Endurance approached Saturn, two years after launch
Saturn is a ringed gas giant orbiting the Sun, and the sixth planet in the Solar System in order from the Sun. It has many natural satellites. In Interstellar, a wormhole is discovered near Saturn.
History[]
Approximately forty-eight years prior to the Endurance launch, an unidentified gravitational anomaly appeared near the orbit of Saturn; it was found to be a Wormhole.
About ten years prior to the Endurance launch, NASA sent twelve men and women through the wormhole in search of habitable planets for human resettlement, led by Dr. Mann.
It is approximately a two year journey for NASA capsules to reach Saturn from Earth via a slingshot around Mars. TARS elaborates that it would take eight months to reach Mars then fourteen months to Saturn. In that time, the robot assigned to the mission (one each in the case of Lazarus, two in the case of Endurance) maintains all functions of the craft while the crew are put into cryogenic sleep to conserve resources. The crew is revived before venturing through the wormhole.
During the 22nd century, Cooper Station was in orbit of the planet for ease of access for Ranger crews to traverse the wormhole.
Symbolism[]
Endurance glides past Saturn on its way toward the wormhole
- Saturn is the Roman god of the harvest and visually impressive; it makes sense for the wormhole to be there thematically.
- As possible homage, Saturn's orbit is where the Monolith was in 2001: A Space Odyssey as well (in the book only; in the movie it was Jupiter).
- Saturn's rings also mimic the shape of the accretion disk around Gargantua.