Week 9: Space and Art

I really enjoyed this week’s topic because it’s something that I would have never thought of as being part of Art. I didn't even realize how WW2 was integrated and made the shift to the learning of space. Another thing I did not now is that the planets are named after gods except for earth, as mentioned by Abbey Cesna in Names of the Planet its name derives from the German and old English word "ground"; which is honestly really interetsing. Know that I think of it makes sense but I never knew this. Another thing that I found really interesting is that animals were sent into space before humans. As we have seen in previous weeks animals have been used in other areas of art but I didn't know how deep they go into our social structure. I previously mentioned that there should be some limitations to animal use/abuse when it comes to experiments and when I saw Laika in her space home I felt really sad. But, as mentioned in First Dog in Space by Matt Williams "Laika’s sacrifice paved the way for human spaceflight and also taught the Russians a few things about what would be needed in order for a human to survive a spaceflight."

Moreover, I really believe that the competition between the United States and Russia had really did help. In the competition "as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and by extension its political- economic system and the world"(The Space Race- History). This was much needed in order to advance this research because without the competition I believe out knowledge of space would have been delayed. Another thing that I am grateful for is that it integrated more math and science into the schools.

What this did make me notice is the amount of money that it costs for such things to be built like an aircraft and stuff. Honestly, saying that it’s extremely expensive seems like an understatement. In a sense it is more reasonable for this to become part of the private sphere because it allows for more funding to the schools that develop such people that study space. On another note, in the beginning professor Vesna mentioned that science exploration is very well incorporated into our social sphere, and I do believe this. Today we don’t hear much about explorations and competitions or even about when a shuttle is going up into space but we do hear a lot about how the things that we do affect our planet earth. Lastly, these explorations have allowed for some of the greatest TV shows like the Jetson's and even within the shows, you have new ideas like the one of the flying car.(Recapping The Jetsons- Episode 03- The Space Car) and also some magnificent art. Like Jeff Foust exclaims in The Space Review "The art was one of the things that made exploration a cultural event. It was very much part of the way we as a culture experienced space exploration, even aside from the photographs, because it was really art that conveyed the excitement. 

References

Williams, Matt. First Dog in Space. Universe Today. Web. Oct 2010

Cessna, Abbey. Names of the Planets.Universe Today. Web. July 2009

History.com Staff. The Space Race. Hstory.com. A&E Networks. 2010. http://www.history.com/topics/space-race

Foust, Jeff. When Space and Art Intersect. The Space Review. Web. Sep 2009
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1460/1

Novak, Matt. Recapping The Jetsons- Episode 03- The Space Car. The Smithsonian. Web. Oct 2012
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/recapping-the-jetsons-episode-03-the-space-car-67174086/?no-ist