The Earth is Blue (in progress)
Screenplay by
Jeremy Noble INT. A SCHOOLROOM SOMEWHERE IN THE USA. APRIL 12, 1961 – DAY There is an American flag and a poster of President Kennedy
(President 20 Jan.1961 – Nov. 23 1963) A class of bored schoolchildren
is reading aloud Julius Caesar, a play by William Shakespeare
(1564 – 1616). A schoolboy is reading the part of Cassius, with
a pronounced twang. SCHOOLBOY
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves …
The speech continues. EXT. BAIKONUR COSMODROME, REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN, USSR. APRIL
12, 1961 – DAY Cosmonaut’s P.O.V through the visor of his helmet, as the platform
he is standing on, rises to the top of the rocket. There are
mechanical sounds all around, and the breathing of the man within
the spacesuit. SCHOOLBOY (V.O.)
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. INT. VOSTOK SPACE CAPSULE. Cosmonaut’s P.O.V. as he listens to the voice link between the
Control Room and the Vostok capsule. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 1 (V.O)
and counting seventeen, sixteen, fifteen ... DOCTOR (V.O.)
Pulse 155. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 1 (V.O)
twelve, eleven, ten, nine ... DOCTOR (V.O)
Pulse 157. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 2 (V.O)
Eight Eight Zero thousands pounds thrust CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 1 (V.O)
... five, four, three, two, one … Lift Off! CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 3 (V.O)
Time check nine hours seven minutes and thirteen seconds am Moscow time. COSMONAUT
Let’s go! A bright flash of light illuminates the screen. A muffled roar
can be heard. INT. CONTROL ROOM, BAIKONUR COSMODROME The Control Room is nothing more than a shed. The roof leaks,
and there is a bucket set beneath the most persistent drip. There
is nothing ‘space age’ about any of the equipment – banks of
instrument dials manned by technicians in white coats. Sergei
Korolev, Chief Designer, stands with his hands gripped against
a television screen. KOROLEV
Fly my little baby. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 2
Boosters away. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 3
Time check nine hours nine minutes and twenty four seconds am Moscow time.
KOROLEV
Fly.
POPOVICH
Comrade Gagarin is carrying all of our hopes with him. KOROLEV
Hopes? These aren’t hopes, these are dreams. POPOVICH I saw you take the tablet. KOROLEV
And? POPOVICH It’s against regulations. KOROLEV
I wrote the regulations. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 2
Main rocket away.
CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 3
Time check nine hours twelve minutes and forty three seconds am Moscow time. DOCTOR
Pulse 155. COSMONAUT
Separation from the carrier rocket completed. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 3
Time check nine hours eighteen minutes and sixteen seconds am Moscow time. KOROLEV
Ground to Swallow. Tell us what you see Yuri Alekseeich. INT. VOSTOK. GAGARIN
The earth is blue! DOCTOR (V.O)
See if you can eat. GAGARIN
My mother’s cooking is better! DOCTOR (V.O)
Can you drink? GAGARIN
Something a little stronger would have been nice. KOROLEV (V.O) You can’t drink and drive Yuri Alekseeich. GAGARIN
I’m not driving, you are. KOROLEV (V.O)
We were worried about the effects of weightlessness. GAGARIN
Let me drive. KOROLEV (V.O)
We can’t, you know that. GAGARIN
Afraid I’ll take a wrong turn? Not much traffic here! CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 1 (V.O)
Altitude three hundred twenty-seven thousand metres. KOROLEV (V.O)
No man has ever been so high. GAGARIN
Let’s hope I don’t have a fear of heights. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 2 (V.O)
Speed twenty-two thousand two hundred sixty kilometres per hour. KOROLEV (V.O)
No man has ever been so fast. GAGARIN (V.O)
Let’s hope there isn’t a red light anywhere. POPOVICH (V.O)
It’s official! We’re on the radio! Listen! INT. CONTROL ROOM RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT
This is Radio Moscow. The Tass News Agency announces that the first
cosmonaut in the world is in space. The world’s first spaceship, Vostok, with
a
man on board, was launched into orbit from the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961.
The pilot space-navigator of the satellite-spaceship Vostok is a citizen of
the
USSR, Flight Major Yuri Gagarin. The launching of the multi-stage space rocket
was successful and, after attaining the first escape velocity 3 and the separation
of the last stage of the carrier rocket, the spaceship went into free flight
on a
round-the-Earth orbit. According to the preliminary data, the period of revolution
of the satellite-spacecraft round the Earth is 89.1 min. The minimum distance
from the Earth at perigee is 175km and the maximum at apogee is 302km, and
the angle of inclination of the orbit plane to the Equator is 65 degrees 4
minutes.
The spacecraft with the navigator weighs 4,725kg, excluding the weight of the
final stage of the carrier rocket." POPOVICH
Let’s hope we don’t need the other ones. VOSKRESENSKIY
What other ones? POPOVICH One asked for help in rescuing a cosmonaut who’d fallen to
earth outside
Soviet territory. VOSKRESINSKIY
And the other? POPOVICH Announced his death. KOROLEV
Now he’ll never die. [to Gagarin] You’re going to be the most famous man in
the
world! A beat.
GAGARIN
I can’t write anything. DOCTOR
[Alarmed]: What’s the matter? GAGARIN (V.O.)
I’ve lost my pencil, the string broke, and the notebooks floating in front
of my
face ... that’s better, I put it my pocket. No sketches by Leonardo! KOROLEV
Is the camera working? GAGARIN (V.O)
I think so. KOROLEV
Check it. GAGARIN (V.O)
We’ve beaten them, the Americans. A beat. GAGARIN (V.O)
I was just thinking how he’s feeling. KOROLEV
Who? GAGARIN (V.O)
Whatever his name is who’s over there in training. KOROLEV
Nobody remembers second Yuri Alekseeich. GAGARIN (V.O)
Yes. KOROLEV
You’re going to be immortal Yuri Alekseeich. Yuri Gagarin. Like the Greeks. GAGARIN (V.O)
What’s that mean? Are they going to pay me more? POPOVICH
It’s for you.
KOROLEV
I’m busy POPOVICH
It’s Kruschev KOROLEV
You’ve just been promoted Yuri, you’re now a major. You’re going to have
everything Yuri – new apartment, car ... imagine it, girls, restaurants whatever
you want, it’s yours. A beat.
GAGARIN
Vodka? KOROLEV
Litres of it, you’ll be out cold! GAGARIN
Good. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN
nine o’ twelve and forty three seconds am Moscow time. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN
Retro rocket fired. CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN
check ten hours fifteen minutes and eighteen seconds am Moscow time. INT. VOSTOK A bright purple light appears – friction with the atmosphere
causing gas molecules to become ionized, creating the strange
glow. Even within the craft’s heat-shield protected cabin, and
in his spacesuit, Gagarin feels the heat building up. The capsule
rocks back and forth in all directions. Gagarin feels the G-force,
building to 10 times normal gravity. He experiences the classic
symptoms known to later fighter pilots. His vision blurs. GAGARIN
Something’s wrong, the cabin’s spinning. INT. CONTROL ROOM POPOVICH
The cable trunk’s failed to disconnect ... the module’s still attached and
dragging
Behind the cabin. KOROLEV
We weighted it so that it would rotate to point the thickest part of the heat-shield
in the direction of flight to protect him from the heat of re-entry. With the
equipment module still attached, it won’t take up the correct attitude. GAGARIN
I can work it out for myself ... I’m going to fry. I’ll be dogmeat, just like
Laika. KOROLEV
Stay calm! GAGARIN
That’s what happens when you fly too close to the sun. Like the
Greeks. KOROLEV:
Where is he? POPOVICH
Africa KOROLEV
Yuri Alekseich, listen, we’ll sort it out … GAGARIN
No! fuck it, I can fly it myself! I’m the only one up here. I’ve opened the
envelope, I’m going to punch in the numbers. KOROLEV
No! I forbid you! TECHNICIAN
We’ve lost contact with him. KOROLEV
No, that’s not it. POPOVICH
30 degrees per second that’s G force 10. It’s spinning out of control, he won’t
be
able to stand the G force for more than … DOCTOR
Ten minutes at the most. KOROLEV
For God’s Yuri, listen to me, I know you’re there. GAGARIN
I don't see any gods up here. Why don’t I just keep going … flying forever
sounds okay to me DOCTOR
He’s losing it. KOROLEV
Yurik, be sensible. GAGARIN
You’re the one who’s been talking about Mars, and Venus ... KOROLEV
That was down here! GAGARIN
Well, from up here it looks much more possible. Isn’t that what we’re
meant to do, explorers, perish in glory. So much for the gods. KOROLEV
You will be! Yuri you will be! GAGARIN
No thanks.... How far do you think I could get in ten days? KOROLEV
[to the doctor] Why ten? DOCTOR
We gave him ten days of food and water in case the retro rocket failed to fire. INT. VOSTOK Gagarin is on his own. He fights the effects of the G force,
tensing his body to force blood back
to his head. His vision clears. At the same time the wires attaching
the still-trailing equipment module snap off. As the G-forces
subside Vostok enters the lower atmosphere, falling towards Earth.
CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN 3
Time check ten hours fifty five minutes and zero seconds am Moscow time. At a height of 23,000 feet (7,000 meters), the main parachute
blossoms above the Vostok, and seconds later the side hatch shoots
off from the cabin, as planned. Two more seconds pass and Gagarin’s
ejection seat fires and he flies into the open air. Looking down,
he sees a river (the Volga). Separating from his seat, Gagarin
sees his own parachute open, slowing him to a more gentle descent. POPOVICH
He’s on his way down. KOROLOV?
Where’s he going to land? POPOVICH
Somewhere near Saratov. KOROLEV
We’re in the history books. VOSKRESINSKIY
No. If we want to claim a record the rules say that the pilot has to land with
his
craft. KOROLEV
Who’s going to tell them that he hasn’t? VOSKRESENSKIY
We can’t hide it from them. KOROLEV
He’s landing on Soviet territory; in the middle of nowhere; VOSKRESENSKIY
They’ll disqualify him. KOROLEV
Not if they don’t know, and they’re not going to.
CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN
Total orbital flight revolution, eighty-nine minutes thirty-four seconds
As Gagarin descends, we see in montage for several minutes the
historical consequences of man’s first flight into space: the
newspapers around the world announcing the news, Gagarin being
feted in Moscow, Manchester, Washington…, the panic of the Americans,
and Kennedy’s speech when he announces the decision to go to
the moon. Gagarin’s P.O.V. as he descends, the earth coming closer and
closer. At the moment of impact, however, we are not in Saratov,
in 1961 but … Cut To: EXT. BALCONY OF A PRESIDENTIAL SUITE IN A HOTEL IN THE CRIMEA
IN 1965 Gagarin’s P.O.V looking into the deep blue of a swimming pool. WOMAN (V.O)
I bet you like looking at stars. GAGARIN:
I was looking down. EXT. On Gagarin, from below the balcony. He is no longer the
handsome hero of Soviet iconography. He is overweight, haggard,
unshaven and very drunk. Think of Elvis towards the end, and
you have Gagarin. Gagarin’s P.O.V. as he turns to look inside the room. It is
not looking as ‘Presidential’ as it was when he first arrived.
The remains of a room-service breakfast, a room-service lunch
and a room-service dinner are losing their freshness on three
trolleys. A naked woman is lying in a massive bed; she is not
Gagarin’s wife.
If you would like to read more of The Earth is Blue, please write
to me at jeremy@jeremynoble.com
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