Week 9 Blog Assignment | Space + Art

Week 9 Blog Assignment | Space + Art

SpaceShipOne - Winning Ship of the Ansari X Prize

This week, as we learned about the intersection of space exploration and art, I found my curiosity peaked towards the idea of a future in which casual, leisure-focused space travel was a reality. 

This idea was first tapped by the announcement of the X Prize in 1996, later changed to the Ansari X Prize. This prize was significant in that it encouraged the average innovator to strive for intergalactic excellence and push to explore space from a non-governmental standpoint [Vesna]. 

After digging up some more research on this event, I found that even John Spencer, the president of the Space Tourism Society based in Los Angeles, agreed that the event was "a milestone for humanity" and "the kickoff of the space tourist industry" [David]. 

Lady Gaga - Planned to have performed the first concert in space.

Fast-forward to 2013, almost a decade after this "launch" of tourist-geared space travel, and Virgin had partnered with the famous musician Lady Gaga for what was supposed to be the first concert in space slated for early 2015 [Harris]. While these plans failed to materialize within the few years after the official announcement, the attempt signified what could have been a very large-scale fusion of the scientific and technology-geared "final frontier" merged with an art form such as pop music, thereby closing the literal and symbolic gap and cold characteristics normally associated with space. 

In fact, Virgin has proven to be at the forefront of tourist-geared space travel and innovations since the idea has skyrocketed within the past decade. Their dedicated branch of the multi-industry giant's many facets, Virgin Galactic, seeks to innovate on behalf of space travel from a non-governmental standpoint. The video above demonstrates a montage of perspectives and motivations from people working within the company [Virgin]. Their whole division caused me to question why people would choose to go into space? What is it about the experience that entices us besides the novelty of it all. In most of the research that I found, I read about how Space Travel was an emerging market, but not necessarily why. 

Their mission page helped make things clear when it stated that "We believe that in the future, life on Earth will be made better by the exploration of space. Children inspired by meeting and relating to astronauts from their communities will grow up to start new businesses and found new companies. Students who fly suborbital experiments while still in school will have an enormous head start on their careers, gaining experience that the current generation of leaders didn’t have until they had been in the workforce for decades." [Virgin] 

In this way, Virgin's goals for exploration as a means to discover seem pretty in-line with governmental goals from my perspective. In that case, I wonder what the draw is for the average citizen to fly also - perhaps a personal discovery that lies within the greater search for knowledge and resources in the cosmos. 

Citations

Cavanaugh, Laura. Lady Gaga. Digital image. ABC News. Getty Images, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

David, Leonard. "SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Ansari X Prize in Historic 2nd Trip to Space | Space.com." Space.com. Space.com, 04 Oct. 2004. Web. 31 May 2015.

Harris, Shamecca. "Lady Gaga Confirms Concert in Space Plans." ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

Logan, D Ramey. SpaceShipOne Flight 15P. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

"Our Vision of the Future - Virgin Galactic." Virgin Galactic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "8 Space Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 29 July 2013. Web. 28 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "8 Space Pt5 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online, 29 July 2013. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Virgin Galactic Portraits Film." YouTube. YouTube, 11 June 2012. Web. 31 May 2015.