David Farnor | On 01, Apr 2017

Netflix is getting its ass to Mars this May for a brand new documentary about the race to put humans on the Red Planet.

For centuries, our scarlet-coloured space neighbour has captured our imaginations, but in 2017, the idea of a manned mission to Mars has never been closer. Everyone from Elon Musk to Buzz Aldrin are planning to put people on the planet, with even the UAE announcing its own plans to build a city there by 2117. And, of course, there’s Mars One, which invited people from around the world to apply for a spot in the first human settlement, with the first crew planned to depart Earth in 2031.

“We have an entire generation who want to go to Mars, but all of that will fall on fallow soil, if there isn’t some big mission where they can apply this enthusiasm,” warns Neil DeGrasse Tyson in The Mars Generation. The film follows a group of trainees, ages 15-18, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center as they prepare to become the engineers, astrophysicists and astronauts of tomorrow. The audience will also get an inside look into the architecture of the modern space race from the perspectives of the public and private sectors. We will also witness the ways that the teenagers’ progression to become the next generation of space experts mirrors the development of today’s space leaders, and prepares them for mankind’s most challenging expedition yet.

The movie, which is directed by Emmy winner Michael Barnett (HBO’s Superheroes and Showtime’s Becoming Bulletproof), premiered at Sundance at the start of the year, impressing with its mix of archive footage, training insight and talking heads, such as Bill Nye The Science Guy and Musk himself.

The Mars Generation is released worldwide on Netflix on Friday 5th May. Here’s the trailer – or, for more on what’s coming soon to Netflix, click here.

 

 

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