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Series 1: 4. Friends Forever

Emotions are something that most fighter pilots learn to suppress, but when astronaut and former fighter pilot Terry Virts fits one of the last pieces of the International Space Station, that's exactly how he feels – emotional. Terry is assigned to assemble the Cupola, a large window that looks down on Earth. The view affects everyone who sees it. Astronauts from more than 14 different countries experience that same pang of empathy and love – not for the country they came from, but for the planet they all call home. For many, it’s this international element that makes the ISS such a special orbital outpost: working and living with astronauts and cosmonauts from all over the world, overcoming differences to connect in a shared sense of belonging with the beautiful blue planet that they can all see from the Cupola. Literally orbiting above the problems on Earth, the ISS feels like a shining example of how humanity can thrive when it focuses on what unites rather than what divides. Terry dares to believe the union will last forever.\n \nGinger Kerrick is working in mission control as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for the ISS, essentially the link between those on the space station and Earth. Keeping the astronauts connected to what’s happening back on planet earth is part of her job. Ginger is their voice from home, helping them celebrate national holidays and marking birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes, the news she must deliver isn’t always good. One night, a call is put through to ISS astronaut, Dan Tani. Dan knows immediately that something isn’t right; it's highly unusual to be disturbed during scheduled rest time. Unfortunately, his suspicions prove correct. Watching on a video link as NASA officials gather around his wife, Jane, they break the news to him that his mother was killed a few hours ago in a road accident. Unable to return home, Dan grieves for his mother from space, the remoteness of his location amplified by his desire to be with his family. As Dan reflects, living off Earth isn’t just going to be about missing birthdays.\n \nWith the completion of the ISS, it’s time to retire the Space Shuttle. In service for over 30 years, the Shuttle revolutionised America’s human spaceflight program, but its dangers could not be ignored. Since its first flight in 1981, there had been two catastrophic accidents, resulting in the deaths of all on board. Terry flew on one of the Shuttle’s final flights, full of admiration for what it had accomplished. Although not on duty, Ginger gathers in mission control to watch the last Shuttle to fly make its final descent to Earth. Ginger has mixed emotions: sadness for the Shuttle’s end and concern for the future. Now, the United States has lost its ability to launch humans into space from American soil. The private space industry, tasked with providing an alternative, have not yet delivered. NASA’s vulnerability is exposed. To send their astronauts to the ISS, they must now pay the Russians for a seat on their Soyuz rocket.\n \nIn 2014, Terry is in Russia, preparing for his next flight to the ISS. It is during his preparation that Russia annexes Crimea, an aggressive military move that the American astronaut did not fully understand at the time. His focus is on his mission, and the complicated geopolitics that would one day lead to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine did not fully register. Full of hope and excitement about flying with his Russian counterparts, Terry launches on the Soyuz for a 169-day stay on the space station. Not long into his mission, Terry witnesses something that will completely change his view on the ISS and the collaborative partnership between his country and Russia. One evening, he looks out of a window with his Russian colleague. They happen to be passing over eastern Ukraine. Red flashes from the ground catch their attention. Slowly, the realisation of what they are looking at dawns on the two men. The flashes are explosions from Russian bombs landing in Ukraine: they are watching a war. In that moment, the innocence of space is lost for Terry, as he now fully comprehends the violence of Russia’s assault on its neighbour.\n \nAs the war intensifies, Russia and America find themselves on opposing sides. The relationship between the two countries, never entirely harmonious, becomes fractured and hostile. Elon Musk’s SpaceX eventually reinstates NASA’s ability to launch its own astronauts into space, but as the space station journeys towards the end of its life, serious questions are now being asked about the morality of collaborating with Putin’s Russia on any new space project. Has this experiment of collaboration, started back in the 1990s with Shuttle–Mir, run its course? For Terry, the answer is yes. For Ginger, the symbolic power of the ISS - a place where, for a brief while, humans from across the globe collaborated and worked together - is a powerful lesson she hopes will not be forgotten in these troubling times.

Source: BBC 2