Week 9

Karina Rodriguez
Week 9

Space and Art

A Time magazine cover shows the
race between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union to reach space first.

     Space has always been a place that has caught the attention of everyone no matter what age. It is fascinating and the endless discoveries continue to amaze me and so many others. Space is so big that our minds cannot even attempt to try to understand its size. What this large space does is gives us the realization of how small everything truly is. We see this in the power of 10s video. A simple exponent can take something that is as small as an atom and expand it into something as large as a galaxy. This, as well as some other factors, cause for much interest and exploration in the mid 1900s. Space exploration became a two man race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

     Something that I feel the younger generation forgets is that the Soviet Union was the first to successfully put a person on the moon. Even though they were the first to put someone on the moon, before this lecture I had never heard the name of this person, and I don't think many people have. Yet Alan Sheppard, the name of an American astronaut, is a name many of us know and will not forget. This shows just how important it was for America to have superiority and maintain that image. 

The Millennium Falcon in Star Wars
is accelerating to light speed.

     Space is something that although raised a lot of curiosity, also raised a lot of doubt. For example, the Catholic Church challenging Galileos opinions about planets. There were also other scientists who disagreed with Copwenicuos rotation model. Yet people continued to come up with their ideas, and since we didn't have much information about space they needed to be very creative. We see a great example of creativity discussed in lecture. Jules Verne's 1865 novel showcases just how creative his mind is. Verne talked about weightlessness in space almost 100 years before humans actually entered the abyss. 

The image above is one of the many artistic
representations of what a Virgin Galactic
aircraft may look like in space one day.

     Space was also talked about in many movies and television shows; the Jetsons, Star Wars, Star Trek. These films grew the fascination of people, as well as mine. I grew up watching the Star Wars series and was always fascinated with light years, traveling space, the spaceships, and just the movie in its entirety. One of my favorite parts had to be the spaceships. Beautifully designed space ships have the potential to shuttle regular humans to space and back. I may not ever get to step on the moon and I may not be able to drive a rover, what may be possible is me hurtling around the Earth. I don't know about all of you, but that seems quite exciting to me. It is the creativity to come up with these ideas that makes the dreams we had as kids one day become a reality.

Works Cited

1) "Dragon Resupply Mission (CRS-11)." SpaceX. SpaceX, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 04 June 2017.

2) History.com Staff. "The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 03 June 2017.

3) Langewiesche, William, and Jonas Fredwall Karlsson. "Everything You Need to Know About Flying Virgin Galactic."The Hive. Vanity Fair, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 June 2017.

4) MARS PATENT: Welcome. The Mars Patent, 2015. Web. 04 June 2017.

5) Tate, Karl. "How Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles Work (Infographic)." Space.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 02 June 2017.