Space forces : a critical history of life in outer space / Fred Scharmen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scharmen, Fred, author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Outer space--Exploration--History.

Outer space.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

266 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Brooklyn, NY : Verso, 2021.

Summary:

Many societies have imagined going to live in space. What they want to do once they get up there - whether conquering the unknown, establishing space "colonies," privatizing the moon's resources - reveals more than expected. In this fascinating radical history of space exploration, Fred Scharmen shows that often science and fiction have combined in the imagined dreams of life in outer space, but these visions have real implications for life back on earth. For the Russian Cosmists of the 1890s space was a place to pursue human perfection away from the Earth. For others, such as Wernher Von Braun, it was an engineering task that combined, in the Space Race, the Cold War, and during World War II, with destructive geopolitics. Arthur C. Clark in his speculative books offered an alternative vision of wonder that is indifferent to human interaction. Meanwhile NASA planned and managed the space station like an earthbound corporation. Today, the market has arrived into outer space and exploration is the plaything of superrich technology billionaires, who plan to privatize the mineral wealth for themselves. Are other worlds really possible? Bringing these figures and ideas together reveals a completely different story of our relationship with outer space, as well as the dangers of our current direction of extractive capitalism and colonization.--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the Accident on the Brick Moon

2. J.D. Bernal, the Red Star, and the Department of Wild Talents

3. Wernher von Braun will Conquer Space Soon

4. The Mysterious World of Arthur C. Clarke

5. Gerard O'Neill's Technology Edge

6. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

7. Of Spaces Old and New.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

1786637359

9781786637352

OCLC:

1237102584

Publisher Number:

99989175242