REVIEW: Traveling to space, one must say the ‘longest goodbye’
Photo: Space: The Longest Goodbye features the story of astronaut Cady Coleman. Photo courtesy of NASA / Bill Ingalls / Provided by Greenwich Entertainment with permission.
Ido Mizrahy’s new documentary, Space: The Longest Goodbye, is an exquisite and detailed look at the psychological and interpersonal realities of space travel. Too often the exploits of the astronaut’s life are centered on science and “final frontier” thinking, and what is generally lost in the conversation is the necessity to stay mentally strong while encountering long stretches of time away from family and friends. The isolation of space travel can have a detrimental effect on these astronauts and their missions, so NASA and other organizations have employed teams of psychologists and experts in the area to test out different methods to ensure these brave professionals can withstand the so-called “longest goodbye.”
Mizrahy’s film, which is currently playing in theaters and on digital services, features one-on-one interviews with astronauts and their family members, plus Dr. Al Holland, who steps these space explorers through the realities of their extended stay away from home. Holland’s work takes on a greater sense of immediacy and importance given NASA’s ambitious goal to land astronauts back on the moon and on Mars within the next decade. That Martian voyage will be particularly challenging because the astronauts will not have a real-time connection to planet Earth and their families, so they won’t be able to have typical conversations with their loved ones. In anticipation of that reality, new methods are being researched and tested out, including having these explorers make connections with A.I. robots and even undergo hibernation, as if they were bears in winter.
An interesting side note is also given about an example of this extreme isolation a little closer to home. Holland and his team were employed to help the Chilean miners who were stuck underground for two months a few years back. Their isolation mimicked the feelings that astronauts endure when they are floating in space.
The images in Space: The Longest Goodbye are marvelous to behold. Besides the one-on-one interviews, there are beautiful shots of space and the often-cramped surroundings of a space station, which perfectly showcases the lived-in duality of these explorers. The astronauts, including Cady Coleman, find themselves in the great beyond, with limitless space around them, but they are confined to these elaborate test tubes, floating around with their hair sticking up. They are experiencing the final frontier, but there’s a claustrophobic effect as well.
The interviews with the spouses and family members are particularly revealing. They show the sacrifice that these land-based loved ones need to make and even how co-parenting might work when one parent is orbiting around Earth.
Space: The Longest Goodbye is a touching, important exploration of what it means to be an explorer. Ultimately, these astronauts need to escape the Earth’s atmosphere to realize how human they truly are.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Space: The Longest Goodbye (2024), directed by Ido Mizrahy, is currently playing in theaters and on Amazon and Apple TV. Running time: 87 minutes. The Greenwich Entertainment release features Dr. Al Holland, Kayla Barron, Dr. Jack Stuster, Cady Coleman, Sukjin Han and Jackie Morie. Rating: 
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