I suppose I'm feeling more contemplative than usual.
I re-watched The Right Stuff and part of Apollo 13 last night with my roommate. I've always loved movies about space and astronauts - not sci-fi, though I do enjoy that too, but media set during the space race, when it seemed like every day we were strapping someone else atop a massive, potentially explosive device and trying to shoot them out into orbit. Both Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff address the fundamentally terrifying nature of space travel, particularly back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Basically, after seeing rocket after rocket explode on the ground (or barely make it off the ground, and then explode), astronauts climbed into a tiny, intensely claustrophobic capsule over which they had minimal control and hoped that the engineers who designed it had understood what going into space would do to such a capsule. The courage it took is mind-boggling, especially because it wasn't as though once they got one rocket to work, everything else was smooth sailing. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I actually tear up every time I watch these movies.
There's probably a fairly shallow analogy to be made about how writing a novel is like trying to go into space. I think what fascinates me about space travel is the desire that everyone in the space program seemed to share to go out there and see what was literally unexplored territory. There's still so much out there that we have no idea about, not really, and I hope we do revitalize NASA someday soon.
Needless to say, if there were ever cheap commercial space travel, even just out into orbit, I'd be right in line. Even with the terror of knowing that if your ship is faulty, there's no lifeboat, I'm still dying to go.
With that, I will stop gushing about astronauts and space travel and all that. I recommend both movies, preferably in chronological order. Also best watched as I did, with wild mushroom pizza and a glass of red wine. Go forth, watch, and be inspired.
I re-watched The Right Stuff and part of Apollo 13 last night with my roommate. I've always loved movies about space and astronauts - not sci-fi, though I do enjoy that too, but media set during the space race, when it seemed like every day we were strapping someone else atop a massive, potentially explosive device and trying to shoot them out into orbit. Both Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff address the fundamentally terrifying nature of space travel, particularly back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Basically, after seeing rocket after rocket explode on the ground (or barely make it off the ground, and then explode), astronauts climbed into a tiny, intensely claustrophobic capsule over which they had minimal control and hoped that the engineers who designed it had understood what going into space would do to such a capsule. The courage it took is mind-boggling, especially because it wasn't as though once they got one rocket to work, everything else was smooth sailing. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I actually tear up every time I watch these movies.
There's probably a fairly shallow analogy to be made about how writing a novel is like trying to go into space. I think what fascinates me about space travel is the desire that everyone in the space program seemed to share to go out there and see what was literally unexplored territory. There's still so much out there that we have no idea about, not really, and I hope we do revitalize NASA someday soon.
Needless to say, if there were ever cheap commercial space travel, even just out into orbit, I'd be right in line. Even with the terror of knowing that if your ship is faulty, there's no lifeboat, I'm still dying to go.
With that, I will stop gushing about astronauts and space travel and all that. I recommend both movies, preferably in chronological order. Also best watched as I did, with wild mushroom pizza and a glass of red wine. Go forth, watch, and be inspired.
