Orbital

Shaun watches Africa and Southern Europe sweep by. He wants to identify the borders of the countries that comprise them on sight but struggles to do so.

Anton and Roman conduct their heart cell experiments, finding ways to preserve the cells as they wither in space. Anton finds the experiment profound. Roman is less impressed. Although the experiment suggests what is happening to their own heart cells and corresponding bodily functions, they and the other astronauts age slower in space than they would on Earth. Nevertheless, Anton and Roman express their mutual lack of concern over the experiment’s implications.

Living in space, the astronauts sometimes wrestle with the meaning of human existence, as well as humanity’s place in a vast, lifeless universe. If the Earth isn’t the center of the universe and certain conditions made it possible for the planet to foster intelligent life, then it stands to reason that there must be other civilizations in other solar systems. The 1977 Voyager program was launched with the hope of validating this theory. Because neither of the program probes have yielded results of extraterrestrial intelligent life, it has led some people to nihilism, believing that human existence is random, meaningless, and destined for loneliness.