Surviving Extremes

Produced by David Parer and directed by Liz Parer-Cook (the team who brought you Wolves Of The Sea), Surviving Extremes tells the story of two groups of explorers on perilous journeys - one into the wilds of the Antarctic - the other into space. Although over 100 years apart, these journeys tell us much about how we will cope with future missions to Mars and Outer Space.

Seen from space, the Antarctic is as isolated and treacherous as the surface of Mars. It is cold and desolate and blasted by ferocious winds. To survive there you have to have the right make-up both physical and mental. And the stuff of survival under such conditions has many parallels for astronauts living in space.

In 1911 Australian explorer Douglas Mawson left Hobart and sailed to an uncharted stretch of Antarctic coastline, where he built a hut on the edge of the frozen continent at Commonwealth Bay. Mawsons team was handpicked for their skills and compatibility, and endured isolation, privation and the pressures of living in one anothers pockets for a year - strikingly similar conditions to those that will be encountered on future long-term space missions to Mars. A year later, Mawson lost his entire team, and surviving on ration biscuits and dog meat while struggling alone across huge glaciers, he made it back to civilization.

Eighty-five years later American astronaut Andy Thomas blasted off in a Space Shuttle for Russias MIR space station for a five-month stay with two cosmonauts. He was the last of seven astronauts to spent time For Andy the experience was a new adventure and he adjusted well to the long hours of work, the Russian food and the two non-English speaking cosmonauts. But some astronauts had a hard time on MIR. They missed friends and family and the intimacy of touch. Others hated the autocratic style of Russian leadership. NASA learned that the most important ingredient for success on long-duration missions is the composition of the crew - something that polar leaders had realised a century before.

The special DVD release also includes the award-winning documentary 'Douglas Mawson: The Survivor' as a bonus feature.

RRP: $29.95
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