Dr Cady Coleman: the loneliness of life in space

Beyond our romanticized vision of space exploration is a day-to-day life of physical and social isolation and confinement in an unnatural environment of microgravity and artificial light. New documentary Space: The Longest Goodbye follows NASA psychologist Dr. Al Holland, tasked with studying and mitigating the threat loneliness poses to missons. It's a particularly urgent task as NASA intends to send astronauts to Mars in the next decade - a voyage that will entail a three-year separation, with no real-time communication with Earth. One of the subjects of the film is Dr. Cady Coleman, a former NASA astronaut who has spent more than 180 days on the International Space Station, separated from her husband and two sons. Space: The Longest Goodbye screens in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as part of Whanau Marama: New Zealand International Film Festival.