Has anyone noticed pop culture has become very obsessed with space this year?

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

It seems like we are getting an astronaut themed show or documentary every minute. Netflix just gave us an excellent documentary on the space shuttle challenger disaster and Disney+ will release a documentary on the Mercury seven tomorrow.

Even kids TV! Nikelodeon made a show were a group of kids sneak aboard a spacecraft and end up becoming astronauts.

And pop music! Ariana Grande's "NASA" and Dua Lipa's "Levitating", which I hear constantly on the radio.

People are even making their own space adventures using the power of their imagination and the internet! Spacedock's The Sojourn and Templin Institute's Antares Confederacy.

Have people dared to dream again?

Has Elon Musk inspired people to dream of humanity having a future in space again?

Whereas the 2010s were the decade of superheroes and Game of Thrones the 2020s will have space as the big pop culture thing!

 

[cabanafrau]

It seems like we are getting an astronaut themed show or documentary every minute. Netflix just gave us an excellent documentary on the space shuttle challenger disaster and Disney+ will release a documentary on the Mercury seven tomorrow.

Even kids TV! Nikelodeon made a show were a group of kids sneak aboard a spacecraft and end up becoming astronauts.

And pop music! Ariana Grande's "NASA" and Dua Lipa's "Levitating which I hear constantly on the radio.

People are even making their own space adventures using the power of their imagination and the internet! Spacedock's The Sojourn and Templin Institute's Antares Confederacy.

Have people dared to dream again?

Has Elon Musk inspired people to dream of humanity having a future in space again?

Whereas the 2010s were the decade of superheroes and Game of Thrones the 2020s will have space as the big pop culture thing!

Some interest was probably stirred up by last year's observance of the 50th anniversary of man walking on the moon.

 

[ronandannette]

If you like that sort of thing, Away with Hillary Swank - a story about Mars exploration, is excellent.

 

[aby914]

Getting off of this planet seems pretty wise.

 

[skeeter31]

Some interest was probably stirred up by last year's observance of the 50th anniversary of man walking on the moon.

And the fact that we are now able to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from US soil, something that hasn’t happened in over a decade. Then there is the preparations for the return to the moon. There has been a lot of developments in the space industry in just this year alone.

 

[chickapin parterre]

....well....there has been comparisons of 2020 to 1968 and in 1968....space was getting ready to be a really big thing (year away, but someone has train and build) ....like in giant leap for mankind big thing.

 

[Heather07438]

For me, being born early 70's I never witnessed the fervor around the moon landing. We did see exploratory excitement around NASA'a twin probes Voyager 1 and 2, and many other achievements. Sure people were thrilled at the time but it was only decades later as they continued making massive contributions to science that their awesome could not be disputed in any way, shape or form. The 70's still had a palpable pioneering spirit in the court of public opinion but then a shift happened in the 80's & 90s away from exploratory science. While I was growing up school age and young adult, these types of investments became heavily sneered at. Negative publicity was incessant. Some examples:

NASA and their $37 screws
Challenger Disaster
$1.5b Hubble's miscalculated lens
Texas Super Collider cancelled after $2b had already been spent

We have the advantage of knowing how these played out. Hindsight is 2020. I think there's some regret for lost opportunity going on. Had the US possibly disadvantaged itself by trusting the watercooler talk too much? Maybe the renewed interest is compensation for our past lack of appreciation.

 

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

 

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

By exploratory science do you mean unmanned missions?

or crewed missions?

Why did we lose interest in space in the 80s & 90s? Have we become too vapid and materialistic?

 

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

The crew of Apollo 8 is still alive!

 

[NotUrsula]

Don't forget that CGI is always a big part of sci fi movies/shows. If you cannot get actors and a film crew actually together on a set, sci-fi stories lend themselves well to digitally-generated surroundings.

Also, there may be some thinking that depictions of the isolation of space will make our current household isolation seem less awful by comparison. (I know I've been watching a whole lot of war documentaries for just that reason -- I figure at least I'm not dodging bullets.)

 

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

Apollo 8 saved 1968.

Perhaps SpaceX is the candle in the dark.

 

[_19disnA]

Manned space flight remains enormously expensive. Those who run companies making/selling rockets and space craft seem to be trying to generate a demand for their product. It isn't clear what sending people to Mars or the Moon would accomplish. Basic space research and efforts to launch unmanned craft into earth orbit for communications, GPS applications, weather monitoring, etc. seems more practical, actually yields tangible results and where most of the effort has been in the last several years. Not sure what TV shows are popular has much to do with that.

TV shows tend to go in cycles, we have had the police/crime/doctor/comedy shows, as well as the musical/dance competitions and lately many of the family reality type shows.

 

[fla4fun]

I was very young when Apollo was going on, and don’t really have any memories of it. The Space Shuttles were more my thing. I love going to KSC and learning about space exploration. I watch documentaries about it, and get up at night to watch launches. I wouldn’t say it’s Elon Musk personally who has me interested, but the possibilities presented by all the companies working on new rockets and other vehicles. I would like to see humans back on the moon and on other planets during my lifetime.

Ironically, I am not into space sci fi. I prefer the real to the imaginary when it comes to space.

 

[Heather07438]

Why did we lose interest in space in the 80s & 90s? Have we become too vapid and materialistic?

Seems a big part was fear our taxes were going out of control because of these 'useless' investments like NASA even tho really they were less than 1 percent of 1 percent in the national budget. Anything that costed $1b+ sounded obscene back then for things most people felt did nothing for them personally. Papers sold like hotcakes whenever headlines questioned errors or costs. It perpetuated the skepticism. "Why do we need to take pictures of the universe? Why do we need to smash particles? Who cares what the soil is like on Mars? All I know is my taxes are too high." What happened with Hubble re-inforced that thinking. Eventually it recovered and impressed the crap out of everyone... but the damage was already done to public perception, another nail in the exploratory coffin.

I'd say exploratory science is researching stuff just to gain a better understanding as opposed to trying to solve for a specific problem. But time and time again exploratory science ends up contributing bigly to our security and individual quality of life. Collectively it pays dividends, just don't know where the jackpots will turn up.

This is an interesting angle on the subject-

https://www.amazon.com/Accessory-War-Unspoken-Alliance-Astrophysics/dp/0393064441
There's also the free e-book from NASA-

https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/historical_studies_societal_impact_spaceflight_detail.html