THE FUTURE FOUNDATION
HOLLIGEN CASTLE . CH-3008 . BERN SWITZERLAND

@ The Mission

Established in Switzerland by photographer Jaydie Putterman, THE FUTURE FOUNDATION’s mission is the realisation of the multi-media project Planet Earth: The United Nation.

Four hundred! That’s how many astronauts and cosmonauts have already ventured into space as we enter the third millennium. Men and women who have changed forever the way we see the world, even the way we look at ourselves in our world. Perhaps one day, their achievement will change the way we think of ourselves, together, as one people with one future.

In DVD-ROM format, Planet Earth: the United Nation depicts mankind’s epic struggle to conquer space, the last great frontier of our millennium, and the way those 400 men and women have each lived and experienced it.

We present both the human and technological stories of this great adventure. We live through what individual astronauts saw and felt as and when they were actually orbiting the Earth. The reality of their experiences is made even more vivid by the photography of Jaydie Putterman, and by the actual words spoken and written by the astronauts themselves.

The realism and accuracy of Planet Earth: the United Nation will provide a powerful role model of hope for all the children of our world.

State-of-the-art multi-media systems enable us to recreate every individual space exploration vessel from the pioneering orbiter of Yuri Gagarin to the latest modules of NASA. THE FUTURE FOUNDATION is able to draw on vast photographic and audio-visual archives specially provided by the world’s main aerospace centers such as NASA, RSA and ESA to make our voyager really feel like the first astronaut of the new millennium.

Our voyagers, children or adults, will relive each mission in space as members of the original crew. They will be part of the team faced with the awesome and majestic reality of space. Using the subjective camera process, we will take them, in 3D and real-time, through each of those journeys into an experience heightened by Jordi Savall’s original music, uniting mankind’s beginnings with his space-time universe, and his attempts, since the advent of language, to understand it.

UNESCO, under the aegis of Secretary-General Federico Mayor, and ASE, the Association of Space Explorers (former and current astronauts), have both joined in support of THE FUTURE FOUNDATION’s Planet Earth: the United Nation in the belief and conviction that it will foster cohesion and hope among the young people of the world, who are all our futures.

@ The Experience

Here I am a voyager aboard ‘THE FUTURE FOUNDATION’ spaceship. Several destinations are available to me - and I can specify the mission exactly. Back as far as Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in space, or as recent as American Shannon Lucid, the choice is mine. From the US Mercury mission to the Altaïr expedition, every single one of the hundreds of the manned space flights are at my fingertips arrayed before me.

The epic Apollo missions, the first man on the Moon? I decide on the Moon program and from Apollo 17, 16, 15....I select Apollo 14.

I lift off from planet Earth; and I am on my way to linking up, far out in space, with my Apollo mission. It’s early February 1971, long before I was born. Spaceship ‘THE FUTURE FOUNDATION’ finally docks with Kitty Hawk, the Apollo 14 module. I enter to find the three crew, Alan Sheppard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell, wrapped in discussion about the separation, which has to take place prior to descent to the Moon. The ship is very cramped. My first experience of weightlessness is awesome. Through a porthole, I can see Earth as it was in early 1971. I catch sight of Amazonia and the massive green vegetation of the Brazilian jungle, so much more prominent than it is now.

My control panel displays the portraits of my three companion astronauts. Activating a switch, I am transported into a three-dimensional gallery, where, gliding on a rail, I travel through portraits and illustrated documents from the exact time of the mission. I pause to take in the operation and purpose of Apollo 14.

Turning round, I'm back in 1971, and aboard the ship. Through his space helmet, a crewmember beckons me towards the LEM, Antares, en route for the Moon. He is no other than Stuart Roosa, whom I just saw in the gallery, the one who remained in orbit during the lunar landing.

I am bound for the Moon. It seems to be so close through the porthole, so different from the view I had of it from Earth. Despite his long experience, Alan Sheppard, the first American in space shows a child-like excitement at the prospect of actually walking on the Moon. Decompression time.... silence...and we’re on our way.

With my two fellow astronauts, I reach the Moon’s surface. I pick up several samples of moon rocks to be analysed back on Earth. Before climbing back on board Antares, Sheppard gives me a golf lesson. We try our hand at a couple of swings. A last glance at planet Earth, so far yet so beautiful in the infinity of space, and we lift off for orbiting Kitty Hawk, where Stuart Roosa awaits us.

Back on board, I leave them for their return trip to Earth, while I once again take the controls of ‘THE FUTURE FOUNDATION’ spaceship in search of other missions in space and time...

@ The Market

For the first time, DVD-ROM format will be available to depict the last great struggle of our millennium, the conquest of space. In the DVD-ROM Planet Earth: the United Nation, The Future Foundation wants us to go beyond our concerns with countries and continents, and our preoccupations with all our varied forms of civilisation, race and culture. We contemplate our planet, our home, Earth, and our future as terrestrials and extra-terrestrials.

We dedicate this project to all our children and to generations yet to come.

For this very reason, UNESCO is a partner of Planet Earth: the United Nation. UNESCO will use its global network to ensure distribution of the DVD-ROM in all countries. In just an initial phase, one million copies of the DVD-ROM will be distributed with the aid of UNESCO to one million educational institutions worldwide. UNESCO will also manage the translations so that all may have access to the experience.

It is also why ASE, the Association of Space Explorers, with its worldwide roster of distinguished astronauts, is a partner. In many countries, foremost national astronauts will personally launch DVD-ROM Planet Earth: the United Nation. To ensure realism and accuracy, ASE members will supervise the exact and detailed reconstruction of each of their own missions to put people into space.

To reach even greater numbers of people, an Internet site will be developed based on the DVD-ROM Planet Earth: the United Nation. Updates of future space missions will be posted on the Internet enabling our voyager to keep abreast of developments and to exchange experiences with other voyagers around the world who have also shared the virtual space reality of the DVD-ROM Planet Earth: the United Nation.

And there will also be spin-offs, which will broaden still further the appeal of the DVD-ROM Planet Earth: the United Nation. A book will relate the experiences, in their own words, of all the men and women who have travelled in space, and will include a photographic portrait of each astronaut signed by Jaydie Putterman. Written with future generations in mind, the book will build on the success of the multimedia program. An audio CD of composer Jordi Savall’s original theme music will also be available throughout the world.

You can download this document from here (.pdf file - size 8 Ko).

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