“Space bulletin”: Pierre-Yves Lord, the head in the cosmos

Host Pierre-Yves Lord invites the public to the edge of the universe with the new documentary series “Space Bulletin”, which takes off this Monday evening on ICI Explora.

It is with stars in his eyes that Pierre-Yves Lord invites the public to the confines of the universe. The one who has been fascinated by space since childhood is piloting the new documentary series Space Bulletin, which takes off tonight on ICIExplora. 

A series “made with seriousness, but which does not take itself seriously”, indicates to the media the host who is enjoying a year. 

During six half-hour episodes, the “child of the space shuttle”, as Pierre-Yves describes himself, revisits in a playful tone the pivotal moments of space exploration, of which “we feel all the benefits” on a daily basis, from Velcro to the miniaturization of cameras, via the essential GPS.  

“I even know how to go to the convenience store without Waze“, laughs the one who returns to the bar of the quiz 100 geniuses the fall next.  

In Space Bulletin, Pierre-Yves Lord adopts a playful tone and has fun personifying a newscast reader straight from the 1960s, wearing a typical plaid jacket and oversized retro glasses.

Paroles d'astrophysicien.ne.s  

On the program of the cosmic rendezvous: the exploration of the Moon and the planet Mars, the odyssey of the probesTraveling, the history of telescopes, the (possible) dream of living in space as well as the second space age. 

Pierre-Yves explores these topics with a host of astrophysicists, including Robert Lamontagne, and other scientists, including aerospace engineer Farah Alibay, astronaut David Saint-Jacques, and physicist Stéphanie Jolicoeur. 
< br>Fear not, their explanations are hardly dry; on the contrary, Pierre-Yves met specialists delighted to pass on their knowledge (and their passion, it goes without saying) in a clear way. If the topics covered seem nested, he assures that the program will appeal to both neophyte viewers and an audience keen on the various Apollo missions.  

“I hope that my parents will love Space Report Card, that engineering students will have a blast, that young people will want to be the next David Saint-Jacques”, illustrates the buff of the cosmos, who will be at the controls in the fall of a new variety show devoted to music, Plaisir plaza, at Télé-Québec. 

“For me, it's not niche to wonder what kind of solar system we live in, if asteroids are heading towards us, what it means to send humans to Mars”, remarks the host of the next Gemini Awards Gala. 

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  Farah Alibay, Quebec aerospace engineer. Photo: Radio-Canada

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  Physicist Stéphanie Jolicoeur — to whom Pierre-Yves Lord wishes a long career in television —, science popularizer. Photo: Radio-Canada

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  Robert Lamontagne, astrophysicist affiliated with the University of Montreal and science popularizer. Photo : Radio-Canada

Ideas de grandeur 

Faced with the vastness of astronomical material, selecting the subjects to decipher was a great challenge, agrees Pierre-Yves Lord, for whom space is “an inexhaustible source of questions, curiosities”. “We did a good job of finding fairly general themes, but we had to make heartbreaking choices. »

If there is a second season, the subjects will not dry up. “There are so many people I would like to meet again! exclaims Pierre-Yves, quoting the astronaut —“as they say in France”— Thomas Pesquet and Quebec Innu astrophysicist Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, who works in a prominent observatory in Hawaii.  

The scuba diver dreams of wandering the Chilean Atacama Desert, home of the largest astronomy center in the world — “we don't see the same stars in the southern hemisphere”, says -he observe —, in Japan, via the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas, where astronauts train in pools of water to simulate space conditions.  

“It could turn into a trip around the world. It wouldn't cost too much! “, he jokes. 

Not to mention that the news is full of space and scientific news, he rejoices.  ” Every day, we get news , whether it's private companies fighting to inflate their egos or new photos taken by James-Webb “, NASA's space telescope.

Laurence Dauphinais and Maxime Carbonneau created the play If you ever listen to us, which features the creation of the Golden Record, a golden disc launched into space in 1977 on which were engraved sounds representing humanity. Photo : Radio-Canada

When art meets philosophy  

At the helm of Space Bulletin, Pierre-Yves also flies over works that have nourished his lifelong galactic passion, such as the 1985 novel Contactof the American astronomer Carl Sagan, transposed to the cinema, or the writings of Jules Verne – “the rocket, the number of people in the capsule, it is almost prophecies”, marvels the animator.  

Closer to us, in Quebec, he absolutely had to meet an artist for whom “arts and cosmos are linked by a quest for beauty”, the screenwriter and director of The hidden face of the Moon (2003), Robert Lepage, who adapted his eponymous play into a film.

Another example, more recent this time, of an essential work where “philosophy meets art”, according to Pierre-Yves: If ever you listen to us, a piece by Laurence Dauphinais and Maxime Carbonneau. Performed last fall at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, it staged the creation of the Golden Record, a golden disc launched into space in 1977 on which were engraved sounds representing humanity. 

To turn one's eyes towards the celestial vault indeed raises its share of ethical and philosophical questions, also explored in Space Bulletin. 

“When you speak with astronauts, they are passionate about space, but also about the miracle of what we are, underlines Pierre-Yves. There is that in my love of space: it brings us back to the beauty and the uniqueness of what human beings are. »

“You know, when we say to ourselves that we are a little disconnected from what surrounds us…, he continues, pensive. We know a lot of things by heart like Alexander Ovechkin's statistics, but we are not able to name all the planets in our solar system. There is something important in there that brings us back to something essential. ” 

By giving people the opportunity to contemplate the magnificent blue and white sphere that is the Earth, space exploration has captured the collective imagination, “which has allowed environmental movements to be born and say: ‘Let’s take better care of her,’” concludes the pilot of Space Bulletin with emotion. 

The show airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on ICI Explora starting tonight.

The Space Bulletin documentary series is hosted by Pierre-Yves Sir. Photo: Radio-Canada