Description
Space Craze: America's Enduring Fascination with Real and Imagined Spaceflight is a space historian's tour through astounding spaceflight history and the Smithsonian's collection of space and science fiction memorabilia. Spanning from the 1929 debut of the futuristic Buck Rogers to present-day privatization of spaceflight, Space Craze celebrates America's endless enthusiasm for space exploration. Author Margaret Weitekamp, curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, writes with warmth and personal experience to guide readers through extraordinary spaceflight history while highlighting objects from the Smithsonian's spaceflight collection. Featuring historical milestones in space exploration, films and TV shows, literature and comic strips, toys and games, and internet communities, Space Craze is a sci-fi lover's dream. The book investigates how spaceflight, both real and imagined, has served as the nexus where contemporary American concerns, such as race, gender, sexuality, freedom, and national identity, have been explored and redefined.
Museum Story
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum maintains the world's largest and most significant collection of aviation and space artifacts, encompassing all aspects of human flight, as well as related works of art and archival materials. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the companion facility to the museum and houses hundreds of historically significant air- and spacecraft, along with thousands of small artifacts.
Details
- Book signed by Margaret A. Weitekamp
- Hardcover
- 240 pages
- 40 black & white images
- 9" x 6"
- Written by Margaret A. Weitekamp (chair of the Space History department at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum)
