S3 • E4 Aug 20, 2017
For centuries people have envisioned spacecrafts that would carry them through the wonders of space. Johannes Kepler dreamed in 1608 of being carried to the moon by birds. In 1865, writer Jules Verne shot explorers there in a cannon, as did Georges Mèliés in the first sci-fi movie in 1902. By the 50s, cannons were replaced by streamlined rocket ships. A year before we landed on the moon, Captain James T. Kirk quoted poet John E. Masefield: "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by." Future space captains may in deed be sailors with the solar wind and the pressure of sunlight filling their ships' sails. Come sail away with us into the future where laser-powered sail ships might carry us to the stars. This Suite presents the evolution of Space Craft and posits the ships that will take us into the future.
