Space Travel and Culture: From Apollo to Space Tourism

One of the most iconic moments of the twentieth century was the first Apollo moon landing. The images of the earth from space, of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon, the massive cold war organisation of NASA and the Soviet Union, and the countless books, films and products associated with factual space fiction have a huge significance in terms of popular culture and artistic practice. However, it is remarkable how little impact the space age has had on the social sciences and humanities more specifically. Perhaps this is partly because its combination of militaryindustrial cold war politics, combined with patriarchy and big science, sits uneasily with contemporary thought in these areas. To admit an interest in such matters is likely to suggest a wilful detachment from the urgencies of contemporary life, or the sophistications of contemporary theory, unless it is a topic being used to demonstrate the catastrophic failures of complex organization, or the hubris of nation states, or the dreams of men.