Highlights
- Miller’s Planet is the crew of the Endurance’s first stop on their mission to find a habitable planet, but it proves to be a dangerous and time-consuming endeavor.
- The urgency to find Dr. Miller and collect her data is heightened due to the time dilation caused by the massive black hole, Gargantua.
- Despite their efforts, the crew’s mission on Miller’s Planet is a devastating failure, resulting in the loss of years on Earth and the realization that the planet is not suitable for human habitation.
Christopher Nolan’s space odyssey film Interstellar follows a crew of astronauts as they go beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Their mission is to search for a habitable planet as Earth slowly dries up into a dust bowl. The crew consists of Cooper, Dr. Brand, Romily, Doyle, the witty AI military robot TARS, and his more serious counterpart CASE.
Traveling through a wormhole, the astronauts fly through outer space on the Endurance, stopping at various planets on their way. One of those planets — the first, in fact — is named Miller’s Planet, in honor of the scientist/astronaut Laura Miller who traveled there ten years prior.
RELATED: Christopher Nolan Says Even Other Directors Think His Movies Are Loud
It’s strange to think that in the infinite oblivion that is space, finding a different habitable planet than Earth for human beings is nearly impossible. Trekking through infinity is a journey that never ends, so to find a single planet where humans can relocate is quite a tall task.
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Interstellar |
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Director |
Christopher Nolan |
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Cast |
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Release Date |
October 26, 2014 |
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Runtime |
169 minutes |
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What Is Miller’s Planet?
Ten years before the Endurance’s departure from Earth, NASA launched the Lazarus Missions. In these missions, twelve scientists and astronauts traveled through a wormhole that an unknown entity had placed near Saturn, to find possible habitable worlds. One of those scientists was Laura Miller, who also started the NASA biology program. The members of the Lazarus Missions were meant to land on various planets and send back messages to Earth about their habitability.
After traveling through the wormhole, the twelve astronauts found themselves in a new galaxy that contains a massive black hole, given the fitting name: Gargantua. Of the twelve, only three reported finding planets suitable for humans: Dr. Mann, Dr. Edmunds, and Dr. Miller. But the crew aborad the Endurance would soon learn that the estimations of their predecessors were less than reliable.
Miller’s Planet was the Endurance’s first stop. Upon landing, they learned that the planet was completely covered in water, with no land visible for miles. However, this ocean is not like the ocean on Earth, as the crew members are able to stand about shin-high in the water. This isn’t a major issue at first, until they see what’s coming for them on the horizon.
Why is the Mission on Miller’s Planet Important?
Each planet where the crew of the Endurance lands holds a certain importance to the mission. Miller’s Planet, though, has unique contingencies. As their first stop, it gives them an idea of what to expect on their journey. But most importantly, it’s urgent for them to find Dr. Miller and collect her data. As the Endurance approaches Miller’s Planet, Romilly — the crew’s physicist — explains the complications with landing on the water-covered planet:
The planet is much closer to Gargantua than we thought […] Landing there takes us dangerously close. And a black hole that big has a huge gravitational pull […] Every hour we spend on that planet will be seven years back on Earth […] That’s relativity, folks.
This creates complications, as Cooper points out:
We have a mission, and our mission — Plan A — is to find a planet that can habitate the people that are living on the Earth right now […] Plan A does not work if the people on Earth are dead by the time we pull it off.
Cooper is concerned because he left his two children behind, Tom and Murphy. At the same time, he’s thinking about the millions of other families depending on them to succeed. Just landing on the planet, locating Dr. Miller, and returning to the Endurance is at least an hour-long process in itself. The sense of urgency is great.
What Happens on Miller’s Planet?
Cooper devises a plan in which they can save time by orbiting Gargantua instead of Miller’s Planet. This way, the time dilation won’t affect them until they enter the planet’s atmosphere. Cooper, Brand, Doyle, and CASE make up the team that will go down to the surface. Romilly, recognizing that he will be by himself for at least a few years, decides to stay aboard the Endurance to conduct more research on the wormhole and gather information on the mysteries of gravity.
When the crew lands on Miller’s Planet, they see nothing but water for miles. Brand and Doyle rush out of the ranger to look for Miller, but all they can find is her shuttle’s beacon detached from her ship. In the distance, towards distant mountains, Brand spots the rest of the shuttle’s wreckage, and ventures off towards it. But the crew soon realize that the mountains are actually towering waves. Brand goes on anyway, trying to grab the recorder that holds Dr. Miller’s data, but she gets stuck.
CASE goes to rescue her as Doyle heads back to the ranger. Brand returns to the shuttle, followed by CASE, but Doyle is washed away by the wave as the doors of the ranger shut. The rest of the crew are taken by the approaching wave, causing the engines to flood. As a result, they are stuck on the surface for hours before escaping to the Endurance.
They conclude that, due to the time slippage, Miller had landed on the planet just hours before, and had died just minutes before their arrival. Upon their return to the Endurance, the survivors are greeted by Romilly, who shows gray in his beard and informs them they have been gone for over 23 years of Earth’s time. Their mission was a devastating failure, resulting in the death of Doyle and the loss of decades on Earth. Worst of all, it was all for nothing, as Miller’s Planet is clearly not suitable for human life.
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