If we are to colonise the Moon in the 21st century and send crewed voyages to Mars, we need to know this venture is for ALL of us. It’s the human story, or it’s not worth telling. Any successful long-term mission will have to draw upon the skills of a multi-cultural and gendered crew, in order to deal with the challenges, psychological, social and technical, of deep space exploration. Our 'Uncharted Constellations' anthology writers approached this theme by celebrating space history’s ‘Hidden Figures’, as well as crafting science-fiction that imagines that bold future for all of us.
Tag: Space History
Space, Race & the Fires Below!
Five days after George Floyd died under a policeman’s knee, the sleek Crew Dragon rocket soared into Florida’s skies. Americans were invited to ‘stop everything’ to watch a live stream of the launch. A collaboration between NASA and Elon Musk’s Space X company, it was the first commercial craft to bear astronauts from US soil to the ISS space station. Cameras captured astonishing close-ups of the rocket’s first stage plunging back to Earth for a perfect landing on a drone-ship. Billed as a ‘Launch America’ mission, the event saw President Trump boast of making America ‘number one on Earth’ and ‘making space great again’. Yet even as NASA director Jim Bridenstine evoked the spirit of 1969 ‘to bring people together’, the country was convulsed with #BlackLivesMatter protests. For all the suspense and glory of that fiery cigarette stub streaking through the blue, it couldn’t distract us from the cities burning below. If anything, their juxtaposition only recalled the Space Race’s dark subtext.
SCP NEWS: Prizes, Giveaways & Discounts for E-launch
It's Day 16 of our countdown to the virtual launch of Space Cat's first e-book; Desert Moonfire: The Men Who Raced to Space. As the clock ticks towards our Virtual LIVE Launch on Friday 29th May at 5-6pm on Space Cat's Twitterfeed, we are buzzing with excitement. To celebrate the moment, we have a week of Prizes, GoodyBags & Discounts to share with you. Details below. Don't miss the fun and look out for us on Twitter at 5pm each day this week: https://twitter.com/SpaceCatPress
Space News: Astronauts in Isolation
One of the things that’s always fascinated me about humans in space is their profound seclusion. Think about cosmonauts cooped up in those tiny modules of the Space Age. Or those Apollo Lunar Commanders who sailed around the Far Side of the Moon utterly alone, out of Comms. reach. Even with his strumming guitar, who could be lonelier than Bowie’s Major Tom communing with a crackly Ground Control? ‘I'm feeling very still.’ So as we Earthlings weather a lockdown we never trained for, what can we learn from astronauts who’ve been doing this for years?
NEWS: Leonev’s Last Voyage & Space Cat’s First Flight
Talking of reaching for the stars and finding Earth, can we all doff our helmets to Alexei Leonev who passed away this week? What an extraordinary man. In those early days of space travel, the Space Race recruited plenty of courageous explorers. But rarely were they so articulate about what they experienced, so artistic in their vision. Leonev is best known for undertaking the first ever space walk or EVA. His own paintings show him as a white suit hanging on an umbilical cord above the blue planet. The dark visor reflects the deep, leaves us to guess the emotions of a man untethered from his homeworld.
News: Delivery Day at SCP
Space Cat Delivery So here I am, clutching a pair of scissors, with our first box of Desert Moonfire: The Men Who Raced to Space. The box is heavy. And it holds seven years of work, on and off, between other writing projects and life-stuff. And even more exciting, it's Space Cat Press' first title. … Continue reading News: Delivery Day at SCP
News Updates: Lift-off for Desert Moonfire Book
Space Cat Press has been in orbit for two months now and what a blast it's been! We've put up five reviews, three blogs on space exploration in popular culture, marked two space anniversaries, and enjoyed an amazing day out at Edge Lit 2019. Now the countdown begins to our first book release. Desert Moonfire: The Men Who Raced To Space will be on sale from the 21st of September. Catch our series of upcoming launch events.
Moon-day Memories
July 20th 1969. Where were you? Were you here at all? Today is 50 years since the first humans touched down on another world. And NASA has invited us to trawl through distant memories and share our Moon-day stories.
Apollo 50 on the Screen
As we cruise towards the Lunar Landing 50th anniversary, here’s 5 of the best TV shows, movies and podcasts showing now. Strap in for a warp-jump through decades of nostalgia and awe.
Apollo Fever: Five Magazine Specials
Here at Space Cat Press, we’re super-excited by the coming 50th anniversary of the lunar landings on Sat. 20th July (GMT). This blog kicks off a series of reviews of books, films and TV shows that relive the adventure.