Space and Cyberspace.

Scott Carpenter, one of the first astronauts to ever orbit the earth, died yesterday (October 10^th). It has been over 50 years since he was rocketed into outer space in a great historic flight. Scott was one of the Mercury astronauts along with John Glenn who was famously known for being the first American astronaut into space.

The Earth has been sending humans into space for 50 years now. On April 12^th, 1961 Russia sent the first man into space. Shortly afterward on May 5^th of the same year John Glenn made his flight. At the time humanity was fascinated by outer space in was a fervor that pushed our nation’s scientists to explore and innovate to unparalleled extents. Some of the greatest discoveries and (arguably) greatest achievements came out of this time.

The countries of Earth have continued to delve into space on a regular basis since the first manned flights in the 60's. We have continued to advance and discover. In 1963 Russia sent the first woman into space. In 1969 the humanity set foot on the moon for the first time. In 1981 America switched its program to use the newer reusable shuttle craft. In 1998 the joint venture to launch an International Space Station saw its first piece put into place. Then, in 2011, the United States cancelled its shuttle program.

The cancellation of the United States shuttle program as far from stalled space efforts in America though. If anything efforts have been redoubled. Now this endeavor lies in the hands of the private sector corporations such as Orbital and SpaceX, driven by the potential of profit these companies forge ahead. Although we are still in our infancy of space travel, the speed at which we are advancing brings up many political questions about the sovereignty of space and planets, and even more so philosophical questions about how the exploration of space will shift balances of power.

In the 1980's and 1990's, during the time of exploration on the frontier of space, exploration on another frontier was occurring, that of the internet. The internet, also still in its infancy at the time, had shown to be an incredible source of power, as well as showing the potential to shift power. Many people believed that the internet could, and would, shift greater power to the individual and away from centralized authorities. They believed that the nature of the internet to not be limited by physical boundaries such as boarders and oceans made it transcend the law of individual countries. Other people argued that this nature of the internet would force a more centralized authority, leading to a single united world government. As of yet neither of these quite drastic prophecies have come to fruition, however the internet is still at the source of legal battles daily, and is far from stalling its evolution.

Just as the internet-philosophers of the 80's and 90's puzzled over where the internet would take us. Today we are confronted with similar questions about the great depths of space. Already international law had laid out the Outer Space Treaty which forbids any nation from claiming sovereignty over a celestial body. What does this mean for the future of space? Will we see a future focused on the individual, where the intrepid colonizer, unfettered by the bounds of national sovereignty leads the charge into the far reached of space? Or will perhaps this by a utopia of capitalism, where corporations unbound by the laws of the government may grow and thrive over their very own planets (for the record, I would totally live on planet Google). Or perhaps this space neutrality will force a singular world government to take charge and enforce law in outer space.

Although we are not yet quite on the brink, the future holds the potential for great and exciting change. It seems undeniable that one day, man will set forth into the stars. This will bring with it the potential for great political change in the world, but what that change may be we can only imagine. In the meantime humanity has maintained at least some of its excitement about space as evidenced by pop culture phenomenon such as the movie Gravity, which you should totally go see, seriously I hear it’s really good.