“Militarizing Outer Space is a compellingly original collection of essays that breaks out of the conventional mold of interpreting space races and arms races narrowly as products of the Cold War. A very important book.” (Nina Wormbs, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) In a global age we would be wise to re-visit these manifold projections and dreams of space technology and its cultural repercussions, as they have much to teach us about the present. Popular imaginaries are tied to promises of supremacy, while the fuzzy boundaries between civilian and military use are interrogated. The fourteen fascinating chapters offer a rich and welcome contribution to the history of outer space and globality. “In this very fine last part of a trilogy that meritoriously orbits around the concept of ‘astroculture’, one is reminded of the centrality of military technologies to modernization. Readers will discover new and unexpected features of their life worlds presented in outstanding essays framed by a superb introduction and conclusion.” (John Krige, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) Space is not a remote, inaccessible realm, but a nearby ‘non-space’ that can be populated by technological infrastructures advocated by the military and appropriated by the market, colonized by earthlings fleeing Armageddon or the disasters of climate change, and filled with utopian aspirations or dystopian fears, but always appropriated by multiple stakeholders who imagine new worlds and ways of being in response to critical contingencies in everyday life. Militarizing Outer Space obliges us to think of ‘outer space’ as a zone beyond the confines of the earth, produced by cultural, political and technological interventions that embed it in earthly projects and respond to a multitude of hopes and anxieties. It expands historiography beyond the superpowers and radically reconceptualizes outer space. “This lavishly illustrated volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Space Age. Dick, Former NASA Chief Historian and Library of Congress Baruch S. I expect astroculture to grow in importance, both as a cultural phenomenon and as an area of study.” (Steven J. “All three volumes are highly recommended to those interested in how space exploration has affected culture and vice versa. … from an astrocultural perspective and given the recent establishment of a United States Space Force, Militarizing Outer Space ought to stimulate informed, lively discussion about future activities and relationships among civil, commercial, and military organizations in outer space.” (Rick W. “The thirteen chapters in this superbly edited, multidisciplinary collection amount to a fantastically engaging, historiographical contribution. “The book is a sterling addition to any space historian’s bookshelf.” (Rick W.
#Nathaniel iven missile commander series
“The series provides an important impetus to the cultural history of outer space, introducing significant concepts including astroculture or the post-Apollo paradox, and offering terminological refinements such as the distinction between the weaponization and militarization of space.” (Nils Theinert, sehepunkte, Vol. Goossen, Contemporary European History, June 17, 2022) They aim to situate Europe within the space age and bring space into European history.” (Benjamin W. The forty-four total essays … are connected through periodisation, geographic focus and the unifying concept of astroculture. “These three books offer a fascinating reevaluation of space history from European perspectives. The allure of dominating outer space, the book shows, was neither limited to the early twenty-first century nor to current American space force rhetorics.
Astroculture proved instrumental in fathoming forms and functions of warfare’s futures past, both on earth and in space.
Often hailed as the site of heavenly utopias and otherworldly salvation, outer space transformed from a promised sanctuary to a present threat, where the battles of the future were to be waged.
The third and final volume in the groundbreaking European Astroculturetrilogy, Militarizing Outer Space zooms in on the interplay between security, technopolitics and knowledge from the 1920s through the 1980s. Concentrating on weapons, warfare and violence, this provocative volume examines real and imagined endeavors of arming the skies and conquering the heavens. Militarizing Outer Space explores the dystopian and destructive dimensions of the Space Age and challenges conventional narratives of a bipolar Cold War rivalry.
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