The Global Space Age

(4 Credits)

Over the course of the twentieth century the infinite void that surrounds planet Earth has stimulated the human imagination as never before. For several decades, anticipation of human spaceflight was intimately bound with futuristic visions of technoscientific progress, while space exploration became key to societal self-images. This course charts the rise and fall of the Age of Space from a global perspective. Individual sessions will be devoted to the ‘rocket fad’ of the Weimar Republic, Nazi ‘wonder weapons,’ the so-called Sputnik shock and the American moon landings, as well as providing an introduction to the historical origins of techno-nationalism, from the Cold War to today’s Space Race in Asia.