Technologies

What’s life like in space? Astronauts share moving memories in new film

In the documentary The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station, astronauts’ candid testimonials about going to space shed light on their humanity.

Millions of Americans stared in horror on Sept. 11, 2001, as their TVs flashed with images of hijacked airplanes crashing into New York’s Twin Towers. Former NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson watched from the International Space Station.

He recounts the despair he felt in orbit while looking down on Earth. The ISS’s cameras deftly located a seemingly peaceful, cloudless sky above North America and caught sight of the thick shrouds of smoke ascending from lower Manhattan. His distance from the planet made him conscious of his safety from the chaos, a safety that almost felt unfair to him. Later, Culbertson learned one of the American pilots on the attack’s painfully long list of victims was his friend.

Like the entire nation, Culbertson was abruptly reminded of what it means to feel human.

Culbertson’s story is just one of many intimate anecdotes told by international astronauts in the new documentary The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station. It’s already out in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and will be available for digital download on Sept. 17 from services including Amazon Prime Video, iTunes and Google Play.

Director Clare Lewins, known for her 2014 documentary I Am Ali, about boxer Muhammad Ali, focuses her film on the quiet emotions and experiences that accompany space travel. She does this by drawing attention away from the cosmos and putting its explorers at the forefront.

The Wonderful isn’t really a movie about space; it’s a story about the people who upended their lives to go there.

The film is strung together with music ranging from Claire de Lune to rock ‘n’ roll, sometimes a bit of an odd choice, and cinematic sequences of cruising over Earth that are occasionally a bit longer than needed. However, the movie’s carried by minimalistic scenes of astronauts simply narrating their memories of journeying to and making the ISS their home.

Some are remarkable accounts of the grandeur of the station’s solar panels or the car-crash-like descent back to Earth. Others are charmingly banal recollections, such as listening to Coldplay in a space capsule.

Docking on the ISS elicited an «Oh my!» from European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforreti and Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut, actually felt like one when she first saw her reflection during a spacewalk.

Scott Kelly viscerally describes the Earth’s atmosphere as a contact lens placed on the planet, and recalls his surprise when he finally was invited to interview at NASA. Like anyone vying for a new job, he worries about which suit to wear.

You can’t help but notice that many of the astronauts share unifying pasts of peering up at the sky, believing they’d one day float among the stars. Admittedly somewhat cliche, their wide-eyed childhood dreams reminded me of how lovely it is that humans have repeated the desire to shoot for the moon frequently enough for it to become a hallmark of our culture.

Interviews are also interspersed with touching details about what it’s like for families to suddenly be separated by the clouds.

In a powerful statement, former astronaut Cady Coleman’s husband, Josh Simpson, discusses how he felt when his wife’s rocket climbed into the night sky until it became a speck of light in the darkness. «It’s amazing to think that someone that you love is that pinpoint of light,» he says.

Astronauts themselves are asked how it feels to leave behind fathers, wives, brothers, children and friends — unsure if it would be their last goodbye — as the iconic 10…9…8 countdown is chanted during their rocket’s launch.

But the pain of leaving behind one family is soon alleviated by their entrance into another. Cristoforreti calls the experience of finally setting foot in the ISS a «new birth.»

Particularly, because the film’s testimonials represent global institutions including NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos, the movie successfully underlines the ISS’s role in providing an apolitical oasis for adventurers of the world to embark on the same mission.

Despite any minor shortcomings, it’s nearly impossible to watch this movie and not feel inspired. It’s a grounded version of the classic, epic space documentary that illustrates how incredible things can be achieved by humans — who eat the same food as the rest of us, listen to the same music and love their families the same way.

Coleman’s son summarizes The Wonderful best when he chuckles and describes his reaction when his friends ask him what it’s like to have an astronaut mother: «Well, it’s just mom.»

Technologies

Razer’s Wolverine V3 Pro 8K Controller Won’t Replace My Mouse and Keyboard, but Here’s Where It Shines

I applaud the absurdly high polling rate, six extra remappable buttons and TMR sticks, but let me tell you why I’m sticking with my keyboard and mouse for most games I play.

The Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC controller was not built for me, but admittedly, this has more to do with me as a gamer than the controller itself. I grew up playing the PlayStation 3 and PS4 consoles, cutting my teeth on slim, compact DualSense controllers. Over the past five years, I’ve gamed exclusively on my PC and have grown accustomed to the increased precision of a mouse and keyboard.

The Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC controller is the antithesis of a DualSense controller. It’s a chunky piece of hardware that might feel natural if you were raised on an Xbox and its bulky controllers, but it took me multiple gaming sessions to get acclimated to the sheer size of the Wolverine V3 and how it fit into my hands, especially since I don’t use a claw grip.

Size aside, this is a PC controller with every bell and whistle you can think of — and its price of $200 reflects that. The 8,000Hz polling rate ensures buttery smooth inputs with no lag, and tunnel magnetoresistance joysticks make every in-game movement feel fluid and calculated. Six extra remappable buttons help you up your game — they’re super handy for hero shooters like Marvel Rivals and hectic games like Battlefield 6. This is a premium product for gamers who are hoarding some serious hardware.

Its price is in line with other premium controllers. One of CNET’s best Xbox controllers is the Wolverine V3 Pro for Xbox, which also costs $200. Similar controllers like the Scuf Instinct Pro and Vitrix Pro BFG are in the same ballpark, pricewise, but the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC has a winning combination of competitive variables that make it feel exceptionally easy to use.

This controller is chock full of top-of-the-line technology and feels satisfying to use, but it needs to clear a high bar to feel truly worthwhile as a dedicated PC controller.

Chunky controller, satisfying feedback

When CNET’s Josh Goldman reviewed the Wolverine V3 Pro Xbox wireless controller, he called it «just about perfect.» If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it: Razer replicated many of its successes with the Wolverine V3 Pro PC controller.

The Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC is the same size as the Wolverine V3 Pro Xbox controller, which is to say it’s a bit chunkier than a standard Xbox wireless controller, but it’s surprisingly much lighter than its Xbox cousin. It weighs just 220 grams, which is appreciably lighter than the Xbox version that weighs 304 grams. And while the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC is nowhere near as slim as a DualSense controller, it’s still much lighter than its Sony competitor — a stock DualSense controller weighs 280 grams.

Every button on this controller has a crisp, clean clickiness that scratches the same mental itch that a good mechanical keyboard might. Whether you’re gripping the trigger, pressing a button or squeezing one of the four remappable back paddles, you’ll hear incredibly satisfying auditory feedback that leaves no doubt that the controller is receiving your inputs. At one point, while I sat through a particularly long matchmaking queue, I found myself squeezing the triggers to entertain myself — the snappy pops were enough to keep me off TikTok.

The biggest difference between the V3 Pro Xbox and V3 Pro PC controllers is the variable polling rate — that dictates how often your controller is communicating with the computer. It’s like a refresh rate for your crosshair positioning.

The Wolverine V3 Pro Xbox just can’t compete here: That controller has a wired 1,000Hz polling rate for PC gameplay. The V3 Pro PC controller can be toggled for multiple polling rates, with an 8,000Hz maximum setting. This means the PC controller can report your input data eight times faster than the Xbox controller.

Every movement, turn and button press feels incredibly fluid. It’s safe to say that there’s no input lag with the Wolverine V3 PC controller, but I don’t think it matters too much for moment-to-moment first-person shooter gameplay. If you’re driving a car (or a tank) and you need to stop on a hairpin, you might appreciate Razer’s HyperPolling technology. If you’re not playing a tactical shooter like Counter-Strike or Rainbow Six: Siege, that 8,000Hz polling rate is overkill — if you’re a casual gamer crushing Call of Duty public lobbies with your pals, you’re probably not going to notice it in any of your firefights.

Better than a mouse and keyboard? That’s a little more complicated

I tested out the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC controller on Marvel Rivals, ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 (my current first-person shooter obsession). It’s an extremely solid choice for at least two of these games, and I likely won’t be using my DualSense controller anytime soon.

I had a great time firing magic bolts in Marvel Rivals and rolling tanks through the streets of Cairo in Battlefield 6, but this is a controller that was supposedly designed for high-level shooter gameplay. I’m saddened to report that, when it comes to dominating a first-person shooter match or competing to survive in an extraction shooter, I’d much rather stick to a mouse and keyboard.

In close-range battles, I didn’t feel like the Wolverine controller particularly helped me gain an advantage over my opponents. Mouse-and-keyboard players were often able to lock onto me quicker, even with a high look sensitivity and built-in aim assist. And I felt outmaneuvered and outgunned by mouse-and-keyboard players in the fastest-paced fights. But the controller’s precision TMR thumbsticks made it easy to quickly lock my crosshairs onto enemies and mow them down from afar with light machine guns or sniper rifles in long-range battles.

I also find it useful for games like Battlefield that have a lot of buttons to micromanage during moment-to-moment gameplay. If you want to swap your fire mode from automatic to single-fire, mount your weapon’s bipod against a flat surface or pull out an invaluable class gadget, you’ll be reaching across your keyboard to do so. The six remappable buttons on the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC are great for these situations; I loved that I could tap fire my hulking light machine gun by gripping one of the controller’s back paddles.

The controller really shone for vehicle combat, though. I found myself gravitating toward my mouse and keyboard for infantry gunplay, but anytime I’d jump into a tank, I’d reach across my desk and grab the Wolverine again. Having pressure-sensitive triggers helps with any in-game driving: A slight squeeze lets me cautiously move forward, scanning for enemy mines, while fully pulling the trigger down helps me speed out of dangerous situations. Rebinding automatic repair jobs and weapon switches to the back paddles also helped me focus more on in-game combat, which helped me keep my armored vehicles in the fight for longer. With my DualSense controller, I’d have to awkwardly fumble with the D-Pad to activate my vehicle abilities. The Wolverine controller is the definitive way for a Battlefield tank enthusiast to play.

Outside of standard first-person shooter gameplay, I also found the Wolverine V3 PC controller to be handy for hero shooters — with some caveats. When I play Marvel Rivals, I mainly play tanks that require an extensive amount of ability usage but very little aim. Characters like Doctor Strange thrive when you can quickly string inputs together, and rebinding the controls to the Wolverine’s back paddles is great for that.

On the other hand, speedy divers that need to jump in and out of the enemy team’s backline and aim-intensive snipers feel tougher to play with the Wolverine controls, and I’d swap back to my mouse and keyboard whenever I wanted to switch off tank characters and fulfill another role for my team.

One game I don’t recommend the Wolverine V3 Pro PC for is ARC Raiders. While the remappable buttons make it easy to reach for healing items and grenades, losing out on the precision aim of a mouse and keyboard just isn’t worth it in a game where one death can set your progress back by several real-life hours. The controller lets me hold my own against killer ARC robots, but once real players join the mix, I’d rather use my tried-and-true PC hardware setup.

That’s not to say that the Wolverine controller is terrible for a tactical third-person shooter: The back paddles are a great way to quickly access any healing items, grenades and other consumables you’re carrying, which could be the difference between life and death. But when I have teammates depending on me to help them escape with their hard-earned loot, I just don’t trust the Wolverine controller to help me aim better than I can with my trusty mouse and keyboard.

For playing first-person shooters like Call of Duty or Apex Legends at breakneck speeds, the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC likely won’t replace your mouse and keyboard. But if your ideal competitive game centers on slower gunplay and long-range firefights, this is the most precise controller I’ve ever laid hands on (and you’ll receive a healthy heaping of help from aim assist to boot).

For the games I like to play, the Wolverine V3 Pro PC controller hasn’t become my primary gaming peripheral. Instead, it’s become a great situational swapout that complements my mouse and keyboard. As much as I like keeping it on deck for a long gaming session, $200 is a high price for a part-time controller.

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Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 17

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 17.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

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