? 41 00:02:22,917 --> 00:02:26,875 SHATNER: Could humans really become a multi-planet species? 42 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,667 For over a century, 43 00:02:28,792 --> 00:02:31,667 science fiction and fantasy have explored the concept, 44 00:02:31,875 --> 00:02:35,917 but what would it actually take 45 00:02:36,083 --> 00:02:39,208 for us to become alien earthlings? 46 00:02:40,208 --> 00:02:41,750 BEN McGEE: One of the greatest challenges 47 00:02:41,917 --> 00:02:46,042 in sending humans off-world is that frontier explorers 48 00:02:46,208 --> 00:02:48,333 in outer space are gonna face hazards, 49 00:02:48,417 --> 00:02:50,333 the likes of which no humans have had to face. 50 00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:52,625 It's barren and inhospitable, 51 00:02:52,792 --> 00:02:56,167 there's a lack of oxygen 52 00:02:56,375 --> 00:02:59,000 and lack of resources in space, 53 00:02:59,125 --> 00:03:01,417 so, it's treacherous. 54 00:03:01,625 --> 00:03:04,292 Self-sufficiency is going to have to be key, 55 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:06,000 and it's gonna be a struggle. 56 00:03:06,125 --> 00:03:09,625 SHATNER: The Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia. 57 00:03:09,750 --> 00:03:13,292 April 12, 1961. 58 00:03:15,125 --> 00:03:18,375 A Vostok 1 rocket launches into the sky, 59 00:03:18,542 --> 00:03:21,333 carrying only one passenger-- 60 00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:24,667 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. 61 00:03:24,833 --> 00:03:27,500 For 108 minutes of a single orbit around Earth, 62 00:03:27,667 --> 00:03:29,875 Gagarin becomes the first human being 63 00:03:30,083 --> 00:03:34,542 to leave our planet and journey into space. 64 00:03:35,500 --> 00:03:37,375 McGEE: Yuri Gagarin is 65 00:03:37,542 --> 00:03:39,333 literally the first alien earthling. 66 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:41,000 He was up there for only about an hour, 67 00:03:41,167 --> 00:03:43,000 on a Vostok rocket, 68 00:03:43,125 --> 00:03:45,583 and this is only a little bit more generous 69 00:03:45,708 --> 00:03:49,333 than a cannonball with a human being inside, 70 00:03:49,542 --> 00:03:52,625 fired all the way up into space and then falling back. 71 00:03:52,750 --> 00:03:55,667 So, truly, these first cosmonauts 72 00:03:55,875 --> 00:03:58,042 were pioneers putting themselves at risk. 73 00:03:59,042 --> 00:04:01,625 Yuri was regarded almost universally as a hero. 74 00:04:01,792 --> 00:04:03,458 (cheering) 75 00:04:03,625 --> 00:04:05,375 He was celebrated the world over 76 00:04:05,542 --> 00:04:07,833 as the first human being in space. 77 00:04:08,042 --> 00:04:12,917 AMY TEITEL: Gagarin's flight took all of America by surprise, 78 00:04:13,042 --> 00:04:15,333 and everybody suddenly kind of stops what they're doing 79 00:04:15,458 --> 00:04:17,625 to learn about this, to watch the newsreels. 80 00:04:17,792 --> 00:04:20,000 And in the 1960s, 81 00:04:20,125 --> 00:04:24,333 everything about space flight was unknown at the time. 82 00:04:24,542 --> 00:04:27,208 They didn't know if astronauts were gonna lose their minds 83 00:04:27,375 --> 00:04:30,292 and space madness would kick in. 84 00:04:30,417 --> 00:04:32,583 Also, there were questions like, "Will your eyes distort 85 00:04:32,750 --> 00:04:35,042 "without gravity, and you can't see? 86 00:04:35,208 --> 00:04:37,333 Can you swallow without gravity?" 87 00:04:37,500 --> 00:04:39,333 No one knew anything, 88 00:04:39,542 --> 00:04:43,250 and then Yuri Gagarin goes into orbit. 89 00:04:44,833 --> 00:04:48,875 And the reality of humans going into space is suddenly here. 90 00:04:54,500 --> 00:04:57,583 SHATNER: In a speech at Rice University, 91 00:04:57,708 --> 00:05:02,458 President John F. Kennedy announces an audacious plan. 92 00:05:02,625 --> 00:05:05,958 Just 17 months after the first manned orbit of Earth, 93 00:05:06,125 --> 00:05:08,167 America is planning to put a man... 94 00:05:08,333 --> 00:05:10,500 on the Moon. 95 00:05:10,625 --> 00:05:13,667 We choose to go to the Moon in this decade 96 00:05:13,875 --> 00:05:15,667 and do the other things, 97 00:05:15,792 --> 00:05:19,333 not because they are easy, but because they are hard. 98 00:05:19,542 --> 00:05:22,042 SUSAN KARLIN: JFK announcing 99 00:05:22,208 --> 00:05:23,500 that we were gonna go to the Moon 100 00:05:23,625 --> 00:05:25,583 ignited imaginations. 101 00:05:25,708 --> 00:05:29,583 It was tremendously exciting for the American public. 102 00:05:29,750 --> 00:05:32,792 However, the engineers that actually had 103 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,167 to make it happen were a little unnerved 104 00:05:36,375 --> 00:05:40,167 because America was still at the infancy 105 00:05:40,292 --> 00:05:42,542 of getting into space. 106 00:05:43,917 --> 00:05:47,417 At that point, we really didn't even know what we didn't know. 107 00:05:47,583 --> 00:05:50,208 Now, this was a very dangerous thing to do, 108 00:05:50,375 --> 00:05:52,917 because the Apollo lunar missions were flown 109 00:05:53,042 --> 00:05:54,500 right on the edge 110 00:05:54,708 --> 00:05:56,333 of what are called "single points of failure." 111 00:05:56,542 --> 00:05:58,583 If a certain rocket engine didn't ignite, 112 00:05:58,750 --> 00:06:00,750 they couldn't leave the surface of the Moon. 113 00:06:00,917 --> 00:06:04,458 So, it puts astronauts in significant danger. 114 00:06:06,333 --> 00:06:07,583 But this was the nature of spaceflight then. 115 00:06:07,750 --> 00:06:09,458 We were taking a lot of chances. 116 00:06:20,333 --> 00:06:22,458 SHATNER: In less than seven years 117 00:06:22,583 --> 00:06:24,458 from JFK's bold proclamation, 118 00:06:24,625 --> 00:06:28,167 and with the help of over 400,000 scientists, 119 00:06:28,333 --> 00:06:30,458 engineers and NASA personnel, 120 00:06:30,667 --> 00:06:35,625 Apollo 11 launches into outer space. 121 00:06:37,667 --> 00:06:39,333 SHATNER: After a journey 122 00:06:39,542 --> 00:06:42,750 that lasts four days, six hours, and 45 minutes, 123 00:06:42,917 --> 00:06:45,583 the lunar module lands on the Moon. 124 00:06:51,375 --> 00:06:53,375 TEITEL: When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, 125 00:06:53,542 --> 00:06:55,292 everyone kind of stopped to watch, 126 00:06:55,458 --> 00:06:56,708 because I think there was probably 127 00:06:56,917 --> 00:06:58,750 this almost morbid curiosity of like, 128 00:06:58,958 --> 00:07:00,333 "If this works, this is amazing, and if this doesn't work, 129...