Week 9: Space + Art

The New York Times headlines on October 5, 1957

This week’s topic covers the intersection of space and art. From a young age, I have been fascinated with space; I think every little kid can relate, at least a little bit, to this interest. In elementary school, one of the first things I remember learning about is space and planets. Space and art intertwine in so many ways, such as movies! Many of the films that I love revolve around space. Examples are Star Wars, Interstellar, and Gravity, and that’s only naming a few. As I learned more about space, I only have grown to love it more. For some time in high school, I thought that I wanted to be a space engineer. While this career interest has passed, I still enjoy learning about space. 

Movies about space

The history of space exploration interests me because of how rapidly it has developed. While astronomy has been a scientific practice for centuries (note the work of Galileo), modern-day space exploration has only been around for a little over 50 years. The launch of Sputnik by the USSR changed the world as we know it. Sputnik sparked the space age, and soon after, NASA was developed. Since then, humans have walked on the moon, rovers have landed on Mars, and incredible discoveries have been made (such as the black hole findings by Andrea Ghez!).

Space is so beautiful, and that is why I feel hesitancies towards the exploitation of it. As mentioned by Professor Vesna in one of her lectures, asteroid mining is something that scientists are gaining interest in. While I understand that millions of asteroids are in space, I feel that the human race has already damaged Earth from overexploitation, and I don’t want to see that happen to space. 

Sources:

“8 Space Intro 1280x720.” YouTube, 29 July 2013, youtu.be/2dPAmpBiVHY.

EamesOffice. “Powers of Ten™ (1977).” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Aug. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0.

Fortin, Jacey. “When Soviets Launched Sputnik, C.I.A. Was Not Surprised.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/science/sputnik-launch-cia.html.

Machamer, Peter. “Galileo Galilei.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 May 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/galileo/.

NASA, NASA, history.nasa.gov/sputnik.html.

NationalGeographic. “Andrea Ghez's Black Hole Research Confirms Einstein's Theory of Relativity | Short Film Showcase.” YouTube, YouTube, 8 Aug. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B3P7o8QMz8.

Ozdemir, Caner. “Best Space Movies of All Time.” Bontena Brand Network, Bontena, 26 May 2020, www.bontena.com/articles/Best-Space-Movies.

“Space pt4.” YouTube, 30 May 2012, youtu.be/J5ClKO6AJPo.