Apologies for the long absence of Invisible Words...alongside a geographical move, I thought I'd take a sabbatical to escape the high strangeness of 2017, but apparently it just gets more and more bizarre.
The tail end of 2017 brought the appearance of interstellar interloper Oumuamua , which made me think of a galactic stone skimming the cosmos - and why didn't anyone photoshop the Silver Surfer onto it ?
Then I decided that no-one would 'get' the reference, and what had comics to do with actual space, anyway ?
So the post languished, unpublished, in blogging limbo...
Then, yesterday, reality imitated art again
Kudos to Elon Musk and Space X
The payload of this test- run for SpaceX Heavy was a Tesla Roadster car - manned by a dummy in Space X garb.
I wonder if inspiration was taken from the opening sequence of the 'Heavy Metal' movie from 1981,
featuring an astronaut in a Corvette, which he pilots to Earth from space.
There are slight differences, though - the film car is dropped from a Space Shuttle-
and it doesn't play 'Space Oddity' * - but let's not be pedantic
The fact is, there is a car in space, manned by a dummy in an astronaut suit, heading for the Kuiper Belt.
I'm sure the debate will rage for decades as to whether a car in space is a good advert for humanity. Personally, I think it's a massive ego trip/ publicity boost for Elon Musk, but also a great memorial for the previously overlooked genius Nikolai Tesla...so I'm conflicted.
Despite any misgivings, though, the synchronous landing of the two booster jets was a hugely impressive feat of engineering / physics .
The future is definitely now.
I await the responses of other players in the new 'space race' with trepidation...
Let's just hope that it doesn't create a cosmic junkyard of adverts orbiting for eternity...
Final words to the late, great Carl Sagan - obviously photoshopped, but still relevant...
* 'Life on Mars', to be pedantic
The tail end of 2017 brought the appearance of interstellar interloper Oumuamua , which made me think of a galactic stone skimming the cosmos - and why didn't anyone photoshop the Silver Surfer onto it ?
Then I decided that no-one would 'get' the reference, and what had comics to do with actual space, anyway ?
So the post languished, unpublished, in blogging limbo...
Then, yesterday, reality imitated art again
Kudos to Elon Musk and Space X
 |
| Two boosters make perfect touchdown |
The payload of this test- run for SpaceX Heavy was a Tesla Roadster car - manned by a dummy in Space X garb.
I wonder if inspiration was taken from the opening sequence of the 'Heavy Metal' movie from 1981,
featuring an astronaut in a Corvette, which he pilots to Earth from space.
There are slight differences, though - the film car is dropped from a Space Shuttle-
and it doesn't play 'Space Oddity' * - but let's not be pedantic
The fact is, there is a car in space, manned by a dummy in an astronaut suit, heading for the Kuiper Belt.
 |
| Heavy Metal movie 1981 |
Despite any misgivings, though, the synchronous landing of the two booster jets was a hugely impressive feat of engineering / physics .
The future is definitely now.
I await the responses of other players in the new 'space race' with trepidation...
Let's just hope that it doesn't create a cosmic junkyard of adverts orbiting for eternity...
Final words to the late, great Carl Sagan - obviously photoshopped, but still relevant...
 |
| Response to previous attempted commercialisation ? |
* 'Life on Mars', to be pedantic
