| The adventure conducted by Jean-Pierre Haigneré aboard the Mir station, during the Perseus expedition of 1999, marks an important stage in a new awareness of Earth. These six months in space were the opportunity for him to fulfil a dream; they represent a mental and contemplative experience.
As the circumvolutions go by (18 sunrises in 24 hrs), he films Earth as a living celestial object, isolated and unique in the universe. He shows us the life of shapes and of elements with their perpetual metamorphoses, and the formal analogies between the macroscopic and the microscopic (the fractals theory).
He also shows us how his body adapts anhd frees itself of all the constraint due to gravity, and how his visual and sound perception undergoes major change. His face pressed to the window of Mir, which rotates around Earth at a speed of 8 km per second (28 800 km/H), the fascinated cosmonaut records 27 hours of rushes. They form a whole cinematographic atlas, from Tibet to Sinai, from Amazonia to the Mediterranean, from Africa to the poles.
Little by little, J-P Haigneré goes beyond the pure scientific observation to reveal in voice off the personal thoughts that come to his mind as he admires the geological phenomena of the planet.
The film is composed by the exceptional sequences filmed by the cosmonaut and interviews recorded three year later in Brittany, in the winter. On this wild and lunar natural theatre, J-P Haigneré projects the memories from his extraordinary intimate adventure.
With the participation of France 2, The Centre National de la Cinématographie and the CNES
You can download here a few pictures from the pictures:
pictures from the film in ZIP format (PC)
pictures from the film in SIT format (Mac)
These pictures are prepared for printing (150 dpi)
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