In 1912, Mawson led an expedition into the unexplored wastelands of Antarctica. The sledging party suffered tremendous set-backs, isolation and physical hardships that resulted in the deaths of his two companions. In the 1990’s Western astronauts lived aboard Russia’s MIR space station and had to deal with the worst fire in space history and a collision with a re-supply ship, incidents that nearly killed them. While these two journeys are 100 years apart, they reveal much about what sort of people can cope with life in extreme environments giving vital clues to the sort of person who should be selected for NASA’s recently announced missions to Mars.  Length 53 mins.

Produced by David Parer & Elizabeth Parer-Cook for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Natural History Unit in association with Granada International. © Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.