Assignment 1-3-2 Journal Article Analysis

 

            Analysis of Return of the Lost Spaceman

            I chose to review Matthew H. Hersch’s article “Return of the Lost Spaceman: America’s Astronauts in Popular Culture, 1959-2006” because ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with all things regarding space.  Hersch’s article discusses the changes in recruiting policies and the public persona of NASA astronauts as the organization evolved and changed with the times.  Astronauts’ influence on popular culture of the time is also discussed.  The intent of this essay is to briefly summarize the article, as well as provide an analysis of what I believe Hersch was trying to convey, along with my feedback on his opinions.

Article summary and Hersch’s point

            Hersch breaks up his discussion on the public depiction of American astronauts into three different ages.  The first age, The Public Astronaut, is where the story of American space flight begins.  NASA announced their choice for the first seven astronauts at a press conference on April 9, 1959.  All of the candidates were male military test pilots (Hersch, p. 76).  Questions asked at the press conference painted the men as clean-cut upstanding Americans.  It was at this time that the press began forging the image of America’s hero astronauts into popular culture.  The public image created by the media of the first astronauts was often idealized.  The press would often suppress some of the darker aspects of the astronauts’ lives, such as accusations of alcoholism and adultery, violence, and unnecessary risk-taking (p. 77).

            The media’s idealistic image of the astronauts bled over into popular culture heavily.  Several television shows from the same era, such as I dream of Jeannie, Six Million Dollar Man, and The Twilight Zone featured astronaut characters that were modeled after the idealized astronaut lifestyle instead of mirroring the real lives of the first astronauts (p. 78).  The ideal astronaut myth, now fully established, helped to paint NASA as a successful organization that could “get things done” (p. 79).

            Hersch describes the second age of astronauts as beginning in 1965.  Now that we had established we had the ability to make it into space reliably the scientific community wanted NASA to focus more on scientific discovery.  In the same year NASA began to allow other candidates besides test pilots, such as scientists, to be astronauts.  Hersch declares this to be the era of “science pilots” (p. 81).   The “science pilot” astronauts were heavily scrutinized during their tenure as astronauts.  The test pilot astronauts saw them as a threat to their public image, the science community questioned their viability to scientific research, and even the public was critical of their abilities as astronauts.  The public perception of “science pilot” astronauts was likely heavily influenced by popular science fiction culture of the time, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey.  In the movie the sentient computer system HAL begins to kill the crew members.  The “science pilot” astronauts are no competition to HAL, but the traditional astronaut characters prove much more resilient.  One of these astronauts manages to gain control over the ship once more by deactivating HAL (p. 82). 

            The last of Hersch’s ages of American space flight is that of the space shuttle.  Just prior to the start of this age, the television show Star Trek influenced the public once again on what space flight could be.  The astronauts on the Enterprise were not just the ideal astronauts from the earliest days of NASA, but also of scientists, women, and civilians.  With the invention of the Space Shuttle, this same capability was extended to real life.  NASA’s new “space truck” could be piloted by two pilots, and could bring along additional passengers.  The additional passengers were not essential to operating the shuttle, so essentially anyone could come along for a ride (p. 84).  Though this era of space exploration initially was held with the same level respect as of the previous generations, the public interest began to fade.  Space flight seemed to be more commonplace, and not as exciting as it had been in the past.  NASA realized this, and tried to bolster interest in human space flight again by offering civilians, such as teachers rides in the shuttles.  Unfortunately, with the loss of the Challenger in 1986, the credibility of NASA was damaged, and greater scrutiny on the organization began (p. 85-86).  Hersch goes on to mention that NASA’s waning public interest was parodied on The Simpsons in the early 90s when the organization sends Homer into space in an attempt to garnish public interest.  The efforts were largely unsuccessful.  Around the same time, several movies began to look back at the earlier years of space flight with a sense of nostalgia.  Movies such as Apollo 13, Armageddon, and Space Cowboys depicted the earlier age of astronauts as heroes that had characteristics and a sense of ability that newer astronauts do not posess (p. 87).  Hersch seems to echo the lack of interest in the current breed of astronaut in his concluding statement: “As the United States, thirty years after Project Apollo’s end, prepares once again to send a small number of carefully selected, highly trained individuals to the Moon and possibly beyond, the question of who should fly in space looms larger than ever” (p. 88).

Personal interpretation

            I think that Hersch’s interpretation of how the media portrays the astronauts of the past and present to be pretty accurate.  Comparatively few people realize that the astronauts of the first generation were not as upstanding as they were portrayed to be.  I believe this to be largely due to the fact that people seemed to trust their government much more then as opposed to now.  At the same time, many people (even to this day) seem to openly trust what the media says regardless if the facts check out.  Living through the majority of the space shuttle era of NASA, and seeing it come to an end, I readily observed how many of my peers took it for granted.  This became especially apparent during the Columbia accident.  At the time it was hard for the public to grasp that we lost another shuttle so soon after the Challenger incident.  This new reminder of the risk of space flight only seemed to reinforce the reputation of earlier astronauts as heroes.  Hersch’s interpretation of how NASA influenced science fiction popular culture and vice versa was especially interesting to me. 

Conclusion

            By discussing the past and present of space flight, I believe Hersch’s article raises important points on the future of space flight.  As we continued to tame the final frontier people became less interested in the scientific aspect of space flight.  In addition to the astronauts themselves, the scientists it took to design the technology, etc., it took the buy-in of the American people to launch a man into space.  Without public interest in manned spaceflight, it will be hard to gain support and funding for future manned space programs.  With the retirement of the space shuttle last year, the United States no longer has their own means of getting humans into space.  I believe we are at a critical juncture in our career as a pioneer in space exploration.  If we as a nation accept a new challenge, such as to colonize the moon or to land a man on Mars, we may begin a second golden age of astronaut enthusiasm.  The new challenge should restore the sense of adventure that the public seemed to lose as we grew accustomed to space flight.  This would allow for a new generation of heroes to arise.  Possibly with the passage of time, the operators of the space shuttles and the “science pilots” will also be regarded as heroes.  After all, at this time very few people can say they have been in space.

           

References

Hersch, M. H. (2011). Return of the Lost Spaceman: America’s astronauts in popular culture, 1959-2006. Journal of Popular Culture, 44(1), 73-92. Retrieved from http://0-journals.ohiolink.edu.olinkserver.franklin.edu/ejc/pdf.cgi/HERSCH_MATTHEW_H.pdf?issn=00223840&issue=v44i0001&article=73_rotlsaaipc1