Week 9- Space and Art

Week 9   

   For me, as well as most kids I'm sure, space is fascinating. The endless possibilities and discoveries never cease to amaze. So much so, the first classed I ever enrolled for at UCLA was Astronomy 3. But while space mass everything seem huge, it also reminds you just how small things really are. Like in the power of 10s video, with a simple exponent, you can go from something as small as an atom to as large as a galaxy. This is why there was a need for exploration
As many things went in the mid 1900s, the space exploration was really a 2 man race between the United States and Soviet Union.

Here, a time magazine cover
in the 1960's depicts the
US and Soviet's battle
to reach space first

Although the Soviets were able to successfully put the first person in space, I had never heard their name before this lecture, but the names of American astronaut Alan Sheppard is forever engraved into our psyche. This shows just how much the U.S wanted to remain the image of superiority, as I had never learned about the Soviet program before in school.
Space, like every other part of science, has had its doubters and setbacks. Whether it be the catholic church challenging Galileos opinions about planets, or other scientists disagreeing with Copwenicuos rotation model, there have always been people who have stood up for what they know is right, even when everyone else tells them they are wrong.  To even come up with their ideas however, they needed to be creative.
 One prime example of creativity not in regards to science was discussed during the lecture. Jules Verne's 1865 novel about weightlessness in space for example was almost 100 years before people actually got to enter the vast abyss. The Jetsons, star trek, and Star Wars are also popular TV's and movies that drove people's hunger and fascination for space, especially mine.

Here, the Millennium Falcon in Star
Wars is accelerating to light speed

Watching the original Star Wars movies as a kid, there was nothing more I wanted to do that travel the universe at light speed (which I know is impossible, but for the sake of my inner childlike imagination, I choose to forget that.
To me however, the most fascinating part of space has to be the commercial travel.

One of the many artistic representations
of what a Virgin Galactic aircraft
may look like in space

The beautifully designed space ships have the potential to shuttle regular humans like me to space and back. While I won't be stepping on the moon, or driving a rover, just thinking that I could be hurtling around the Earth at thousands of miles an hour is something that only seemed like a dream as a kid. But it may actually be reality. And if that's not cool, I don't know what is.

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

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

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.

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

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