What is it about?
This article explores two themes that are often overlooked in 'Space Race' versions of space history. The construction of rocket launch sites in Australia and Algeria in the 1940s displaced local and Indigenous people, who were thus made involuntary participants in the Space Age. Amateurs are another group of people often left out of space history, and this is exemplified by the successful student satellite Australis Oscar V, launched in 1970. The conclusion is that we need to tell more diverse stories about space.
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Why is it important?
Space exploration is dominated by political and scientific elites, but it should be for everyone. These stories demonstrate that it has been in the past, and can continue to be in the future.
Perspectives
Early rocket launch sites were often in arid or desert areas, and the landscapes were compared to the Moon and Mars.
Dr Alice C Gorman
Flinders University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Archaeology of Space Exploration, The Sociological Review, May 2009, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-954x.2009.01821.x.
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