National Geographic: Destination Space Page #2

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because that carrot seems to be

getting bigger.

Every year we do this,

the equipment is a little better,

we can check out a few more

star systems, and, you know,

I wouldn't do it if I didn't think

there was some reasonable hope

that within my lifetime

we're gonna pick up that signal

that tells us what we want to know.

Are we alone?

Who, or what, is out there?

Are they like us?

Every previous generation

wondered about this.

They looked up and they wondered

if there was anybody looking down.

I can be a member of

that first generation

that can actually look back up

and maybe find out if

there's something up there.

Built by Cornell University and the

United States Air Force in the 1960s,

the 1,000-foot diameter

Arecibo radio telescope

is one of the most sensitive on earth.

For Shostak,

it's like a huge hearing aid

tuned to the murmurings of the cosmos.

This little speck of metal

is picking up signals

that might be coming from

hundreds of trillions of miles.

It's like a tin can with a string

that runs up a hundred trillion miles.

We could hear a cellphone on Jupiter,

if there were any.

That's how sensitive this system is.

What we're listening for is not

so much the aliens per se,

but their equipment, if you will.

We're listening for a transmitter.

We're not asking of the aliens that

they build huge interstellar transports

ala the star ship Enterprise

and go from world to world.

We're only asking that

they build a simple transmitter

that any teenager could put together

on a table top

and use a decent size antenna.

Two years after seeing Mir

for the first time,

Foale joins its Russian crew for

a four-and-a-half month mission.

He is replacing

American Jerry Linenger,

who appears eager to leave.

Hi, Mike, welcome to your new home.

Foale knows that a fire broke out

during Linenger's stay,

and that the ship's cooling system

leaks toxic anti-freeze.

The hatch closed, and I thought,

"Well, here I am on Mir."

And at that very moment,

Vasily turned towards me and said,

in Russian, because they didn't

speak English at all,

"Well, Mike,

now we are going to beat you."

And so began my time on Mir.

A joke by commander Vasily Tsibliyev,

meant to both welcome

and caution Foale.

The Russians understand

Mir's problems,

and they want to know if this rookie

can handle the challenge.

It proves a fair warning.

Foale has embarked on one of

the most harrowing missions

in the history of exploration.

In space, it is a narrow margin

that separates life from death.

Orbiting 250 miles above earth,

Mir is a pioneering craft,

a frontier port where men and women

have shattered space endurance records.

But records aren't broken

without risk and pain.

Mike Foale's first weeks on Mir

pass without incident.

But one month into the mission,

Foale's Russian crewmates,

engineer Sasha Lazutkin

and commander Vasily Tsibliyev,

prepare to test

a manual docking system.

Vasily will use a

remote steering system and a camera

to guide this supply ship of

the Progress class to Mir.

But as the eight-ton

vessel draws closer,

it becomes more difficult to track.

Vasily is flying blind.

He calls to his crewmates,

telling them to look for

the Progress through Mir's windows.

Foale and Sasha can't see

the incoming vessel anywhere.

Vasily fears the Progress

is approaching too fast.

He applies reverse thrusters.

But to no avail.

Seconds pass.

Then suddenly,

the Progress looms into view.

It's out of control

and headed right at them.

Sasha orders Foale

to the Soyuz-Mir's lifeboat.

So I flew through the air from the

back of the baseblock to the Soyuz.

I felt this big kathump.

Air starts to rush out of Mir.

I then felt the pressure

falling in my ears.

I thought,

"Ah, this is a pretty serious leak."

The adrenaline was

very, very strong,

because I was expecting

a major breach of the station,

I mean, where the air

would just rush out like,

you know, if you get sucked out

of it, basically.

My immediate thought was,

"We are leaving the station.

We have all got to get into

the Soyuz and that's it."

Mir's pressure alarm blares.

If they can't seal the breach

in 30 minutes,

Foale and his crewmates

will have to evacuate.

Throughout history,

explorers and pioneers

have had to face terrible dangers.

Vasco da Gama, Columbus and Magellan

put their lives at risk

to blaze trails into the unknown.

On the heels of heroes

come entrepreneurs.

Companies are now chasing profits

as satellite communication

is woven into the fabric of

everyday life.

Getting these satellites into orbit

is a competitive and risky enterprise.

In the race for money,

the space business is spreading

to unlikely places around the globe.

When it comes to launches,

French Guiana is hot, hot, hot.

Built in 1968, a space center has

electrified this once quiet country.

The space center is not only

playing the role of

sending satellites into the orbit,

but it's playing also the role

in human relations.

Because here is a melting pot

of all races.

The space center has given an economic

boost to the economy of Guiana.

From the coastal jungle, a French-led

company called Arianespace

has carved out one of the most

advanced launch sites in the world.

We are situated here in French Guiana

simply because this is

the best site in the world

for launching commercial satellites.

Competitors who launch farther from

the equator need more fuel

to lift their payloads into

coveted orbits over the equator.

From Kourou, French Guiana,

a satellite has a shorter and

cheaper path into equatorial orbit.

We have the most reliable launcher

five years without a failure.

We launch every month,

about 12 launches a year.

And demand just keeps growing.

It will take several years

for Arianespace

to work through its backlog

of launches.

While we are signing a contract

in New York,

a satellite is being shipped

at the same time to Kourou.

The launcher for that satellite

is ready to go.

And while we are readying

that launcher,

another launcher is being assembled,

and a third launcher is being shipped

in pieces from Europe to Kourou.

So it's a permanent year-long

We bring your own customers here

in Kourou to actually see the launch,

we bring your engineers to process

the satellites,

and we do the full service

from earth to space.

That's our business.

The customer comes first

in the new race for space.

So, Arianespace has mastered the art

of wining and dining.

Jungle boat cruise, anyone?

After a day of sightseeing, it's time

for the real business at hand-placing

a communications satellite worth

hundreds of millions of dollars

at just the right spot 22,000 miles

above the equator.

The night of the launch,

clients assemble at a safe distance

where they can relax

and enjoy the show.

Bienvenue a Kourou...

Greetings everybody wherever you

may be and welcome to Kourou,

the home of Ariane for tonight's live

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