Crafting the future: envisioning space exploration in post-war Britain

Abstract

Prior to the launch of Sputnik, knowledge about human space travel was widely circulated by spaceflight proponents, scientists and news producers in mainstream culture through print, film and broadcast media and displayed in public sites such as museums and public exhibition spaces. Focusing on the timeframe 1947–1953, this article examines how key members of the British Interplanetary Society used a combination of craft skills, graphical technologies, and communication media to create pictures and models to support rhetorical claims that spaceflight and astronautics are legitimate fields of scientific research and space travel could and should be achieved in the near future. Production and circulation of factual knowledge about space travel was not confined to material and discursive practices in established fields such as astronomy and aeronautical engineering. Actors from other professional, non-professional, and social groups contributed to the realization of future spaceflight as an heterogeneous cultural endeavor or astroculture encompassing an array of technical processes, artifacts, craft skills, and scientific knowledge.

Keywords:

• spaceflight
• visual representation
• models
• design
• future technology
• science communication

Acknowledgements

Research for this article was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. I would like to thank Daniel Brandau, Alexander Geppert, Katja Rippert, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to extend my thanks to Martin Collins, David Kirby, and Robert Poole for encouragement and advice on previous versions, and to Bob Parkinson and the British Interplanetary Society for granting permission to reproduce their images. This article is dedicated to the memory of my late father William S. Macauley.

Notes

1. Siddiqi, ‘American Space History’; Dick and Launius, Critical Issues; and Geppert, Imagining Outer Space.

2. Parkinson, Interplanetary.

3. See Poole, ‘The Challenge of the Spaceship;’ Farry and Kirby ‘The Universe will be Televised;’ and Dunnett, ‘The British Interplanetary Society.’

4. On models and displays, see Chadarevian and Hopwood, Models; and Collins and Millard, Showcasing Space.

5. See McCurdy, Space and the American Imagination; and Kirby, Lab Coats.

6. On technoscience, see Anderson, ‘Introduction to Postcolonial Technoscience;’ Latour, Science in Action; and Nordmann, ‘Science in the Context of Technology,’ 467–82.

7. Pathé, First Moon Men.

8. Parkinson, High Road. The figure for membership of the BIS in 1947 is taken from Cleaver, ‘Chairman’s Address at the Fifth Annual General Meeting,’ 316.

9. Smith, ‘The Man-Carrying Rocket,’ 100–11; Ross, ‘Orbital Bases,’ 1–19; and Smith, ‘Lunar Space Vessel.’

10. See Parkinson, Interplanetary for detailed history of the BIS. Shortly after the BIS was formed in 1933, it had approximately 12 members. At the time of the 1945–1946 post-war amalgamation of UK Space Societies BIS membership had risen to 269, and by 1953 the Society recorded a membership of 2,419.

11. Ross, ‘R.A. Smith,’ 115–16.

12. Clarke, Interplanetary Flight; Clarke, The Exploration of Space.

13. Daston and Galison, Objectivity.

14. On mathematization, see Lynch, ‘The Externalized Retina,’ 153–86; and Latour ‘Visualisation and Cognition,’ 1–40.

15. Cleator, ‘Retrospect and Prospect,’ 2–4. Cleator was founder member and President of the BIS from 1933–1936.

16. ‘Memorandum of Association of the British Interplanetary Society Limited,’ 365–68. For an example of BIS members addressing the tension between its aims and the practicality of achieving spaceflight, see Cleaver, ‘The Interplanetary Project,’ 21–39.

17. Ross, ‘The British Interplanetary Society’s Astronautical Studies,’ 209–16. The BIS Bulletin was published between 1934–1946, with a break from 1939 to 1945 because of the war.

18. ‘Technical Groups,’ 1–3.

19. Smith, ‘The B.I.S. Coelostat,’ 22–7; Ross, ‘Orbital Bases,’ 1–19; Wholey, ‘Conversazione,’ 213–23; and ‘Astronoautics at Hendon,’ 213–14.

20. Caidin, Worlds in Space; Schuetz, A Chesley Bonestell Chronology; Bonestell and Ley, The Conquest. Bonestell was a member of the BIS from at least 1950.

21. Richardson quoted by Hoyle, ‘Some Scientific Aspects of Space-Travel,’ 7. Robert S. Richardson (1902–1981) was an American astronomer and wrote science fiction under the pseudonym Philip Latham. He worked as a technical adviser on the film Destination Moon (1950) along with science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, Wernher von Braun, and artist Chesley Bonestell.

22. Clarke, ‘Review: Conquest of Space,’ 41–2.

23. For chronology and examples of Bonestell’s paintings of space exploration published in the 1950s, see Schuetz, A Chesley Bonestell Chronology; and Ryan, Across the Space Frontier. For discussion of the influence of Bonestell’s paintings on public perception of space travel see, for example, Sage ‘Framing Space: A Popular Geopolitics of American Manifest Destiny in Outer Space;’ Petersen Space-Age Aesthetics, 10–13; and McCurdy, Space and the American Imagination, 38–47.

24. Ross, ‘The British Interplanetary Society’s Astronautical Studies, 1937–39,’ 209–16.

25. ‘Know your Council,’ 124.

26. Destination Moon, 1950; Cleaver, ‘Destination Moon,’ 241–44.

27. For example, see Ley, ‘Rocket to the Moon?,’ 76; and Clarke, ‘Interplanetary Flight,’ plate VI. For discussion of the model spaceship designed by Hermann Oberth and Willy Ley for Fritz Lang’s Frau im Mond (1929) and Robert Heinlein’s contribution to the design of the spaceship featured in Destination Moon (1950), see Kirby, ‘The Future is Now,’ 53–63.

28. Quote from Cleaver, ‘The Interplanetary Project,’ 33.

29. ‘Mr Smith May Float in Space 190 Miles Up,’ 4; and Smith, ‘The Man-Carrying Rocket,’ 100–11.

30. Ross, ‘R.A. Smith,’ 115–16.

31. Schuetz, ‘A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology,’ xvi, xxvi.

32. Clarke, The Exploration of Space; Cleaver, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Astronautics; and Clarke, The Sands of Mars.

33. Clarke, The Sands of Mars, reprinted in The Space Trilogy, 149.

34. Shepherd, ‘The Model Programme,’ 162; ‘Conversazione and Model Construction,’ 19–20.

35. Wholey, ‘Conversazione,’ 213–28. On the history of science conversaziones see Alberti, ‘Conversaziones and the Experience of Science in Victorian England.’

36. Gatland, ‘Expendable Rockets,’ 160–69. Shepherd and Cleaver, ‘The Atomic Rocket – I,’ 185–94.

37. Shepherd, ‘The Model Program,’ 162.

38. Wholey, ‘Conversazione,’ 219.

39. ‘Astronautics at Hendon,’ 213; ‘Second International Astronautical Congress, London, 1951,’ 318–30.

40. For description of the model of Smith and Ross’s man-carrying rocket, see Cleaver, ‘Chairman’s Address Fifth Annual General Meeting,’ 313; and for Hendon display, see ‘Astronautics at Hendon,’ 213. On the relationship between BIS and the Daily Express, see Cleator, ‘Retrospect and Prospect,’ 2–5; and example of article Pincher ‘Mr Smith May Float in Space, 190 Miles Up,’ 4. For coverage of BIS activities published in the Times see, for instance, ‘Interplanetary Flight,’ 2; and on collection of news clippings at the BIS, see Dunnett, ‘The British Interplanetary Society,’ 69–70.

41. See Cleaver, ‘Astronautics at the Cinema,’ 148–54; On George Pal’s donation of a copy of Destination Moon to the BIS, see Clarke, ‘Chairman’s Address at the Sixth Annual General Meeting,’ 312.

42. Clarke, ‘Brains Trust,’ 230.

43. Cleaver, ‘Chairman’s Address Fifth Annual General Meeting,’ 313.

44. For example, a model rocket was used as a scale-model in scenes and as a special effects prop in the Fritz Lang’s Frau im Mond (1929); as well as later films such as Destination Moon (1950); and Spaceways (1954). Also, on the role of science advisors in the production of science fiction films about space travel and the interplay between depictions of space exploration in entertainment media and scientific discourse, see Kirby, ‘The Future is Now.’

45. See Farry and Kirby, ‘The Universe will be Televised.’ The Reithian directive continues to be invoked as the primary purpose of the BBC, see ‘BBC Statements of Programme Policy 2010/11.’

46. Crisell, An Introductory History of British Broadcasting, 33–35, 67–81.

47. For example, see BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T1 1946–62, Clarke to Boyd, August 19, 1950.

48. Jones was Astronomer Royal at the Royal Greenwich Observatory 1935–1955. Sadler, ‘Obituary: Harold Spencer Jones.’

49. BBC WAC File Hoyle, F COP1 1948–62. Copyright note Fred Hoyle, January 17, 1950.

50. For example, BBC WAC File Hoyle, F. COP1 1948–62, Nesta Pain to Fred Hoyle, May 17, 1950.

51. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T1 1946–62, Clarke to Boyd, August 19, 1950.

52. Whitehead, The Third Programme, 45.

53. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T1 1946–62, Keen to Boyd, December 21, 1951, with handwritten note by Clow.

54. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T1 1946–62, Clow to Boyd, February 5, 1951.

55. Crompton, The Man Who Drew Tomorrow.

56. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T1 1946–62, Elwell to Clarke, March 3, 1953.

57. Hand, ‘Television Ownership in Britain;’ Hand, ‘The Advent of ITV and Television Ownership in Lower Income Households;’ and Johnston, ‘The BBC Versus “Science Fiction”.’ Also see Farry and Kirby, ‘The Universe will be Televised.’

58. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, Clarke to Barr, February 20, 1949.

59. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, Madden to Barr, March 13, 1952.

60. On the visibility of science during the post-war period, see Agar, Science and Spectacle.

61. Clarke, ‘Extra-terrestrial Relays,’ 305–8.

62. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, Clarke to Barr, February 20, 1949.

63. For example, scriptwriter Nigel Kneale and other members of the production team created visual effects for the 1953 science fiction television series The Quatermass Experiment. See Irvine and Tucker, BBC VFX, 10–12.

64. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60. Biographical statement of Clarke, probably by Clarke nd.

65. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, copy of letter by Thomas P. Merritt on ‘Physics via Television’ and Everett R. Phelps ‘Science on Television’ published in American Journal of Physics with handwritten note ‘For Arthur C. Clarke.’

66. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949-60, Clarke to Barr, 2 January 1950. Clarke, ‘Review: Conquest of Space,’ 41–2.

67. Smith, ‘Landing on Airless Planets,’ 153.

68. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, Clarke to Barr, September 25, 1951.

69. BBC WAC File Clarke, A. T 1949–60, Clarke to Barr, February 6, 1949.

70. Conekin, The Autobiography of a Nation; Forgan, ‘Festivals of Science;’ and Forgan, ‘Atoms in Wonderland;’ and Maguire and Woodham, Design and Cultural Politics in Postwar Britain.

71. Latour, Science in Action.