Trainspotting Reflections and Edgar Mitchell’s Controversial Odyssey
Two pieces appear in this Monthly issue. One is a personal reflection on Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, marking its 30-year impact on cultural memory and the era’s “Cool Britannia” sheen. The other is a long profile of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who believed aliens have visited Earth. The Mitchell piece traces his life from a Texas farm to NASA’s elite, situating his worldview against a backdrop of major 20th‑century events. It details his early experiences surrounding Roswell and the Trinity nuclear test, his rise as a naval pilot and MIT-trained engineer, and his seven-hour moonwalk with a pivotal, life-changing sense of cosmic connectedness. It also covers Mitchell’s privately conducted ESP experiment during Apollo 14, conducted with psychics on Earth, which he later described as successful despite public mockery and controversy. Beyond his astronautics, the article recounts Mitchell’s claims of confidential briefings about benevolent extraterrestrial visitors during the Cold War, the orbit of his meetings with political figures such as Nixon and George H. W. Bush, and his association with mind‑control inquiries linked to CIA programs and Uri Geller. NASA’s scepticism is noted, as are historical reflections on MKUltra and the broader culture of secrecy in which Mitchell moved. The piece concludes by contrasting Obama’s cautious probabilism about alien contact with Mitchell’s faith‑driven conviction, acknowledging the depth and drama of Mitchell’s life while preserving the uncertainties that surround extraordinary claims.
Source: themonthly.com.au
