All language subtitles for The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd s03e14 Out of This World.eng

[Dan narrating]

[dramatic music]

- What if I told you
there was a madman

who set off for space

in a homemade rocket?

[rocket engine roaring]

- Mike immediately attempts
to release his parachute,

but the rocket is
traveling too fast

and the chute shreds in midair.

- And now what goes
up must come down.

And it comes down violently.
[people screaming]

- Or that there was an
alien invasion in Congress?

- [Paul] This must be
the greatest evidence

of alien visitation ever found.

- Even NASA gets involved.

- He's had their DNA
tested and the results are

that they're not human.

- How about going to war
with a celestial body?

[dramatic music]

- Ever since we learned
that a giant asteroid

was responsible for the
extinction of the dinosaurs,

we have all been
a little scared.

- So, NASA creates an entire
network of space lasers.

[rocket engines roaring]

- These are the stories
so out of this world,

they can only be described as

"Unbelievable."

[dramatic music]

Centuries before rockets
and space programs,

a Ming Dynasty official dared
to dream beyond the stars.

This is the legend of Wan Hu,

a man whose bold
ambition launched him

right into the history books.

[dramatic music]

- Wan Hu is a 16th century Ming
Dynasty government official

with an obsession for
science and rocketry

and a preoccupation
with the moon.

He's very interested in
it and very interested

in trying to figure
out a way to go to it.

- At this time in China,
rockets were actually used

for fireworks and
occasionally for warfare.

- But Wan Hu sees a whole
new use for rockets,

and that is propelling people
up into the Earth's atmosphere

and beyond, all the
way to the moon.

- [Dan] With
a sky full of dreams

and a chair full of
rockets, Wan Hu decides

there's no better
pilot than himself.

- As the story goes,

Wan Hu goes out into a field
with some of his servants.

He straps himself
into the chair,

clutching a kite in each hand.

- The idea, each kite will
serve as a steering device

while in flight,

and then allow him to
make a soft descent

to the surface of the moon.

[dramatic music]

- He orders the servants
to light the rockets

with the flame from a candle.

- But one of his
servants is like,

"Wan Hu, please do not.

I fear you're going to die."

And Wan Hu, you know, he's
done his calculations.

He's like, "Don't worry
about me, light the rockets."

- [Dan] Against
all odds and sensible advice,

it's all systems go.

- After ignition,
there's a massive roar

and a flash of fire from
the back of the chair.

[rocket engine exploding]

There's a huge plume of smoke

and Wan Hu and his
ship are hidden.

No one knows what's happened.

[dramatic music]

- When the smoke
clears, there's nothing,

no chair, no rockets
and no Wan Hu.

The servants, they probably
think, "He's done it.

Our Lord is gone, he has
accomplished his mission

and is the first man
to land on the moon."

- But in reality,
it's much more likely

that he just blew
himself to smithereens.

[dramatic music]

- While we can't confirm if
Wan Hu actually makes it,

we can confirm that
another space traveler

achieves this goal,
five centuries later,

all while wearing diapers.

[upbeat music]

- In October of
1957, the space race

between the United States and
the Soviet Union kicks off,

with the launch of Sputnik 1,

the first artificial
object sent into orbit.

- And only a month later,
Russia does it again.

But this time they
launch a stray dog

from the streets of Moscow,
with the name Laika into space,

making Laika the first living
creature to orbit the Earth.

[upbeat music]
[rocket roaring]

- But sadly, she does
not return to Earth.

- So, now the question is,

which nation is
gonna be the first

to launch a human into space

and safely return them to Earth?

- [Dan] Before
risking a human life,

NASA needs proof the
mission can work,

so they look for
the next best thing.

- NASA figures, sending
a chimp into space

is a much better
choice over a dog,

not simply because of
their intelligence,

but because they share
more DNA with humans

than any other
animal on the planet.

- They're not going to
just throw these chimps

out into space.

They actually go through
astronaut training.

- They prepare these
chimps by simulating

the space flight experience.

High G forces, enormous
vibrations and incredible sounds

to make sure the
chimps can tolerate it

before they go in the rocket.

- A NASA veterinarian is
actually tasked with the job

of choosing an
appropriate chimpanzee,

just moments before the launch.

- [Dan]
Out of six finalists,

a chimp named Ham is chosen
to venture into the unknown.

- Wearing a diaper and
a pint-sized spacesuit,

fearless Ham is loaded
into a pressurized capsule

and loaded onto the rocket.

- Ham's not just a passenger,
he has certain jobs to do.

He'll have to pull
levers during launch,

weightlessness and reentry.

- Ham is launched 157
miles above the Earth

at almost 6,000 miles per hour.

At first, everything's
going pretty well.

- But then two minutes, 18
seconds into the flight,

there's a loss of
cabin pressure.

But luckily for Ham, he's
inside of his own capsule,

so Ham is still able to breathe

and a major catastrophe is
avoided right out of the gate.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] Now
the real test begins.

As Ham floats weightless
for over six minutes,

the NASA team
holds their breath.

- Ham pulls the right
lever, a light goes off,

and the control room
erupts in cheers.

[upbeat music]
[applause]

- After 16 minutes, the
capsule falls back to Earth

crashing in the Atlantic
Ocean as planned.

[water splashing]

- With the clock ticking,
the rescue copter arrives,

and when they open the capsule,

inside, they find
Ham still alive,

a bit dehydrated,
but calm, healthy

and ready to take another
flight, should he be asked.

- Ham's flight proved
you don't need a uniform

or a PhD to reach space,

just ambition, nerve, and for
one man, a homemade rocket.

- 58-year-old Mad Mike Hughes

is what you would call a
self-proclaimed daredevil.

In 2002, he sets a
Guinness World Record

for longest jump in a limousine.

- But jumping a
limousine 103 feet

is not all that Mike's
got on his mind.

He has loftier goals.

- Outside of setting
world records,

Mike has been tinkering
with building rockets,

in his backyard, for years.

- Mike is desperately trying
to reach the Karman Line,

which is a line that's about
62 miles above the Earth

and it represents the
beginning of space.

- He decides that he's
actually going to follow

the NASA protocol,

start small and then
work your way up.

- His first order of business
is building a homemade rocket

that can deliver him to 1,800
feet and get back down safely.

[dramatic music]

- Mike's a baller on a budget.

He's gonna get as many
things together as he can

to make this for the least
amount of money possible.

- Mike cobbles together,
discarded parts, scrap metal,

and most importantly,
a steam engine

that is used to
power the rocket.

- Mike's really trying
to think of everything,

so he knows that he's gonna
need a parachute system

to help slow his descent down,

but he is also
trying to figure out,

"Well, I wanna make sure
that it goes straight up."

So, he basically
uses this old ladder

to sort of launch it upwards.

- [Dan] In 2014,
Mike's homemade rocket

is finally ready for
its first test flight.

- All systems are go,

and from the floor of
the Arizona desert,

Mike ignites his rocket.

[rocket engine roaring]

- What goes up must come down,

and it comes down violently.

[rocket crashing]

But, miraculously, Mike lives.

- [Dan] One crash
isn't enough to ground mad Mike.

If anything, it only
fuels his obsession

to go farther,
faster and higher.

- So, on February 22nd of 2020,

64-year-old Mike suits up
once again to make history.

- His goal this time is to
make it to about 5,000 feet,

which equates roughly to a mile.

- He invites 50 spectators out.

He figures he can use
this as a publicity stunt

so that he could
build the next rocket

that would get him to
his goal of 40,000 feet.

- [Dan] Mike's
team counts down from 10,

and in a flash, he's off,

hurtling to the sky at
an incredible speed.

- After just a few
seconds, a failure appears.

The safety parachute
actually gets launched,

and unfortunately,
just as quickly

as Mike is thrust into the air,

it seems that he is
coming right back down

towards the ground, at
about 400 miles an hour.

[rocket smashing]
[people screaming]

- The rocket descends and erupts
a parched cloud of red dust

to the crowd's
stunned disbelief.

And unfortunately this
attempt Mike does not survive.

[dramatic music]

- While Mad Mike's journey
to space ends in tragedy,

his attempts were nothing
short of incredible.

- In 2022, the
United States holds

the first congressional hearings

on unexplained aerial
phenomena in 56 years.

Not to be outdone by their
neighbors to the north,

Mexico has their own.

And the guests of honor
are truly unbelievable.

[suspenseful music[]

- It's September 2023 and
it's a big day for Mexico City

because the Mexican Congress
has assembled to hear testimony

about the possible existence
of aliens visiting the Earth.

- It's a specific
journalist and ufologist,

a man named Jose Jaime Maussan,

who really steals the limelight.

Dramatically, Maussan
takes the microphone

and hails two of his
assistants to bring in

two large coffin-like
boxes into the room.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] When he unveils

the controversial contents,

a hush falls over the crowd.

- Maussan claims what
they have in front of them

are the bodies of
two dead aliens.

[dramatic music]

- They look milky
white like paper mache,

and Maussan has named
them Clara y Maurizio.

And he claims that one is a male

and the other is a female alien.

- Maussan claims that
these bodies were found

deep underground in the
Nasca desert of Peru

in September of 2017.

- And before any of the
lawmakers in the room

could call BS,

Maussan alleges that he's had
these corpses carbon dated

by Mexico's National
Autonomous University.

And according to the doctor,

the bodies were buried
over a millennia ago.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] The
timeline is shocking,

but it's the biology that
Maussan says defies explanation.

- He claims to have
had their DNA tested

and the results are
that they're not human.

And according to him, since
there's nothing on Earth

that currently looks like them

or has ever been found in
history that resembles them,

this must be the
greatest evidence

of alien visitation ever found.

- Even NASA gets involved
and asks for samples

of these so-called alien bodies.

But to this day, Maussan
refuses to share the bodies.

He won't give anyone any samples

and the debate about
the authenticity

rages on across the internet,

but also behind closed
doors in the offices

of these Mexican officials.

[dramatic music]

- Long before these strange
bodies were discovered,

another unexplained
encounter left behind

a baffling piece of evidence.

- It's 1964 in England,

a rare sunny day.

Fireman Jim Templeton decides
why not take his wife Annie

and five-year-old
daughter Elizabeth

out on a little
sightseeing trip.

So, they go to a place
called Burgh Marsh,

which is a stretch of greenery
overlooking the Solway Firth.

They're really
enjoying themselves.

- And so Jim decides
this is the perfect time

to get pictures so we
can always remember

how much fun this day is.

And he gets out his

camera and he takes

three snapshots in succession.

[camera shutter clicking]

- When he's done with the roll,

he drops off the
film at a pharmacy,

like we used to do
in the olden days,

and he thinks no more about it.

- Jim returns to pick
up his developed photos,

and one of the techies
points out that it's too bad

that one of the shots got ruined

by this strange figure

standing behind his little girl.

One of the photos
shows a humanoid figure

standing in the background
behind Elizabeth,

wearing what looks
like a spacesuit,

complete with a
visor and helmet.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] At this point,
Jim is not just curious,

he's downright concerned.

- Jim really starts to go
over his memories of that day.

And the only other people
he remembers seeing

was an elderly couple that
was sitting on a bench

at quite a remove

from where they were
having their little picnic.

- Jim's kind of freaked
out at this whole thing.

And he decides to take this
photo to the police station.

The police take a look and
they kind of shrug it off.

I mean, there's no
crime being committed.

To them, it doesn't really
seem all that strange.

- Next, Jim goes to
his local newspaper.

The reaction there
is quite different.

They're so excited they put
the story and the picture

on the front page.

Now, it really takes off.

The image becomes known as

the Solway Firth Spaceman.

And the story goes viral

or whatever they called
that in the '60s.

- [Holly] Everyone
seems to have a theory

about what has caused this
image to be displayed this way.

- Some of the
theories are mundane.

The image might have
resulted from a lens flare

or a camera artifact.

Others are more far
out, not only claiming

that it's an extraterrestrial,

but others saying
that the daughter

has some psychical ability

and the figure is
her thought form.

- Even Kodak, the company
that made the film

and the paper that the photos
were printed on, get involved.

They look at this
and they can't find

any evidence of forgery
or trickery of any kind.

[dramatic music]

- They even go so far as
to advertise a reward.

If anyone can prove
that this photo

was manipulated in some way,
they will get the prize money.

But no one ever comes
forward for that cash.

- The photo remains
unexplained to this day.

[dramatic music]

- And as for Jim Templeton,

he stood by his story
to the very end,

never backing down
or changing a word

until his death in 2011.

- Not all otherworldly events
involve aliens or astronauts.

Some start a lot closer to home,

like a doomed
flight over England

that left more than
wreckage behind.

[dramatic music]

- It's 1930 in
Bedfordshire in England,

and the Air Ministry
is rushing to complete

a top secret project it's
been working on, the R101.

- The R101 is a lighter-
than-air zeppelin,

which is intended to
carry some passengers

and also the Royal Mail.

[dramatic music]

- The engineers take
an existing airship

and they add a full 50
feet to the passenger area.

[bold music]

- When it's completed,
it's going to be

the largest flying
craft in the world.

- Piloting the R101 is an
experienced Air Force officer,

Lieutenant Carmichael Irwin.

[dramatic music]

- On October 4th,
the R101 sets out

on the first leg of its maiden
voyage from London to Paris.

- [Dan] Eight
hours later at 2:05 a.m.

the R101 is steering
through a driving rainstorm

over the hills of
Beauvais, France,

when something goes
horribly wrong.

- The zeppelin begins
to sway back and forth,

and then a terrible
ripping noise is heard.

[dramatic music]

[thunder rumbling]

- The R101 splits in
two and crashes down,

killing 48 out of 57 aboard,

including Lieutenant
Carmichael Irwin.

[dramatic music]

- Now, when you have a
tragedy of this caliber,

everyone begins to point fingers

about who ultimately
is to blame.

[contemplative music]

- With few survivors and almost
nothing left of the craft,

there's very little to draw
upon to get answers.

- [Dan] Then days later,

a newspaper publishes
a break in the case,

from an otherworldly source,
medium Eileen Garrett.

- A Major Oliver Villiers,

who works for the Ministry
of Civil Aviation,

reads the article
and is shocked,

stunned by the
information that's in it,

because it's information
that shouldn't be known

to the general public.

- Villiers wonders
where Garrett is getting

all of her information from,
so he pays her a visit.

[dramatic music]

In her London flat,
Garrett swears to the Major

that she has never
met anyone involved

with the building of the R101,

at least not when
they were alive.

- [Dan] While
conducting a seance

to reach writer, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle,

Eileen says a
different presence

made himself known instead.

- Eileen began telling a story

that the voice
that comes through

is this young voice that's
speaking very quickly

in a very clipped
British accent.

- The voice says things
like, "Engine's all wrong,

too heavy, can't rise."

- [Dan] Then the
spirit introduces himself

as Lieutenant Carmichael Irwin.

- Villiers wants to speak
with Lieutenant Irwin himself,

so he asks her to
conduct another seance

with him in the room.

- She agrees, and she
arranges another seance,

in fact, seven more.

And during that time, other
crew members also come through.

- The big revelation
brought forth

by the voices of
these six dead crewmen

indicate that the building
of the middle section

was all wrong.

And he says that
the first explosion

was caused by an
engine backfire,

which ignited the
rest of the hydrogen

and caused it to explode.

[dramatic music]

- About six months
later in March of 1933,

a court of inquiry issues its
findings on the air disaster.

And as it happens, the
voices that came through,

Eileen Garrett's seance,

match up to the details
in the court's inquiry.

[dramatic music]

- It's one thing to
be haunted by the past,

but imagine being
transported right into it.

[dramatic music]

- It's August 10th, 1901.

Charlotte Anne Moberly
and Eleanor Francis Jourdain

are walking the grounds

of the iconic Versailles
Palace in France.

[gentle music]

- These two women are
just there for a vacation,

they're not really
big history buffs.

And they're actually
a little concerned

that their plan for the day

is gonna turn out to be
a pretty dull expedition.

- [Dan] As they
walk by a section

called the Petit Trianon,

instead of being
filled with wonder,

they start to feel a sense
of dread washing over them.

- [Nick] Feeling bewildered,

they approach two men
and ask for directions.

- They notice something quite
strange about these men.

They're wearing
tri-corner hats

and long grayish-green coats,

which was not really in
fashion in the 1900s.

- The men seem
kind of icked out

that two women are
even talking to them.

- And they're kind
of rude to the women,

telling them where
they need to go.

And this behavior is quite
strange for the 1900s.

- Next, they see what looks
like a little Chinese kiosk,

and there's a man
there selling trinkets,

and he too doesn't exactly
exude a friendly demeanor.

- He looks at them menacingly

and speaks in a
strange language.

He ushers them to travel
over a small nearby bridge.

[mysterious music]

- [Dan] As they
continue on their tour,

the strange sightings
keep getting weirder.

- Ahead, over the bridge,

they see a woman
sitting and sketching.

When she turns and notices them,

Eleanor and Charlotte
see that she too

is dressed pretty strangely.

- She's wearing a long
white silk dress

with a plunging neckline,

a powdered wig
with a picture hat

and a painted mole on her cheek.

- So, the women
start comparing notes

and realize this all
seemed very strange

and they're bewildered by it,

so they decide to go back
and retrace their steps.

- [Dan] But when
they return to Versailles,

they realize that what
they had seen earlier

has all vanished.

[dramatic music]

- Entire buildings have changed.

The bridge they walked
over has disappeared.

And all of this has happened
in just a few hours.

- After some
research, they decide

that they experienced Versailles

during the time of
Queen Marie Antoinette,

during the 18th century.

And the woman that they saw
sketching on the bridge,

well, that was
the queen herself.

- This is what's
termed a time slip.

It's a snag in
the fabric of time

that enables someone
to momentarily

experience the past
in the same location.

- Remarkably, in 1903,

an old map of the Petit
Trianon gardens is found

and according to that map,

that bridge that
the women crossed,

well, it was there at the time.

- And then a couple
years after that,

another map is
unEarthed and it reveals

that there was, in fact, a
Chinese kiosk there in 1774,

at the time when

Marie Antoinette had
just become queen.

- Although some people
still doubt their account,

the women are compelled
to write a book

about this experience.

They call the book,
"An Adventure,

a True Story in Time Travel."

- Perhaps the biggest testament
to the power of their story

is how popular
their book becomes.

They sell 11,000 copies
in the first two years

and have six
reprints after that.

Not bad for a trip you thought
was gonna bore you silly.

- When you own a home,

there are certain things you
can do to prevent disaster,

like locking your door
or turning the stove off.

But what if the threat comes
from beyond this world?

[dramatic music]

- It's March 8th, 2024

in the middle of the afternoon

and 19-year-old Daniel Otero
calls his father Alejandro

because he just heard a
terrible crash in his home

and he's not exactly
sure what's going on.

- So his dad,
Alejandro rushes home,

having no idea what
he's coming home to.

Was there an earthquake?

Was there a gas explosion?

All he knows is when
he comes in the house,

he sees a hole in his roof.

[dramatic music]

- [Hakeem] The family calls 911

and the sheriff's
department shows up.

Their first theory
is that a meteorite

has fallen through
the family's home.

- [Alejandro] Wow.

Feel that thing.

- But they start pulling
stuff out the floorboard

and it's a piece
of manmade metal.

[dramatic music]

After some investigation,
the leading theory

is that it's part

of an International Space
Station cargo pallet.

- Sure enough, there's a
5,800-pound cargo pallet

that was released from the
International Space Station

almost exactly three years
earlier in March of 2021.

- This pallet was filled
with used batteries,

which were supposed to burn up

upon reentry into
the atmosphere.

It turns out this is space trash

that has fallen to the Earth.

- There's an enormous number
of objects orbiting the Earth,

and for decades, space agencies
and companies just assumed,

"Eh, it's fine, it will
eventually burn up.

It's no big deal."

But it's becoming a big deal.

- The reality is that as we
send more and more things

into lower Earth orbit or LEO,

there's more chances
that space junk or debris

is gonna come down.

[otherworldy music]

- As this problem
grows, we have to decide

on common rules about
disposing of useless,

defunct satellites
in a safe way.

[dramatic music]

- Thanks to NASA,
Alejandro Otero has

a perfectly reasonable answer
for what happened to his home.

But not all those who encounter
unknown objects from above

are so lucky.

[dramatic music]

- In August of 1976,
27-year-old twin brothers,

Jack and Jim Weiner decide

to go on a camping trip
to Allagash, Maine.

Along with them come
their childhood friends,

Charlie Foltz and Chuck Rak.

- The boys spend the first
day hiking, setting up camp,

just enjoying nature.

But on the second night,
something weird happens.

[dramatic music]

They notice a bright
white light in the sky.

[dramatic music]

- It's not high
enough to be a star,

and it's not low enough
to be a flashlight.

And there's no electricity
in the middle of the forest,

so clearly it's not some
sort of streetlight.

It's just hovering there.

And maybe it could
be a helicopter,

but the weird thing is
it's not making any noise.

- Jim grabs his binoculars.

It's blindingly bright,
and after a few moments

it just blinks out.

- [Dan] Despite the
mystery of the bright lights,

the boys move on to
their next campsite,

not giving it another thought.

- On the fourth
night of their trip,

the men decide to go
night fishing on the lake.

In order to be able to find
their way back to camp,

in the dark, they
set a big bonfire.

- So, as the night goes on,

they're out on their
canoes fishing,

Chuck gets this weird feeling,

an eerie one as if
they're being watched.

[dramatic music]

- And as he turns
around, he sees

this bright orb of light again.

[dramatic music]

The light is acting very
strange, it's pulsating.

It looks like a miniature sun.

And so Charlie suggests,
"Why don't we, you know,

SOS it with our flashlights?"

And as they do,
it actually looks

like the ball of
light messages back.

[dramatic music]

- For a moment, the men
are all very excited,

but soon their
excitement changes.

The orb is closing in
on them and they realize

they are not going to
be able to out-row it.

They do make it to
shore, and then suddenly

everything goes pitch black.

[dramatic music]

- When they come to,
they're resting on the shore

and this strange orb
is hovering over them,

and it's so close
that they feel like

they could throw a stone
and actually hit it.

And then this ball of
light just takes off.

At this point, all the men
travel back to their campsite

and they realize that their
campfire is actually put out.

[dramatic music]

- The campfire that
they built was huge,

and the amount of
wood they put on it,

it should have burned for hours.

But they think that
they've only been away

for a few moments.

This shows that they
lost a lot of time.

But they don't
exactly know how much

or what happened during
this missing time moment.

[mysterious music]

- When they get home,
they disclose the episode

to some close friends
and family members,

and as they feared, they're met
with shrugs or strange looks.

Nobody takes seriously
their account.

[dramatic music]

- The general consensus is that

they just probably stayed
up too late camping

and they just imagined it all.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] 12 years
later, still haunted

by their experience in Allagash,

the boys decide to
undergo hypnosis

to uncover what happened
to them that night.

- Incredibly, in
private sessions,

each of the four men recounts

the same bizarre
incident that occurred.

- They all recount samples
being taken from their body,

blood, skin cells, hair, semen.

- The men all remember the
faces of the aliens they saw.

They had large dark
eyes and bulbous heads.

The men claim that these aliens

spoke to them telepathically,

telling them to remain calm
and to do what they're told.

- [Dan] After the session,

the friends are given
a polygraph test

and all four pass.

[dramatic music]

- Some will continue to call
this a hoax or a delusion,

but the four men are committed

that they are absolutely
telling the truth.

- As renowned UFO researcher
John Mack famously said,

"This is not a club anyone
wants to belong to."

- On October 30th, 1938,

as families across America
prepped for Halloween,

their evening radio show
is suddenly interrupted

by an emergency broadcast

that is truly out of this world.

[mysterious music]

- Over six million people
hear an incredible report

that Martians have invaded
Grover Mills, New Jersey.

- News reporters all
say the same thing,

that the planet of Mars is dying

and its inhabitants are
now to take ours by force.

- The sounds of
death and destruction

emanating from their
radios are so realistic

that many listeners panic.

And so they're left to
flee from their homes,

warning their neighbors
that the Martians are coming

and they should flee as well.

[dramatic music]

- But the invasion is not real.

It's the fictional
creation of actor, writer

and visionary director,
23-year-old Orson Welles.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] A decade later,

South American radio producer
Leo Paez sees a chance

to recreate the chaos

and make a name for
himself in the process.

- He wants to make an
even more intense version

of what Welles had accomplished.

- Where Orson Welles used
actors and theatrical sounds,

Paez is gonna use real
reporters that people know,

as well as real Ecuadorian
cities and military leaders.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] On February 12th, 1949,

Paez takes to the airwaves
with a report so real,

listeners aren't sure if it's
news or the end of the world.

- The listeners hear

that the aliens have
destroyed villages.

And to add to their horror,
they're ultimately told

that the aliens
have assassinated

the national minister.

- Real-life local reporters
give their accounts

of the destruction
and the terror,

and some are said to even
die during the broadcast.

- In the US, Welles had told
local police departments

that the broadcast was fake.

Paez does not warn the police,

and so pretty soon
police and fire brigades

flood the streets, adding
to the sense of chaos.

- The public is panicked.

They arm themselves
with rifles

and they take to the
streets to fight back

against the alien horde.

- [Dan] Except
no aliens show up,

and it's soon apparent that
this is all some sort of joke.

- When people find out
that the broadcast is fake,

their fear turns to rage.

The mob turns from trying
to fend off fake aliens

to targeting the radio station.

At first, they throw stones

and then eventually they
set the building on fire.

- Unfortunately, not everyone

can escape the building in time.

Some hurl themselves
out of windows

while others remain trapped.

Producer Paez, who is the
architect of the chaos,

is barely able to
escape with his life.

[dramatic music]

- While Orson Welles was
catapulted to an extraordinary

and legendary career,

producer Leonardo Paez
has to flee his nation

and spend the remainder
of his life in exile.

[dramatic music]

- Thankfully, Martian attacks

remain in the
realm of Hollywood.

But a growing
number of scientists

suspect something stranger,
that aliens may already be here

lurking in the depths
of the Earth's oceans.

[dramatic music]

- In August 2018, 33
scientists publish a paper

that sends their scientific
community into a tailspin.

- The theory is is that
the cephalopods, squids,

cuttlefish, octopus, they all
came from a different planet.

[dramatic music]

- [Dan] Sound crazy?

It may not be as far
fetched as you think.

- Consider this, octopuses
have 33,000 genes.

That's 50% more than
what we humans have.

So, this means an exponential
increase in genetic diversity.

- They can actually also
rewrite their genetic code

to withstand heat and cold

so they can live in many
different environments.

These things are free
thinking, can change color,

they're very intelligent.

- The octopus's brain

is somewhat human-like
in its operation.

They can solve puzzles,
they can use tools,

but our brain is on our skull.

Their neurons are distributed
all over their bodies.

What that means is that
each octopus tentacle

can think for itself.

- The scientists theorized
that since many of these genes

are not found in any other
life forms on the planet,

maybe they are of
extraterrestrial origin.

- [Dan] Even
if our cephalopods

came from one of these
habitable planets,

just how did they get here?

- There's actually
a theory of how life

could go from one
world to the next,

and that theory is
known as panspermia.

- This theory speculates
that meteorites or asteroids

could have brought frozen eggs

of extraterrestrial
organisms down here to Earth.

[dramatic music]

- These eggs could
then thaw, hatch

and then become Earth creatures.

[mysterious music]

- Hitchhikers from
space are one thing,

but what do we do
when the next visitors

aren't just riding along,
but coming straight for us?

- You used to need a spaceship
and a special effects budget

to see a laser weapon in action.

Not anymore.

Now they're showing up
in real life arsenals,

no warp drive required.

[dramatic music]

- Over the past several decades,

US Armed Services
have invested heavily

in what are known as
Directed Energy Weapons.

These are basically giant lasers

for both offensive and
defensive purposes.

[dramatic music]

- Lasers have been
shown to be capable

of taking down cruise
missiles, mortars

and unmanned aerial
vehicles, large and small.

- Lasers are far superior
to traditional artillery.

They don't have
to follow an arc,

they're not affected
by the wind,

and they have
pinpoint precision.

- [Dan] Sure, lasers
can handle manmade threats,

but what about something
much bigger like an asteroid?

- Ever since we learned
that a giant asteroid

was responsible for the
extinction of the dinosaurs,

we have all been
a little scared.

Like, what happens
if another one comes?

[dramatic music]

- If this were to happen now,

it would take tens of
thousands of years

for our ecosystem to
even begin to recover.

- To safeguard
against this scenario,

NASA is trying to create an
entire network of space lasers

as the last line of defense

against an extinction-
level event.

[dramatic music]

- But to destroy an asteroid,

that's a tall order,
that's a big ask.

So, it's easier to start small.

And instead of targeting
giant asteroids,

we can target tiny
pieces of space junk.

- Manmade space debris
can be traveling

up to 20,000 miles per hour.

This is dangerous.

This turns everything
effectively into a bullet.

Right now, NASA and other
space research companies

are still in the
development process.

- By incorporating AI into
these defensive weapons,

we could sleep soundly
knowing that the system

is effectively running itself,

keeping guard over planet Earth,

ready to take immediate action

if an inbound
threat is detected.

[dramatic music]

- While most people have a
healthy fear of asteroids,

others see them as an
opportunity to make money.

[dramatic music]

- Since 1990, we have
detected over 30,000

near-Earth asteroids.

And some tech investors
believe that these are

more than just random rocks
floating around in space.

These are floating gold mines.

[dramatic music]
[rocket roaring]

- NASA has already
sent a spacecraft out

to investigate an asteroid
known as 16 Psyche.

- 16 Psyche contains
large, enormous quantities

of iron, nickel and
other heavy metals,

which are worth over
$10 quintillion.

That's 10, followed by 18 zeros.

[dramatic music]

- With other asteroids
adjacent in this belt,

the total value could be
as much as $26 quintillion.

- Just one of these
asteroids is worth more than

all the mines in the history
of the Earth combined.

- [Dan] In order to
pirate this cosmic plunder,

a handful of tech entrepreneurs,
engineers and scientists

are trying to perfect the
art of asteroid mining.

- The idea is to send
a robotic spacecraft

to intercept one of these
near-Earth asteroids

as they come close to the Earth.

Then you have to sort
through the asteroids

so that they only
get what they want,

those precious, heavy metals.

- One of the major challenges

is building the mining equipment

that's so robust and
durable that it can survive

in the cold, radioactive,
harsh environments of space.

- And a bigger issue than
even mining the asteroid

is figuring out a way to get

all of that precious
material back to Earth.

- [Dan] Despite
these challenges,

two space entrepreneurs,
Matt Gialich and Jose Acain

have successfully
launched AstroForge,

the first asteroid mining
company approved by the FCC

for commercial deep
space operations.

[dramatic music]

- Very soon, our demand
for metals like platinum

may outstrip our ability to
mine them from the Earth.

And so space-based mining
may be the solution

so that we can provide
those kinds of metals

for applications in
industry and medicine

and everything in between.

[dramatic music]

- From ancient dreams
of sailing the stars

to modern day hunts for
aliens in our oceans,

these are the stories
so out of this world,

they can only be considered
"Unbelievable."

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