Week 9: Art + Space

Never have I been so amazed yet so felt so insignificant than by learning about space this week. Listening to Carl Sagan talk about the humbling experience that is astronomy ironically left me inspired. Perhaps it was his soothing voice, or perhaps the music and images, but I simply cannot imagine the future of mankind without imagining the possibilities in space. Will Arthur C. Clarke’s vision of a space elevator become reality? Will we see daily launches into space like in Gattaca? Will there be battles in space similar to current battles on Earth, like in Star Trek or Star Wars? What about, more realistically, humans colonizing Mars? Artists, scientists, and writers alike seem to believe there’s no future without space. As Clarke puts it, there will come a time when there will be “more people living outside of Earth than on it.”

It seems unfair to me to ponder and muse about the future of space without considering the rich and thrilling culture of space that developed in the 20^th century. I can only imagine the awe ordinary people must have felt in 1969 when man walked on the moon for the first time. And maybe it’s better to not think about the heartbreak they felt less than 17 years later after the Challenger disaster. On the other side of the world the Soviets were dealing with their own trials and tribulations with the launch of Sputnik, Laika, and Gagarin. Given the context of the tense Cold War, staunch patriotism only made the race more exciting.

"Earthrise." We always talked about the rise of the moon and sun, but never the Earth. Space travel gave us a new perspective.
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/297755main_gpn-2001-000009_full_0_0.jpg

Going back further to the 16^th and 17^th century we see different yet still heated movements in science and our exploration of space with Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. This brings to my mind the question: how will historians and artists depict our own time in the future in regards to space? What are we to be excited about? While I don’t believe there will be space elevators any time soon, I find today’s technology nothing short of fascinating. Below is a video showing SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket crashing and exploding after attempting to land on a barge in the ocean following its launch into space! While it was unsuccessful, the proximity to success alone is amazing considering the unprecedented nature of the event.

People also often forget about Voyager 1, which was a space probe launched in 1977 that continues to operate to this day and communicates with Earth even though it is beyond our solar system. To put this in perspective, you could fit over one and a half million Earths between the probe and Earth now. So I hope when we are depicted in the future it is done with the intent to show boundless ambition -- that we believed the moon was not enough. 

Works Cited:

"Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators." - NASA Science. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast07sep_1/>.

"Major Figures of the Scientific Revolution." . Web. 01 June 2015. <http://users.clas.ufl.edu/ufhatch/HIS-SCI-STUDY-GUIDE/0064_majorFiguresSciRev.html>.

"News and Archive" Voyager 1. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/pale_blue_25.html>.

"The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, Web. 01 June 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>.

Wall, Mike. "Awesome New SpaceX Video Shows Rocket Landing Try and Crash | Space.com."  Web. 01 June 2015. <http://www.space.com/29119-spacex-reusable-rocket-landing-crash-video.html>.