2:00pm EST., Friday February 10th

Presenting Live via Zoom

From Space Fandom to Space Funerals

It can be argued fans of spaceflight have existed since the first humans looked toward the skies. Over the centuries, these “fans” invented technologies ranging from ever-improving telescopes that allowed them to gaze at the heavens to the increasingly more sophisticated rockets carrying spacecraft and people. And throughout the years, the delivery of spaceflight news, history, and yes, sometimes memes too adapted to new technologies, from newsstands, to magazines, and ultimately to Facebook and Twitter. This talk by Emily Carney examines the origins of spaceflight “fandom,” the twists and turns it took, its evolution to the present day, and how it sometimes itself influenced spaceflight history. Carney will also discuss her unlikely transition into "space burials." And who knows, a few Buran memes might show up. 

In 2010, Emily Carney started a spaceflight blog called This Space Available (accessible via https://space.nss.org/category/this- space-available/). Fun fact: the late Gene Cernan (Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17 astronaut, also known as “The Last Man on the Moon”) once asked her, “What the hell is a space blog?” In 2011, Carney wanted to start a Facebook group for space enthusiasts, but was struggling to find a good name. Her husband, Steve, suggested “Space Hipsters” as sort of a sarcastic placeholder, but the name stuck. The group grew more quickly than she could imagine, and as of December 2022 it totals over 35,000 members. Space Hipsters boasts members from all around the world, and includes space enthusiasts, writers, artists, scientists, engineers, aspiring astronauts, and even a few actual astronauts.