‘Slingshot’ Imagines A Yearslong Space Mission Gone Wrong

RACHEL FELTMAN: The movie Slingshot, a sci-fi thriller about a years-long mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, is out in theaters today. Starring Laurence Fishburne, it follows the crew members as they start to unravel, highlighting how long lonely missions can put astronauts’ well-being in peril.

LAURENCE FISHBURNE: We have been in space for nearly two years.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SPEAKER 1: You have two more hibernation cycles before the slingshot.

SPEAKER 2: Houston, we have a situation.

LAURENCE FISHBURNE: The impact represents no real danger.

SPEAKER 2: What if the whole system is compromised?

SPEAKER 3: If we attempt a slingshot, we get blasted into deep space.

RACHEL FELTMAN: While the movie is definitely a work of science fiction, it does remind us that a lot can go wrong in space, both physically and mentally. So as humans get closer to embarking on long missions to places like Mars and beyond, how are real space agencies thinking about keeping them happy and safe?

Science Friday’s digital producer of engagement, Emma Gomez, sat down with the film’s director along with a space psychologist to answer those questions and more. Here’s Emma.

EMMA GOMEZ: Joining me to talk about the science of astronaut psychology that Slingshot puts on full display are Dr. Kelley Slack, an organizational psychologist who worked on space psychology for NASA, and Mikael Hafström, the film’s director. And just a heads up to our audience, we’ll discuss things that you might learn from the movie’s trailer, but we won’t spoil the film’s many twists and turns. So welcome to both of you to Science Friday.

MIKAEL HAFSTROM: Thank you very much.

KELLEY SLACK: Thank you. Glad to be here.

EMMA GOMEZ: So, Mikael, what did you learn about this long-term space travel concept while making the movie? Are you a big sci-fi fan?

MIKAEL HAFSTROM: Well, yes, I like sci-fi, but I’m also interested in the human psyche. And I think space and spaceship is a great arena for stories about– about loneliness and solitude and longing and self-reflection. In space, that’s pushed to its limit.

A few years ago, I made a film called 1408. It’s a Stephen King adaptation with one character in a hotel room for most part of the film. They are relatives that film 1408 and Slingshot in the sense we don’t really know exactly what’s going to happen with a human being so far away in space. So we have to guess and we have to talk to experts, and it’s a work of fiction. It’s our take on what our characters go through during this special mission, and I hope the audience can feel with John, the main character in this film, and his struggles as human struggles, not only an astronaut struggles.

EMMA GOMEZ: Yeah, that’s what interested me about it, too. And Dr. Slack, as an expert in space psychology, what did you think of it before we get into the nitty gritty of everything?

KELLEY SLACK: I thought the film was very interesting. I enjoyed watching it. And, of course, having the space background having worked at NASA for a while, I came at it from a different perspective than I think the average audience member would.

EMMA GOMEZ: Right? In the real world, how do space psychologists help keep astronauts mentally healthy in space on a long-term mission where you can’t be in real time communication with astronauts?

KELLEY SLACK: Space is an isolated, confined, extreme environment. It’s not supposed to have humans in it, and humans are very social. And when you put that combination together, you get constrained humans who are in a limited social situation, and that creates a lot of stressors on them. So they are doing a lot of research on what kind of prevention should we have, what kind of countermeasures can we put in place, meaning what can we do to help them have the coping mechanisms and all the strategies that they need in order to have a successful mission? And then there’s the third thing of if something does occur, then what treatment options do we have?

EMMA GOMEZ: And another thing I want to touch on was the group dynamic. How big a role would you say teamwork and that dynamic between the crew plays into astronaut well-being?

KELLEY SLACK: Extremely large. You have to have the team, and you have to have a team that works well together. And then you need a strong commander who will ensure that the team is staying as healthy as possible.

There are a lot of different ways that NASA does this and other space agencies do this. One thing that’s common for commanders is to have the entire crew spend at least one meal together a day so that they get that face-to-face time. On the space station, it’s so large that you can go an entire day without running into other members of the crew.

On a long duration exploration mission like is depicted in Slingshot, there would not be the luxury of that amount of space or capacity. The vehicle would not be that large, so you would be in close proximity. So the work we’ve been doing shifts more towards what degree of privacy do the different people need versus how much togetherness do we have?

EMMA GOMEZ: And you mentioned a strong commander. I feel like in this movie, there definitely is one, but it still contributes to the conflict. Without spoiling much, I would say that’s true.

So, Mikael, like a NASA psychologist, I’m sure you thought a lot about group dynamics, too, and how that would impact the film. How did you think about the dynamics between the actors and how that would translate to the astronaut team in the movie?

MIKAEL HAFSTROM: It’s interesting because it’s a small environment, and the group dynamic is obviously key to make it all work in such a special situation like being so far out in space. So we built this spaceship on a soundstage, and we didn’t take out walls to shoot. We tried to keep it very closed in, but that created a sense of claustrophobia I think that was really good for all of us that worked in the film. And we went in there in the morning, and we tried to avoid going out until we were finished shooting later in the day just to help ourselves remind us where we were supposed to be on the ship. So the more we could push that sense of loneliness, the better for the actors to feel right in the situation.

EMMA GOMEZ: So back to the space psychology of it all, in the movie, the ship gets damaged and the crew just disagrees about what to do next. And it reminded me of how the Boeing Starliner crew is stuck on the space station right now. Luckily, they have guidance from Earth to decide their next move, but, Dr. Slack, how are astronauts trained to manage disagreements about safety on a mission where real-time communication isn’t possible or even when communication might be lost?

KELLEY SLACK: We have done a lot of prep work then if we don’t have real-time communication. We put countermeasures on board to increase the likelihood that we can help them even though it’s not real time. There would be a doc in the box kind of thing or AI-generated remote psychological help available for them. There was always a medical officer on board whether they’re a medical doctor or not, and they’ve been trained extensively in coping mechanisms and how to deal with stressors and how to be aware of that both in themselves and in others.

We also would probably put something called proximity badges on them. The proximity badge is a way of us tracking to see if the patterns of interaction have changed over time. And if they do, then that gives us a heads up that there might be an issue later. And so then we can, even with the communication delay, start addressing the potential issue that might occur in the future.

One other thing is putting control in the hands of the crew actually is pretty effective as far as giving them a dashboard where they can track their own vital signs. They can watch their own health status, and that puts a lot of control in their hands and gives them a lot of strength as well.

EMMA GOMEZ: I wish that they had a space psychologist like you on the team at Slingshot.

[CHUCKLING]

What’s one of the most surprising things you’ve learned through your work as a space psychologist working with NASA.

KELLEY SLACK: I think for me is when we were looking at the space station as an analog to a long duration exploration mission, one of the things I wanted to do– and I flew this idea past a few people, but it never got more than one degree away from me– I wanted to cover all the windows on the station to see how the astronauts could cope without seeing Earth.

One of the favorite things– actually the number one activity that astronauts enjoy doing when they’re in space is taking photographs of the Earth or just sitting in the cupola, that mini windowed bay window type thing that sticks out the side and looking at the Earth. And when they go somewhere like Titan or Mars, they’re not going to be able to see Earth, and you just really have to wonder what happens when we as humans who are so tied to our Earth, what happens when we are out there untethered, unable to see that which grounds us.

EMMA GOMEZ: I love that word, untethered. Well, thank you both for taking the time to talk about this.

MIKAEL HAFSTROM: Thank you so much. It’s been very interesting. Thank you so much.

KELLEY SLACK: Thanks.

EMMA GOMEZ: Dr. Kelly Slack, organizational psychologist, and Mikael Hafström, director of the new movie Slingshot. It’s out now.

RACHEL FELTMAN: Thanks for that, Emma. For more stories about science on the big screen, subscribe to Emma’s newsletter Science Goes to the Movies at sciencefriday.com/movies.

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