s the space race boomed,
it catapulted its aspira-
tions into the zeitgeist—
and transformed the way we live.
Sputnik inspired replicas and
songs. Life magazine published
exclusive stories on the lives of
the celebrated Mercury Seven,
the United States’ first astronauts.
Seattle built the Space Needle for
the World’s Fair. Stanley Kubrick
created 2001: A Space Odyssey. The
space age flourished in movies,
TV, music, architecture, and
design, where the sleek, aerody-
namic lines of rockets inspired the
look of cars and trains.
Space is still lodged in popular
culture. The NASA logo appears
everywhere, from tattoos to Vans
high-tops. We’ve had Star Trek,
The Jetsons, Mork & Mindy, Star
Wars, and the current spate of
Mars movies and space-themed
TV shows. Also: the Houston
Astros and the Houston Rockets,
Space Camp, antigravity ballpoint
pens, astronaut ice cream, the
moonwalk, and Space Mountain.
Concepts like “the right stuff,”
“moon shot,” and “light-years”
figure into everyday conversation.
Your first day back after vacation
might be filled with “reentry”
problems. Your craft-brewed IPA
might taste like “rocket fuel” or
even use those words as its name.
And, on discovering a distressing
situation, you might calmly say,
“Houston, we have a problem.”
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