Asteriant Prime, by Tobias Roetsch (Taenaron)

Gorgeous colors and violent weather in this beautiful illustration by Tobias Roetsch (Taenaron).

Asteriant Prime is a highly developed planet with giant city-scapes. There also is life on his moons. Due to the climate, which is very cold and windy , there are only a few savage colonies.

LEGO model of Discovery, from 2001: A Space Odyssey

No, not space shuttle Discovery, I’m talking about the 2001: A Space Odyssey version. Spindly and memorable, and entirely build-able, with just 3,861 pieces. (Check out those engines!)

Engines, LEGO model of Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey

When I found this uber-realistic representation of THE FUTURE OF NUTRITION, naturally my mind turned to that other space food. No no, not this kind of space food. I mean that kind. The Star Trek kind. Quivering blue cubes. Extremely colorful, non-food-looking food.

Except that sometimes, even on Google Images, you strike out. “Space food”? Too general. “Star Trek food”? The USS Enterprise made of various cured meat products. Also some waffles. “Star Trek space food”? More of the same. “Star Trek scary space food” — SURELY THAT MUST DO THE TRICK. But alas. (However, Spock says hi.)

So instead, you get this. You’re welcome.

Addendum: Even with the refined, precise search term “star trek tos scary space food”, I came up with a lot of TOS stills (none with food, scary or otherwise), someone’s bruised foot, and an animated cartoon of a cat eating a cookie. Bravo, Intarwebs, bravo.

Space food image (top) courtesy of x-ray delta one.

An interesting, Norman Rockwell-esque encounter with alien life from 1955. Image courtesy of x-ray delta one.

You’ve probably figured out by now that I post as much science fiction and fictional spaceflight as I do “real” manned spaceflight. Give me space shuttle Discovery, the Saturn V, the Eagle, the White Star, the Heart of Gold, the Millennium Falcon — I love them all. I’m a big fan of the retro-future, the places we might have gone and the ships that might have taken us there. That they don’t yet exist gives me no less desire to dream that they might, in the future. Perhaps in my lifetime. Perhaps not. I admit, although I hadn’t necessarily expected tourist travel to the Moon by now, I thought at least somebody would be going there in person, from some country. Alas, earwax.

I read something the other day that keeps coming to mind, as one reason I believe we haven’t gotten further in the conquest of space (along with a lack of understanding as to what exploration means, and why we should be doing it.) It’s a thing called risk. Our culture views risk-taking as a positive thing, when it applies to financial or entrepreneurial ventures, but abhors it when it applies to life and limb.

Here is the quote, emphasis mine:

Not as famous as the Wright Brothers, after all, is Lt. Thomas Selfridge, the first man in history ever to die in a plane crash, but by no means the last. The conquest of the air filled graveyards with pilots. Great futures exact great prices. If we have not conquered space, it is perhaps because we are unwilling to fill our graveyards with the number of astronauts such an ambitious dream requires.
— The Big Idea: John C. Wright

The Mercury 7, being test pilots, knew full well the risks they were taking, and that sudden demise was a distinct possibility. They rode the rockets anyway, and if they died, they died in pursuit of something they believed in. Amazingly, none of the NASA astronauts died right off — in fact, nobody died for a while, which made the Apollo 1 fire all the more shocking. Challenger and Columbia, likewise, shocked and grieved the American public, and the world. However, looking back, it’s amazing we did what we did with the US space program with so little loss of life. How silly is it for us, as a culture, to expect to skip all the grisly bits and proceed straight to streamlined, trouble-free space travel? We emphasize and remember the major accidents (Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia), and granted they were horrible, tragic events, but certainly people don’t make the same fuss over fatal plane crashes. Planes still crash, people still die — sometimes pilots, sometimes innocent passengers. I dare say, there is not the same public outcry toward the FAA as there is toward NASA when we lose astronauts.

Which is a long way of saying, I agree with the above quote. We are unwilling to pay the price*, and that is in part why we have not conquered space travel in the present, to the degree we expected sixty years ago. Heck, this isn’t the future we expected even thirty years ago. What happened to the weekly space shuttle launches?

So, what’s holding us back from our “rightful” place in the heavens? Our culture’s abhorrence of death? Failed leadership? Lack of vision? Money? Technological progress?

What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment below!

* And am I willing to pay that price, you might ask? Fair question — I don’t know. It’d depend on what sort of mission we’re talking about, and I’d have to think about it in any case. (Lunar mission? Maybe. LEO? Not so much.) I doubt many people have an instant answer as to whether or not they’d die for something. Choose your thing carefully.

The colors and lighting in this illustration by James Bama are just gorgeous. Created for a book cover in 1964, Countdown for Cindy by Eloise Engle. “The thrilling story of Nurse McGee’s mercy mission to a space station on the moon.” (Thanks to @susanjsteward for the detective work!)
Image via x-ray delta one.

1936--"Things To Come" by HG Wells

An inspiring future scene from HG Wells’ 1936 Things to Come. Watch it here. Image via x-ray delta one.

A Space Wheel from the "Battle of the Planets" (1978)

Japanese retro-futurism? Hai douzo (yes please!) Two lovely toy illustrations from Battle of the Planets.

Images courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend.

Another beautiful ship from "Battle of the Planets", made by Entex Toys

Aircraft of Uranus, photo by x-ray delta one @ Flickr

Interesting aircraft designs – seems like the gaseous atmosphere of Uranus would clog those engines, but maybe not… as someone on Flickr pointed out, we’ll never know the details without page 238!

And yes, I realize I’m setting myself up for all sorts of tomfoolery in the comments by mentioning this planet.

1947 - Rocketship Galileo, by x-ray delta one, on Flickr

There is something so simple, yet so fantastic about this illustration by artist Tom Voter — I love it! (I prefer Heinlein’s older works, I’ll have to try this one out.)