Virtual witnessing and space-age media: a case study of The Conquest of Space (1949)

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Emily Rosenberg, “Far Out: The Space Age in American Popular Culture,” in Remembering the Space Age, ed. Dick, 157–8. For more on space-related media, see Howard McCurdy, Space and the American Imagination; See also, De Witt Douglas Kilgore, Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space; Marina Benjamin, Rocket Dreams, How the Space Age Shaped Our Vision of a World Beyond; Comparative insights can be found in Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century, ed. Geppert. For a useful overview of American space history, see Siddiqi, “American Space History,” in Critical Issues, 433–80. See also, Remembering the Space Age, ed. Dick; The Societal Impact of Spaceflight, eds. Dick and Launius.

2. See Ley to von Braun, February 8, 1950; Ley to Heinlein, March 14, 1950. See also, Miller and Durant III, The Art of Chesley Bonestell, 57. Although The Conquest of Space inaugurated the “Space Age,” (if re-conceptualized as a history of media), the book has not been the subject of detailed analysis, beyond brief descriptions in McCurdy, Kilgore, Benjamin, Gilbert, and various NASA History Series books. For example, Howard McCurdy argued, ‘No artist had more impact … He transported viewers to places they had never been before.’ See McCurdy, Space and the American Imagination, 51. See also “Chesley Bonestell, 1888–1986,” 398.

3. For ‘He was literally’ quotation, see Miller and Durant III, The Art of Chesley Bonestell, 41. On ‘psychological experiences,’ see Malina, “On the Visual Arts in the Space Age,” 323. Comments on ‘exactly the right artist’ are taken from Miller, “The Archaeology of Space Art,” 142. See other works of Miller.

4. This argument builds upon Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer’s original use of the concept of ‘virtual witnessing’ in Leviathan and the Air-Pump, which demonstrates the importance of communicative strategies, narrative tropes, and images to build consensus regarding ‘matters of fact.’ Other scholars have extended the concept of ‘virtual witnessing.’ For example, Richard Cunningham analyzed William Gilbert’s De Magnete (1600), in terms of its combination of virtual witnessing and other tactics. As a linguistic technology, virtual witnessing helped to create an audience ‘inculcated with desire, interest, and belief in a new natural philosophy.’ More recently, Victoria Cain explored the role of virtual witnessing at the American Museum of Natural History during the Progressive Era. David Kirby’s work on scientific consultants and films includes fictional and even prophetic representations of science and technology. Although he acknowledges that his ‘expansive use’ of the term differs from Shapin and Schaffer’s more limited claims, Kirby identifies many parallels in the history of popular science. See Schaffer and Shapin, Leviathan and the Air Pump, chapter 2; Cunningham, “Virtual Witnessing,” 207–24; Cain, “‘The Direct Medium of the Vision’,” 284–303; Kirby, Lab Coats in Hollywood, introduction.

5. See Kessler, Picturing the Cosmos, 57. See Miller, “The Archaeology of Space Art,” 141.

6. Ley, The Conquest of Space, 9–11; See Vertesi, Seeing Like a Rover; Carroll, “Space Art,” 210.

7. See Coopmans, Vertesi, Lynch, and Woolgar, eds., Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited. For original publication, see Lynch and Woolgar, eds., Representation in Scientific Practice. On Mars, see Bonestell, “XXIX: Surface of Mars,” in Ley, The Conquest of Space, 125.

8. Daston and Galison, Objectivity 311–3. Arguably, these themes illustrated continuity with a host of nineteenth-century books. The conclusions of Peter Bowler’s Science for All: The Popularization of Science in Early Twentieth-Century Britain (2009) could be confirmed in the context of the United States, where natural history and popular astronomy continued to flourish in books, magazines, and newsprint.

9. Ley, The Conquest of Space, 17–18.

10. On ‘World’s Foremost Authority,’ see cover of Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1937; On the history of popularizers, see Lightman, Bowler, Lafollette, Judd, Sachs, Dassow Walls, and Gilbert. Last quotation taken from Ley, The Conquest of Space, 71.

11. Heinlein, “Baedeker of the Solar System,” 9; Blakesley, “We’re Off to the Moon!,” H4. He added, ‘But first, be sure you have the Bonestell/Ley guide for the trip – one of the most instructive and entertaining travel books ever published. See Pfeiffer, “Round-Trip Ticket to the Moon,” BR29. Clarke quoted in Miller and Durant, The Artwork of Chesley Bonestell, 8. New York Times Book Review quoted in a large Viking promotional advertisement: “It is X-Hour Minus 5,” NYT, BR7.

12. Ley, The Conquest of Space, 10.

13. See Weems, “Interpreting a 1930s Aerial Survey Photograph,” 223; Daston and Galison, Objectivity, 313.

14. See Miller, “The Archaeology of Space Art,” 143; Gouyon, “Making Science at Home,” 37–60; Heinlein, “Baedeker of the Solar System,” 9; Gardner, “Bridge to the Moon,” 71; Clarke quoted in Miller and Durant, 8; See also, Krutch, “Responsible Fantasy,” 330. Krutch praised the images and text as ‘responsible fantasy’. Likewise, Orville Prescott argued, ‘This is a strikingly handsome book which might well induce some readers to read less science fiction and more science.’ See Prescott, “Books of the Times,” 27. See also, Pettitt, “Review,” 269–71.

15. Cunningham, “Virtual Witnessing,” 208; Holmes, The Age of Wonder, xviii and 469.

16. Sachs, The Humboldt Current, 13.

17. Gardner, “Bridge to the Moon,” 71. Scholars are only beginning to chart American popular science as an inclusive and democratic realm. See, for example, Robert K. Musil, Rachel Carson and Her Sisters; James Gilbert, Redeeming Culture; Keay Davidson, Carl Sagan: A Life. Many of these works can be contrasted to the perspectives of John Burnham and Marcel Chotkowski Lafollette, who critique popular science as sensationalized ‘sound bites’ of failed diffusion.

18. Ley to von Braun, WvBP-H, 406-8.