The daily life of astronauts on the space station is a test for what’s next in space exploration | CBC Documentaries

NASA has edged closer to its goal of sending humans back to the moon, thanks to work being done by astronauts who live in space for months at a time, conducting experiments and doing medical research. 

Now an ambitious new documentary, filmed entirely by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), is providing a glimpse of what future space travellers can expect.

Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS follows seven astronauts as they go about their daily lives on the space station. They are candidates for NASA’s Artemis program that plans to land humans on the moon again by the end of the decade. 

But the astronauts are not only in front of the camera. You can’t send a production crew into space, so they also became the cinematographers.. 

The documentary is an intimate look at the physical and emotional realities of living in space. Years of training are put to the test as the crew overcomes disorientation in zero gravity, responds to potential catastrophic emergencies and learns how to function as a close-knit team. 

Each of them shares their perspectives on the future of spaceflight, and how mankind got to this point in space exploration since humans last set foot on the moon during the Apollo missions of the ’60s. 

In Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS, astronaut Anne McClain talks about her dream of becoming the first woman on the moon, something that would have been impossible 50 years ago.

McClain reflects on the history of women in spaceflight and how they paved the way to make her own opportunities possible. 

The documentary even captures the milestone moment in October 2019 when her fellow astronauts, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, performed the first all-female spacewalk outside the ISS. 

The first all-female spacewalk outside the space station | Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS

“There is nothing between [you and] the vacuum of space except this spacesuit.” In 2019, astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir carried out the very first all-female spacewalk to work on the outside of the International Space Station.

In April 2023, NASA announced the astronauts that will orbit the Moon on the Artemis II mission, to take place sometime in 2025. Koch will be the sole female on the mission while Victor Glover, also featured in the documentary, will become the first person of colour to visit the moon. 

Next to them in the cockpit will be Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. While Hansen is not featured in Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS, fellow Canadian David Saint-Jacques offers an intimate look at the sacrifices made by astronauts and their families during the long absences from Earth. 

While learning from each other aboard the cramped quarters of the space station, the astronauts share how living among the stars has shifted their perspectives about life back on Earth.

Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS was produced by Felix & Paul Studios and inspired by their award-winning virtual reality series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, the largest production ever filmed in space. 

Drawing from over 250 hours of recordings, the documentary  includes unique footage of spacewalks, filmed with the help of the Canadarm 2 as a movie crane and a specially designed camera built to operate in the extremes of space.