Interstellar: The Journey into Space

My modern interest in studying about space began when I was playing the videogame Unreal
Tournament. I was blown and invested on one of the game’s levels named Phobos. Phobos was set in a
space station orbiting around the moon, Phobos above Mars, the beloved red planet. The ambience of
the level was very serene and relaxing, a perfect videogame depiction on this part of the cosmos. I
learned that Mars has two moons orbiting it, Deimos and Phobos. If I remembered correctly, they were
named after the sons of Mars, the Roman god of war. Through the years, there were robot explorations
sent to Mars to study about the planet and look for alien life. More importantly, explorations were sent
to check its viability as one of mankind’s potential future homes. Although Mars is beautiful, despite the
imperfections, Earth is still the planet that can support life at all forms.

My interest about space began when I was young. It started when I was reading Time Life Child’s First
Library of Learning book titled Sky and Earth. In Sky and Earth, I became very interested studying about
the nine planets of the solar system orbiting the sun. I was also interested about the existence of aliens
in these planets. My uncle even told me that aliens live on Pluto! I had also read a mini book about Earth
and space that included the planets of the solar system. Watching Star Wars helped me some way
augment my interest about what’s beyond our planet but not significantly. Through the years, I had
bought and collected many space and universe related books but was not immersed on them. During
this time, beside Earth, I only devote my studies and observations to the moon. The moon is the nearest
neighbor of Earth and is orbiting around the planet. It also borrows light from the sun to light up the
night sky. Through the centuries, many poets and scholars made the moon as subject of awe and
mystery. It was the most visited heavenly body in space as of now. The moon became even more
interesting when it was hyped by the media calling it by different names like “supermoon”, “blood
moon”, “pink moon”, and “blue moon”. If you study science, there is nothing mysterious about this. It
just so happened that the moon was “nearest” to the Earth making it bigger. Many were blown away
that the moon was much bigger and more mysterious during supermoon events. They didn’t know that
most of the time they were observing a moonrise where the moon started rising on the horizon
dominating everything in dramatic fashion. To close my study about the moon, I joined the anniversary
of the success of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. It was Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong
who made me aware of this very important day. The Apollo 11 mission led by Neil Armstrong and Edwin
“Buzz” Aldrin was very important because it gave us new understanding and look about the moon. It
removes all mysteries we had about the moon. It was a great start of potential space explorations to
distant planets possibly hosting life.

UFO and aliens may belong to the realm of conspiracy theory and fringe science but you cannot deny
their importance as subjects of part of scientific research. Scientists are puzzled that in the middle of a
vast cosmos, only Earth is able to support life. The tiny rocky planet filled with rocky terrains and oceans
has the perfect ingredients to support all kinds of life. Through the years, scientists attempted to contact
aliens and bring explorations on neighboring planets but with no signs of extraterrestrial lives. The
existence of aliens and UFOs no matter how popular remained elusive and speculative at best. With the
improbability of distant travels to Earth from galaxies lightyears away from Earth, many alien believers
believe that aliens are supernatural and “spiritual” beings concerned on the evolution of humanity.
There were even New Age movements believing they can contact aliens and serving as vessels for this
extraterrestrial being on their “plans” to humanity. Some also believed that due to the complexities of
ancient civilization, they believed that the ancient gods were actually aliens who taught humans to build
their own civilizations.

Learning about space and distant planets of the solar system was a great escape after everything have
been happening on Earth. I read a lot of articles that the world is falling apart through global warming.
Global warming is caused by the depletion of ozone layer rendering the planet more vulnerable from the
ultraviolet rays of the run. One of the side effects of global warming is the abnormalities in nature. Much
more depressing to read that human beings have fallen apart. They have deteriorated and only
concerned on petty struggles within their surroundings. To stop the parochial and selfishness of human
beings, scientists and thought makers reminded them that they are insignificant in the vastness of
cosmos. We are bombarded with the narrative that despite the Earth as only the planet that can support
life, it is still insignificant in the whole universe. Of course, many religions especially Abrahamic ones will
disagree. The depressing situation in the Philippines especially the result of the 2022 election and the
radical change of the mentalities of the Filipinos made me focus on my online business full time and
studying about space to ease anxiety and tension in life. After being inspired by the gorgeous Phobos
stage in Unreal Tournament and planet Mars, I started to become curious what looks like beneath
planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. I had no problem about what Mars’ surface looks like
because there were already many explorations and pictures about the red planet. I was curious on how
these gas giant planets look beneath their thick and hostile clouds. Before researching, I was expecting
that the likes of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune might have an exotic surface with a vast ocean
surrounding them. I was imagining these primarily for aesthetic purposes because oceans and some
terrains look good on an exotic planet. I was also thinking if these “exists” beneath the atmosphere of
the gas giants, it might support life. As of now, there were no pictures taken beneath the atmosphere of
these planets. With the help of modern technologies, scientists will be able to dissect what’s inside
these planets even without actual photos of inside the planets. Hungry of learning about gas giants,
thanks to algorithms, I stumbled on a series of science related interactive videos on speculating what
lurks beneath the gas giants. Based on observations and empirical data, the video started having a
scientist equipped with a space suit durable enough to withstand the extremities of the planets to be
able to journey to the center of the gas giants. After I viewed the videos despite looking beautiful and
mysterious, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are made as stuffs of nightmares. Going down to these
planets is like a journey into the infinite abyss. Based on the video, descending into a gas giant was
unlike any experience on earth, you will first descend into a dark atmosphere which the sun cannot
reach. After miles of descent, you will be enduring storms that can easily tear anything apart. After going
deeper, you will see tall water ice clouds filled with many powerful lightning and thunderstorms. After a
long and endless descent, everything became dark with the pressure becoming heavier with a
temperature hotter than the surface of the sun. In the end, you will reach a hydrogen and metallic ocean
in the case of Jupiter and Ammonia, Methane, and Hydrogen oceans in other gas giants. The oceans
were dense that you cannot get away from them. If allowed to go down further, you will be stepping on
the solid core of the planets. To ease the tensions about learning about the gas giants, Uranus became a
butt of jokes in a green way in the scientific community. It is interesting that scientists sent Cassini, a
spacecraft to explore and take many pictures of Saturn for at least 2 decades. It could be better if Cassini
can go down and take some pictures beneath Saturn’s atmosphere but Cassini was destroyed shortly
after descending into Saturn proving the hostile and dangerous nature of the gas giants which are
unable to support life. Based on my studies, it was ironic that the moons of the gas giants like Saturn’s
Titan will be better candidates to support life than the gas giants themselves. The moons of the gas
giants look closely more like Earth than the bigger planets. I also read an article that despite Earth’s
imperfections, it is still the most viable planet that can support life. The other planets plainly cannot
support life like Mercury can easily burn a human being being closest to the sun. Venus is so hot and can
easily burn and suffocate a human. You cannot survive even trying to reach the atmospheres of Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. If you are lucky, you will be destroyed by the storms of these planets
which were said to be larger than Earth. The ice shards of Neptune can easily eviscerate a foolish human
trying to explore beneath its atmosphere. Corrupt people should be brough to Neptune because it is
raining diamonds there. Diamonds are formed by ice, methane, and ammonia powered by extreme
pressures million times greater than Earth. The vastness of these planet and the universe reminds the
insignificance and pettiness of our everyday problems. Despite achievements in life, human beings are
nothing not even a fraction in the universe.

Interstellar is a post-apocalyptic, science fiction, and cult classic film by Christopher Nolan. Christopher
Nolan is one of the most visionary directors of the modern era. He is famous for his mind-blowing films
which will make you scratch your mind days after you watched his movies. He is also the director of the
Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception. Despite all the monologues and dramas, Interstellar is an interactive
and glorified science lecture about gravity, black hole, time dilation, singularity, tesseract, and the
theory of relativity. The movie was actually about the theory of relativity on how gravity operates time
and space dimensions of the universe. It was taught that time moves slower when there is more
gravitational pull. It was also the reasons why the characters aged more slowly because they were in
planets near a black hole, a heavy and intense source of gravity where light cannot past. The movie also
deals with the theme of love, patience, sacrifice, perseverance, loss, and pain which are experienced by
many scientists. Interestingly, despite some metaphysical elements, the movie was said to be in the
realm of scientific accuracy. I first heard on Interstellar from my younger brother. I was expecting the
movie then as another science fiction movie where you explore a planet and meet aliens. He told me
that he saw aliens in the fifth-dimension part towards the end of the movie. He said that it was all he
remembered about the movie. I even thought that Tom Cruise was the lead instead of Matthew
McConaughey. Originally, I had no intention to watch Interstellar but there were three aspects that
made me watch the film. The first aspect was that my younger brother told me that there were aliens in
the film. Who will not be interested to see aliens in a semi realistic science fiction film? The second
aspect was that when viewing the reels of Instragram, I fell in love with the beautiful and ethereal
soundtrack of the movie. Christopher Nolan, a great director works wonders with Hans Zimmer, one of
the greatest movie composers of all time. When the two combined forces, they are a formidable award-
winning team. The Cornfield Chase soundtrack of Interstellar was catchy, ethereal, and among the best
movie themes of all time. It was very cosmic as if you’re picturing astronauts exploring the deep vast of
space. The final part was that I was started to be interested in space and wanted to see a decent realistic
space film not Star Wars. When I saw a clip of the movie in Youtube where the scientists were stuck in
an ocean planet, it reminded me of Neptune despite far from reality. Last Saturday, in a rainy afternoon,
I had the opportunity to watch Interstellar in Netflix. I was expecting another space adventure but got
more than that. Despite the monologues and dramas, the movie like I said was a glorified science lecture
about gravity, time dilation, black hole, singularity, and the theory of relativity. They are crucial terms to
learn if you want to learn more about how the universe operate. It will also change your notion on what
you used to believe about space and time. A very life changing brilliant movie and a good escape from
the shallowness of the modern world.
Interstellar, the three-hour epic film began in Cooper’s village set in a post-apocalyptic Earth. During
that time, dust storms and blight rendered the planet unsuitable for crops and sustenance for life.
Cooper’s daughter, Murph was curious of supernatural events occurring her room. She thought that she
was haunted by a “ghost”. The being tried to send her a message through the moving of the watch and
sand from time and space dimension. Cooper, an ex-NASA scientist was summoned by Professor Brand
along with his daughter, Amelia, Doyle, and Romilly to look for new worlds for human beings to live.
Cooper and his crew were briefed that there was a wormhole near Saturn which can lead to another
stay system. With heavy heart, Cooper left his children to go to space for noble cause for humanity.
Aboard the Endurance spaceship, Cooper and his team accompanied by TARS, an artificial intelligence
robot travelled across many planets eventually reaching Saturn. When they reached Saturn, they
entered the wormhole to go to another galaxy to look for new worlds. It was said that before Cooper
and company, NASA sent the Lazarus expedition to explore new worlds suitable for life. There were
three planets said to be suitable for life, Miller, Mann, and Edmunds’ planets. The planets were named
after the scientists. While aboard the ship, Cooper continued to keep in touch with his children.
Christopher Nolan loves to use foreshadowing. While on the ship, Cooper and Amelia started talking and
arguing about love. Cooper believes that love is for social continuity and procreation while Amelia
countered telling him that love is beyond social standing because she still felt love for Wolf Edmunds
long after he is gone. She believed that love can cut across time and space dimensions more powerful
than any forces in the universe. The concept of love in the film will be part of the climax of the film
which will change the perspective of Cooper.

After entering the wormhole, Cooper and his crew reached the planets around the Gargantua black
hole. It was fitting that the black hole was named Gargantua because it swallowed everything including
light thus the name Gargantua. Cooper and his crew reached Miller’s planet. Romilly stayed behind and
entered a cryosleep to save his energy and decrease aging. When Cooper and crew arrived at the
oceanic planet, they do not think it can support life. Amelia and Doyle saw high landmass thinking they
were mountains but were mistaken when they were actually giant waves. When the waves were about
to wreak havoc on them, Amelia managed to return back to the spaceship but Doyle was not lucky and
died of drowning. Knowing, it cannot sustain life, Cooper and his crew left Miller’s planet. Cooper and
his crew realized that 1 hour in Miller’s planet is equivalent to 7 years on Earth. Murph told Cooper that
she was at his same age when he left the Earth. This was the result of gravitational time dilation where
the stronger the gravity, time moves much slower. After all, the planet is near Gargantua black hole
where gravity is strongest and theory of relativity. After Miller’s planet, Cooper and his crew explored
space for 2 human years and landed on Mann’s planet. When they arrived at Mann’s planet, they
thought they already found out what they were looking for, a habitable planet. They awoke Dr. Mann
but Dr. Mann later turned against them. Dr. Mann revealed that he falsified the data to beckon NASA
scientists to save him. He revealed that Mann’s planet cannot support life that the ice land mass will
soon collapse and chlorine will not reach the surface to help harbor life. Dr. Mann activated the bomb
destroying the camp along with some data killing Romilly in it. After an intense fight, Cooper and Amelia
managed to get out while Mann managed to follow them. Dr. Mann was killed when he tried to dock by
depressurize the hatch. This caused great problems to Cooper and Amelia. With Cooper’s persistence
and the help of TARS the robot, they managed to stabilize the Endurance. Back in Earth, due to old age,
Professor Brand passed away revealing to Murph, now a scientist that his Plan A and B didn’t work.
Brand’s Plan A was to find the perfect gravitational equation to allow many people on Earth travel to
space. Plan B was to save the planet but the planet was impossible to be saved. It was only left to find
the perfect gravity equation to allow many people on Earth go to space to look for planets that can
sustain life. Back on Earth, it was a rough day for Murph. She had fights with her brother, Tom because
the latter decided to remain on Earth and tend on his crops. With all the blame games and the death of
Professor Brand, nothing seemed to work.

Now, it was time for Cooper and Amelia to reach Gargantua the black hole. To be able to break free
from Gargantua and reach Edmunds’ planet, Cooper decided to sacrifice himself so Amelia can break
free from the black hole and arrive safely at the final planet. It was fitting that Amelia should be the one
to arrive at Edmunds’ planet, after all, it had a sentimental value on her. Dr. Wolf Edmunds was once her
lover. Before leaving Amelia, Cooper told her to reduce mass, something must be left behind. Cooper
riding the Ranger spacecraft dived into the black hole enduring the full power of gravity. It was said to
be equivalent for 51 human years. When the ship was about to explode, Cooper ejected and continued
diving in into the blackness of space. This is the doctrine of gravitational singularity is where falling into
the black hole was said to land you on another dimensions of time and space. Some says that the force
of gravity can break time and space dimensions making you access other dimensions. Unexpectedly,
Cooper found himself in a tesseract library where he can see his daughter’s bedroom. In this scenario, it
was revealed that it was Cooper who was the “ghost” trying to send messages to his daughter back
home. Cooper realized he cannot change the past but he can send message for his daughter to change
the course of human history. With the help of TARS and his daughter’s cooperation, Murph managed to
decipher the message of Cooper eventually finding the gravity equation through morse code
coordinates. Murph was destined to be the one to save humanity. After sending his daughter the gravity
equation, Cooper realized that the tesseract was built by omniscient beings probably evolved humans in
the future after mastery of gravity. This was the time when Amelia was right that love was a powerful
force that can send ripples through time and space continuum. Cooper was eventually found floating
around Saturn and was brought to a nearby space station hospital. During that time, it was past 51 years
and Murph became a heroine to mankind. Cooper and Murph now an old woman briefly reunited.
Murph told Cooper that no father should bury his own children. She told Cooper to leave. Cooper set
out another course to meet Amelia in Edmunds’ planet. it was implied that Edmunds died of rock slide
during his sleep and was buried in a makeshift grave. Amelia removing her helmet was a sign that the
planet was suitable for life. She managed to build her new colony in the planet. With frozen embryos,
humanity can start all over again in a new planet bound for greater things to come.

After watching the movie, I’m still on the process understanding gravity and the theory of relativity.
Minus the superficial dramas, Interstellar is among the best science fiction movies to date. It is a modern
cult classic made by a visionary director Christopher Nolan with the intention to educate. Some people
might be turned off by deep mind exploding concepts and long three-hour run but if watched properly,
it is among the most profound and sublime science fiction movies ever made. The film had great actors
who played their roles well. I once had an impression that Matthew McConaughey is a wild and wacky
actor but he can act and play as a competent character in the movie. The story in the film might be long
and dragging but it was great and brilliant. The movie explored many human emotions in the larger
scope of things. It promotes positive human traits of love, sacrifice, persistence, and endurance to get
job done. It was also a warning like in the case of Dr. Mann, when society is non-existent, humans are no
more than animals. Even the planets were fictional, they were wonderfully made sparking our desire
finding things bigger than ourselves. Like I said before, it was a glorified and interactive science lecture
filled with theory of relativity, gravity time dilation, black hole, singularity, and time-space dimensions.
In metaphysical sense, Interstellar made us question our concept of space and time. I was tempted to
think that the past was not totally gone but was stored somewhere in alternate universe to be accessed
and correct for the betterment of the future. Interstellar was a good introduction to people who wanted
to learn more about astronomy and space. It is also good for honing people who are already deep in
space studies. It was a visionary movie based on science and ultimately, a movie that will advance the
cause of science for the betterment of mankind.

Lastly, studying about space and the universe can be healthy in many ways. First, it is education and
great addition to knowledge to learn the wonders and expanse of the universe much bigger than our
world. Second, it promotes humility because humans will realize they are not even a fraction of the
universe. And lastly, the sheer size, wonders, and unpredictability of the universe will make humans set
aside their differences and petty divisions to unite as one species to protect each other to work for the
advancement of science.