Before MARS: Behind the Scenes | MARS

Oh my God, back in action! I'm Andy Baker from the National Geographic Channel, and we are here in Ellenville, New York. We're shooting a short film called "Before Mars," which is essentially the prequel story to the global event series coming called "Mars" on the National Geographic Channel in November.

We're telling the story of two of our main characters from the show "Mars" when they were teenagers and first began to be inspired to want to someday take a great journey to the red planet. This is really exciting for us, for the channel, because it is such a different way to tell the story. To take these characters that have been established in the show "Mars" and tell their backstory.

So, in this story, the basic idea is they move into a new home, and in that home, they find this old ham radio. "Hello, Mission Control!" Through a process of discoveries and adventures, they realize this ham radio can actually contact the International Space Station.

So yesterday, we filmed the most important scene, probably the entire film, which is the final scene where Hana goes on this adventure, this quest, to get a better signal so that she can talk to an astronaut in the International Space Station. It was really challenging because the script we have written includes this big rainstorm that stops Hana, and she has to go into a cave. Then her radio breaks down, but she still climbs to the top, and then she finally reaches and makes a connection with this astronaut.

But, of course, we had a perfectly beautiful blue sky day, so we had to figure out how we can still tell this story. We had some rain machines, and we had some big trucks with lots of water on them to create this big rainstorm. You know, then she hikes up to the top. It's very challenging because our crew is hiking up and down these mountains; we're moving to this really remote location.

But in the end, as she's on the mountaintop and the storm has cleared, we got this perfect evening, perfect skies, nice little wind coming through. As we were filming it, I was getting goosebumps as she was talking to the International Space Station. It was a really powerful moment, and it was exciting to see how all these different variables and so many different things come together to make a scene like that happen. When it all clicks, it's a pretty magical thing.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"What does the Earth look like from way up there?"

"It's bright and colorful, hopeful. It looks like home."