Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Job 38:31
Astronaut [Don] Pettit had discovered something huge: in the zero gravity of space, particles of dust don’t float apart, they clump together. How the Universe Works s1e7: Solar Systems, Discovery 2010
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Infixture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office and custom, in all line or order. William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida I iii @85, Ulysses
An insatiable curiosity and a hunger to explore ... The first big step to exploring and colonising Space is following our instinct. Futurescope with James Woods: Galactic Pioneers, Apple TV 2013
The most hazardous and dangerous adventure on which mankind has ever embarked. For All Mankind, Kennedy, 1989
What a ride! What a ride! ibid. astronaut
What a view! ibid.
You’re the representative of humanity at the point in history. ibid.
This is really a rugged planet. ibid.
I felt very welcome there. ibid.
Man must explore. ibid.
We felt an unseen love; we were not alone. ibid.
Nothing is not exactly what they thought it was. It was a little bit different – the laws of Physics tell you even empty space is much more interesting than you thought it was: empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of stuff that’s popping in and out of existence every second. And what’s more amazing is that we’re learning if you take just a bit of space and get rid of all the particles and all the radiation and everything, that it still weights something and we don’t understand why. Lawrence Krauss, The Unbelievers, with Richard Dawkins, 2013
Planet Earth: humanity’s safe haven for over 200,000 years. But some now believe that time is coming to an end. The Search for a New Earth s1e1, BBC 2017
‘To stay risks annihilation.’ ibid. Hawking
Is there another planet for us to go to? ibid.
So this journey is really telling me a lot about the type of person our space explorers have to be and the sacrifices I think they are going to have to make. ibid.
A journey to Proxima B is within our reach. ibid.
To survive on another planet there’s something else they’ll need – an atmosphere. ibid.
The US partnership with Russian in the international space-station: a worthy endeavour of course but at what cost? Phenomenon: The Lost Archives s1e2: Up for Sale
Mistakes were covered up to preserve political image. ibid.
Virtually every aspect of Russia’s participation in the effort proves inferior. ibid.
Yuri Gagarin was not the first man in space … Vladimir Ilyushin, the unsung hero of the first manned Soviet space mission. Phenomenon: The Lost Archives s1e11: The Stolen Glory
‘The picture of a shuttle coming apart will live with me for ever.’ Days that Shaped America: Challenger Disaster, History 2018
‘A hyper media event because of the school-teacher.’ ibid.
‘It’s very loud. The ground begins to shake.’ ibid.
‘The loss of seven astronauts and a national tragedy.’ ibid.
High school teacher Christa McAuliffe is chosen to be American’s first private citizen to fly into space. In the months leading up to the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the mother of two rehearses lesson plans that will be broadcast live from the spacecraft. She is 37-years-old. Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes, National Geographic 2018, captions
‘Space flight today really seems safe.’ ibid. McAuliffe television interview
Between January 22 and January 27 1986 the launch is delayed due to mechanical problems, weather, and delays from another shuttle mission. ibid. caption
‘The temperature here at the Kennedy Space Center dropped down into the twenties.’ ibid. news commentary
Sun probe 1 was as an unqualified success … The far side of the sun – over 100 million miles from Earth. Hidden from the eyes of radio telescopes by the sun itself … that force, gentlemen, was the gravitational force of another planet. Doppleganger aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun 1969 starring Roy Thinnes & Ian Hendry & Lynn Loring & Patrick Wymark & George Sewell & Loni von Friedl & Herbert Lom & Ed Bishop & Norma Ronald & Franco de Rosa et al, director Robert Parrish, European space agency meeting
You stick to the science. I’ll handle the politics. ibid. Webb
America’s top astronaut – sterile. ibid. her to him
Mark, I want a total security black-out on news of their return till we find out what the devil has gone wrong. ibid. Webb
Everything is reversed. ibid. astronaut
One thing that’s not reversed is the polarity of electricity. ibid.
Space has become a war-fighting domain. Donald Trump, cited Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Trump is Expanding the US Empire, 2019
Asgardia: The Space Nation … This is not a joke … The world’s first official space nation … And of course they have put on the fancy medallion necklace. Truthstream Media: The Technocratic Global Governance of the Future is Here, 2018
A space kingdom found around a technocracy. ibid.
They don’t tell you who the monarch is. ibid.
Today’s vast and powerful telescopes are taking us on an unimaginable journey to unlock the secrets of the cosmos. They take us back to the dawn of time, to the very birth of the universe. Show us giant clouds where stars and planets are born. Hunting the Edge of Space I, PBS 2010
Revolutions in technology and ever larger telescopes are pushing forward the frontiers of space. ibid.
The journey starts with one man and two pieces of glass. It is the summer of 1609: mathematics professor Galileo Galilei is building his own version of an extraordinary new invention. ibid.
Isaac Newton is creating the first reflector eradicating rainbow colours. ibid.
[William] Herschel makes a catalogue of these mysterious objects. ibid.
Our voices have ascended into space announcing our presence to the universe … We await an answer from afar … In Search of s1e12 … A Call From Space, History 1977
The history of science fiction is an extraordinary story of innovation and imagination … A remarkable revealing window on to our ambitions and our anxieties, our dreams and our nightmares. Dominic Sandbrook, Tomorrow’s Worlds: The Unearthly History of Science Fiction I: Space, BBC 2019
This is the story of science fiction’s most influential works and their creators: the men and women who fell to Earth, the pioneers of the history of science fiction. ibid.
A landmark for an entire generation: Star Wars … The making of Star Wars had been an ordeal from start to finish … Even as Lucas was making Star Wars, his great friend Steven Spielberg was filming Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ibid.
Flash Gordon (1936): This was the archetypal space opera, an epic saga of cliff-hanging derring-do set on a distant world, as its athletic heroes and gorgeous heroines lead their rebellion against an evil emperor. Lucas had originally wanted to remake Flash Gordon. ibid.
The roots of space fiction go even further back to the great Victorian age of astronomy and exploration. ibid.
Forbidden Planet (1956) was the first big budget feature film set entirely in space. ibid.
Star Trek (1966): The Enterprise’s journey is a classic civilising mission … effectively the Royal Navy in space. ibid.
2001: A Space Odyssey: suggests we are being watched by a higher space intelligence … Not everybody bought into their [Kubric & Clarke] cold cerebral vision. ibid.
In 1974 the young John Carpenter offered a counter-cultural ripost to 2001: Dark Star ... enormously influential. ibid.
The director of Alien, Ridley Scott, wanted the creature that threatens the crew of the Space Freighter Nostromo to look like nothing the audience had seen before. ibid.
Alien’s strength was its meticulous attention to detail. A principle that’s been very dear to some of science fiction’s greatest writers. ibid.
Dune changed the landscape of science fiction. Herbert created a remarkably detailed galaxy. ibid.
Battlestar Galactica (1978): presents an image of interstellar exodus. An entire fleet of spaceships searching for a new home. ibid.
We began to see Space articles. Collier’s [magazine] was huge in those days. Chasing the Moon s1e1: A Place Beyond the Sky I, 50s dude, BBC 2019
Space is disease and danger and darkness and silence. Star Trek XI 2009 starring Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto & Eric Baba & Karl Urban & Simon Pegg & John Cho & Anton Yelchin & Zoe Saldana et al, director J J Abrams, McCoy to Kirk
It’s been estimated that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand in all the beaches in all the world. Everything and Nothing: The Amazing Science of Empty Space, Amazon 2011
There are unidentified flying objects in space … Is there something going on in space we’re not being told? Riddle of the Skies s1e1: Is There Anybody Out There? Discovery 1999