SPACE-RELATED RESOURCES COMPILATION
Inspiration
Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaelology and Heritage
CRC Press, 2009. Editors: Ann Darrin and Beth L. O’Leary. EXCELLENT BOOK.
Space Age Archaeology
A blog by Alice Gorman, author of papers in Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage.
Space Tourists
Film directed by Christian Frei. A space tourist takes a trip to the ISS, and people scavange launch debris on the Russian steppes.
Space Sailors
Film directed by Marian Kiss. Soviet Union’s Intercosmos Program, which, between 1978 and 1988, sent 13 “space sailors” from Soviet-allied countries on highly publicized weeklong missions to outer space.
Raiders of the lost R2: Excavating a galaxy far, far away
Article in Harper’s magazine by Jon Mooallem, documenting people searching for the sites of and artifacts from science fiction film shoots.
NASA Searches for Loot That Traveled From Space to Another Void
Article in New York Times on missing moon rocks/artifacts.
Planetes
Japanese animated tv show (originally a manga series) about a team of orbital debris collectors in 2075.
Littering Fine Paid
Article. A California radio show host who raises money and pays littering fine on behalf of NASA to town in Australia for remains of Skylab falling on them.
The Ultimate High Ground: Views of America’s infrastructure of omniscience, on Earth and above.
Article in Triple Canopy by Steve Rowell.
The Moon Trees
Website tracking the trees grown from seeds taken to the moon in 1971.
Trevor Paglen
Artist who explores the secret activities of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies by tracking and photographing classified satellites and sites.
Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record
All about the golden record containing greetings (etc) from Earth, what it contains and curatorial decisions.
Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void
Book by Mary Roach.
Planetarium
An online art project by Matt Mullican published in Triple Canopy, a navigable scale model of the solar system.
Stuff in SpaceAn online, realtime 3D map of objects in Earth orbit by James Yoder, visualized using WebGL. Individual objects and their groups can be identified.
Astronomical
Artist book project by Mishka Henner, a scale model of the solar system in 12 volumes.
The Baltimore Grand Tour
Solar system scale model 1.5 miles long produced for an art festival in Baltimore.
In Advance of the Landing: Folk concepts of outer space
Book by Douglas Curran, great photographs, profiles.
From Sea to Space
Book by anthropologist Ben Finney, note essay “One Species or a Million?”. Book out of print, and NYPL’s copy has a relevant page missing.
Zambian Space Program, 1964
Established by schoolteacher Edward Makuka Nkoloso. Contemporary photo series by Spanish photographer Cristina De Middel based on the history.
Space Program: Mars
Art exhibition/installation by Tom Sachs in NY’s Park Avenue Armory in May-June 2012, set up to emulate a mission to Mars.
Oktophonie
Music event in the Park Avenue Armory, March 2013, by composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, with environment designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija. Work staged in outer space with a ‘lunar floating seating unit’.
Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions
Book by Fredric Jameson.
Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962
Book by Megan Prelinger.
In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
Book by Margaret Atwood.
Moon: A brief history
Book by Bernd Brunner, cultural history.
Space Travel and Culture: From Apollo to Space Tourism
Book edited by David Bell and Martin Parker.
Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
Book by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo
Book by Nicholas de de Monchaux
Deep-Space Probes
Book by Gregory L. Matloff
Works by Freeman Dyson, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler, Neil Stephenson.
General References-Resources
Spacecraft Encyclopedia
A comprehensive census of all spacecraft ever launched compiled by an independent science reporter.
Gunter’s Space Page
Huge online resource of spacecraft, usually including images, compiled by independent researcher.
The Project Apollo Archive
Huge online resource of anything Apollo. Note Apollo Image Gallery and Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
NASA Orbital Debris program office
Publishes Orbital Debris Quarterly newsletter.
NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office
Responsible for the curation of extraterrestrial samples from NASA’s past and future sample return missions.
Union of Concerned Scientists Satellite Database
Database download.
Real Time Satellite Tracking
Shows satellite location above earth location in real time, includes defunct satellites.
Satellite Engineering
MIT OpenCourseWare course, good reference materials.
Collect Space
Website for space history and artifacts.
Johnathan’s Space Report
Astronomer’s self-published resource on space activity. Includes current satellite info, such as a comprehensive list of what is in geosynch orbit.
James Oberg
NBC News ‘Space Consultant’. Website has lots of his articles on space history, tourism, policy, folklore, etc.