Tom Hanks movie Magnificent Obsession - Space is a tremendous leap of faith

Readers Digest | August 2005 | Sara Davidson

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Tom Hanks has been obsessed with space since he was a kid, lying in front of the TV set watching the first men walk on the moon. He loved the romance, and the notion that the astronauts were headed to a place where no human had set foot before. He wanted to go himself but knew, “I didn’t have the math.”

He was soon on his way to becoming an actor, though he never dreamed he’d be where he is today: He’s won two Oscars, and is producing, directing and performing in projects that fire his curiosity.

His new IMAX film, Magnificent Desolation, which he co-produced and narrates, uses NASA footage not previously seen. This is Hanks’ third project about reaching the moon (after Apollo 13 and From the Earth to the Moon). With a screen that’s eight stories high and surround sound, viewers will sense what it’s like to walk across the moon. They may feel as Hanks does when he looks at the galaxy—whether it came about by divine plan or colossal accident, he’s in awe of the mystery.

We met up with Hanks in Los Angeles, a place he calls “the big office” because he’s always working when he’s there. Wearing a baseball cap and jeans, he projects a sense of restless energy.

He’s the first to jump up to open the door or answer the phone, and he talks animatedly about life—which he sums up as “one damn thing after another.”

RD: When did your interest in space begin?

Hanks: I was in third or fourth grade. They’d wheel in some huge black and white TV to watch a Gemini Launch, and they’d monkey around with the rabbit ears. The idea of two guys side by side, up in the vacuum of space—it was romantic. They always said: “And it’s not much bigger than a Volkswagen.” My dad drove a Volkswagen.

RD: A Beetle?

Hanks: Yeah, and I’d fit in that little area behind the backseat, so I had this practical understanding of the size of it all. It infected me in a way that was loaded with mystery. The spacesuits were glamorous and the logos were cool and the guys all had names—Dave Scott—that were very simple.

RD: Where were you when they landed on the Moon?

Hanks: In Red Bluff, California, at my mom’s house. My mom had an oval hooked rug that went around and around. I had built all the models from Aurora and Revell. I had the Lunar Module, the Command Module , Major Matt Mason. I was under my mom’s low, round coffee table with pedestal legs, lying on the rug, doing my stuff with my guys and my astronauts.

RD: Like a puppeteer…….

Hanks: Then, of course, when it came on, you could hardly see the damn thing. The camera angle wasn’t very good, and it never changed. So everybody got bored, including me.

RD: This is the third big project you’ve done on the moon landing. Why do this one when you already did the other two?

Hanks: Because the IMAX format would keep it a new experience. And this is the only one about guys walking on the moon. We don’t talk about how they were chosen or the dangers of getting there.

RD: Just the experience?

Hanks: Two guys living in this little tin hut, only eating the food they brought with them. It’s like the ultimate camping trip. They eventually got a car [the Lunar Rover Vehicle]. They drove so far that they couldn’t see the Lunar Module. I thought: That is a romantic, poetic, incredible reality for those guys. All they could see behind them was their tracks. And the only way they were going to get back was to turn that car around and follow those tracks. That is equal to any of the great journeys of our culture and our time.

RD: The moon looks so far away. It makes me feel like a speck of dust.

Hanks: [Lowers his voice.] Isn’t that what we are? [Laughs]

RD: When you look at the galaxies, what do you feel?

Hanks: It makes me think that we are the most unique individuals in the cosmos because, first, we’re the only ones that we know of, okay? This is the only place we know where you can make a pair of glasses or a pot for a plant. And the sense of wonder is magnified by the amount of space. I once had dinner with [astronaut] Gene Cernan. He said, “Tom, during the Apollo 17 mission I was standing right in the middle of the time and space continuum. I could look at Earth and see it was getting to be nighttime in London while it was lunchtime in Texas. Then I could look over there and realize I was looking straight through the velvet blackness of infinity.” He also could look at his watch and realize: “Oh, I got to keep moving here ‘cause I only got another half-hour to do what I want to do.”

RD: When you contemplate space, does the complexity, the magnificence, make you think there’s some divine hand in this, or that it’s all random?

Hanks: Either one is tremendous leap of faith, and it could very well be that this is beyond our consciousness. How can you look at it and say this was plotted out on a graph? I think that would cheapen it somehow. At the same time, to say it just happened and is completely random would cheapen it as well. I’m thoroughly delighted by the mystery of it all.

RD: Why is it important at this point, when on this Earth we have hunger and poverty and suffering, to spend billions of dollars exploring space?

Hanks: It could well be that it’s not important now, but the truth is it’s going to be important sooner or later. We’re going to run out of room. We’re going to run out of water, out of air. Is it expensive? You bet, and it’s very, very dangerous. But in the long term, the advantages are world-altering.

RD: Give us a prediction for the future. What do you see?

Hanks: I would say not a damn thing is going to change. It’s still going to be one thing after another, some of them so horrible that you’ll weep for all of humanity, but then others so magnificent and beautiful that you’ll say, “Well, I’m going to keep going because that is possible.” [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In this picture the Moon is seen illuminated solely by light reflected from the Earth -- Earthsine! The bright glow on the lunar horizon is caused by light from the solar corona; the Sun is just behind the lunar limb. Caught in this image is the planet Venus at the top of the frame.

The Apollo 15 mission was the first to carry a lunar rover, which allowed the astronauts to travel much further from their landing site and sample a much wider variety of lunar materials. Here, astronaut James B. Irwin, works at the Lunar Roving Vehicle at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The shadow of the Lunar Module "Falcon" is in the foreground. This view is looking northeast with Mount Hadley in the background. This photograph was taken by Astronaut David R. Scott on the 31st of July, 1971.

This movie shows John W. Young (commander of Apollo 16) driving the lunar rover while Charles M. Duke, Jr. (lunar module pilot) films.

Quicktime format (~3.424 Mb)
AVI format (~3.449 Mb)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This image was taken by Clementine as it came over the north lunar pole at the completion of mapping orbit 102 on March 13, 1994. The angular separation between lunar horizon and Earth has been reduced for illustration purposes. The large crater at the bottom of the image is Plaskett (180 W longitude, 82 N latitude).

[Cincinatus' Wife]

RD: The moon looks so far away. It makes me feel like a speck of dust.


Hanks: [Lowers his voice.] Isn’t that what we are? [Laughs]


RD: When you look at the galaxies, what do you feel?

Hanks: It makes me think that we are the most unique individuals in the cosmos because, first, we’re the only ones that we know of, okay? This is the only place we know where you can make a pair of glasses or a pot for a plant. And the sense of wonder is magnified by the amount of space. I once had dinner with [astronaut] Gene Cernan. He said, “Tom, during the Apollo 17 mission I was standing right in the middle of the time and space continuum. I could look at Earth and see it was getting to be nighttime in London while it was lunchtime in Texas. Then I could look over there and realize I was looking straight through the velvet blackness of infinity.” He also could look at his watch and realize: “Oh, I got to keep moving here ‘cause I only got another half-hour to do what I want to do.”


RD: When you contemplate space, does the complexity, the magnificence, make you think there’s some divine hand in this, or that it’s all random?


Hanks: Either one is tremendous leap of faith, and it could very well be that this is beyond our consciousness. How can you look at it and say this was plotted out on a graph? I think that would cheapen it somehow. At the same time, to say it just happened and is completely random would cheapen it as well. I’m thoroughly delighted by the mystery of it all.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

We’re going to run out . . . of air

Any chance you can post this space balls picure http://www.starwarsautographcollecting.com/Autographs/Spaceballs/PresidentSkoorb.jpg

It just seems appropriate and my html knowledge is limited.

[Fairview]

ping for my kid

[sam_paine]

"We’re going to run out . . . of air!"

[darth]

Our current state of space exploration is akin to the lungfish, the first fish to crawl out of the ocean on the tidal flats. At first, they just poked their heads out of the friendly, familiar ocean environment. Later, they evolved to spend hours or days in the new land environment. But eventually, life fills every niche, and amphibians evolved to colonize the land. Space is a tough, risky environment that demands advanced technology. In time, however, humankind will make the transition to the new ocean, and it's an ocean full of resources that goes on forever. Life will fill the void.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That's poetic darth.

[Charles Martel]

Here's one of my favorite photos:

[Skooz]

Bump for later

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A comet or an asteroid could dampen things here on Earth. We better start making a beach head off-Earth. Bush's vision for space exploration centers around us learning how to live off-planet and learning how to use the resources we find. Starting on the Moon.

[HairOfTheDog]

I like Tom Hanks.... thanks for posting!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That is a great picture.

Here's a site with a lot of pictures and information

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Can we still make a fuss about space?

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Thank you.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

He's done a lot of good movies.

I think the last one we saw was "Ladykillers." I don't think it did that well at the box office but it was very entertaining.

[whershey]

Hanks is one heck of an actor who for the most part keeps his opinions to himself. I'm not sure why your ready to shelve him.