Three Visions of Space and a Snapshot in Time

Image Credit: “Wanderers”

Three videos.  One, “Wanderers” a stirring vision of exploration within our own solar system. The second, a promotional video for NASA’s Orion spacecraft. A partially completed version is due to launch aboard a Delta Heavy on December 4th in a test of basic systems as well as the heat shield. The third? Well at least one of these is science fiction…  If none appeals, you may be on the wrong website.

More than just the images, consider the context of Sagan’s narration itself. Mixed in with the sense of potential, and of awe, is there a bit of melancholy when he says “not quite yet?” Sagan died in 1996, in the very middle of the Shuttle’s three decade long operational era. How much more might he, or anyone for that matter, have lived to see if the United States had made different decisions following Apollo?

We are now entering a time when there are demonstrable options in how we choose to explore. Two very different paths will be on display in the next few weeks. Both are developmental, a harbinger of things to come. A decision to follow one path is also a conscious decision to not follow another, and to accept the consequences. The only forbidden seas in this system are the one we deny ourselves.

In that light, here is the second video

And finally, some conventional science fiction…