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ART: 'First Man', by Damien Chazelle (2018)

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ART: 'First Man', by Damien Chazelle (2018)

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Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the Moon. After a career as a test pilot, Armstrong took part in the Apollo 11 mission. His incredible story is told in the film ‘First Man’ by Damien Chazelle, based on the biography ‘First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong’.

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After the successes of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions, NASA launched the Apollo 13. During the mission, however, a malfunction prevents the lunar landing. The astronauts are forced to move into the lunar module and use it to attempt the return trip to Earth. After four interminable days of travel and a long radio blackout, the crew manages to land.

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Apollo 13 Official Trailer #1 - Tom Hanks Movie (1995) HD

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ART: ‘2001: A Space Odissey’, by Stanley Kubrick (1968)

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ART: ‘2001: A Space Odissey’, by Stanley Kubrick (1968)

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‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ had a great influence not only on cinema but also on the imagery of space exploration. The history and future of mankind are reinterpreted as a science fiction, imagining missions beyond Jupiter. The film addresses themes like the destiny of humanity and knowledge.

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ART: Caspar David Friedrich, Two Men Contemplating the Moon (ca. 1819 – 1820)

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ART: Caspar David Friedrich, Two Men Contemplating the Moon (ca. 1819 – 1820)

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Two men stop to look at the Moon during a walk in the woods. The Moon is low on the horizon and the two men contemplate nature in silence. The painting depicts the Romantic spirit and the moon as sung in poetry, literature, and art.

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"Two Men Contemplating the Moon" by Caspar David Friedrich depicts a foreground scene of two men on a mountain path looking at the sickle of the waxing moon and the evening star.

The man on the right is wearing a green cape and beret and has a walking stick in his right hand. The man on the left is standing on the slightly higher ground.

He is leaning on his companion's shoulder. He is slimmer, looks younger, and is wearing a green coat and cap with its strap tied under his chin.

The figures are dressed in formal garments, which also serve to signify their higher class. The moon's night side is lit by earthshine.

The scene is framed by an uprooted oak tree on their right, whose branches reach out to those of a spruce tree on their left.

A large boulder prevents the oak from falling to the side of the mountain. Below and to the right, the tops of pine trees suggest a forest below.

The jagged branches and stark contrasts seem to create a threatening environment, but the glow of the moonlit sky lifts the mood of the painting.

The works emphasize spirituality in nature and the presence of the sublime, which are dominant themes of Friedrich.

Friedrich painted at least three versions of this scene, with one variation featuring a man and a woman.

The 1819-20 version in the Galerie Neue Meister is thought to be the original, the 1824 variant with a woman is in the Alte Nationalgalerie, and the 1830 version is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Playwright Samuel Beckett, standing before "Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon," said, "This was the source of Waiting for Godot, you know."
Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon
Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation.

He is best known for his allegorical landscapes. They typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins.

His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world.

Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale.

The rise of Nazism in the early 1930s saw a resurgence in Friedrich's popularity. This was followed by a sharp decline when his paintings were associated with the Nazi movement.

They were interpreted as having a nationalistic aspect, fortunately in the late 1970s that Friedrich regained his reputation as an icon of the German Romantic movement.

Two Men Contemplating the Moon

Title: Two Men Contemplating the Moon

German: Zwei Männer in Betrachtung des Mondes

Artist: Caspar David Friedrich

Medium: Oil on canvas

Date: 1825-30

Dimensions: Height: 34.9 cm (13.7 ″); Width: 43.8 cm (17.2 ″)

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art - MET

Caspar David Friedrich

Name: Caspar David Friedrich

Born: 1774 - Greifswald - at the time Swedish Pomerania

Died: 1840 - Dresden, Germany

Nationality: German

Notable works:

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) ~ "Two men contemplating the Moon"

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Ludwig van Beethoven - moonlight sonata Op. 27 No. 2

"All beginnings are hard."
- German Proverb

Photo Credit: Caspar David Friedrich [Public domain]

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"Two Men Contemplating the Moon" by Caspar David Friedrich - Joy of Museums Virtual Tours

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"Two Men Contemplating the Moon" by Caspar David Friedrich "Two Men Contemplating the Moon" by Caspar David Friedrich depicts a foreground scene of two men on a mountain path looking at the sickle of the waxing moon and the evening star. The man on the right is wearing a green cape and beret and has [...]

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: SpaceX and Space Tourism

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: SpaceX and Space Tourism

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SpaceX is a private spaceflight company that takes satellites and people into space. Among the various projects of founder Elon Musk are tourist trips. SpaceX is designing a Starship system for lunar landings and future missions to Mars.

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The world's first space tourist wants to go back - but this time, he's signed up for a ride around the Moon aboard Elon Musk's Starship.

For Dennis Tito, 82, it's a chance to relive the joy of his trip to the International Space Station (ISS), now that he's retired with time on his hands.

The engineer turned financial analyst was the first private individual to pay for a trip to space on Russia's Soyuz TM-32 mission in 2001, when he spent nearly eight days aboard the ISS.

His week-long journey on the SpaceX flight will bring him within 200 km of the Moon without landing on its surface. He'll have company: his wife, Akiko, and 10 others willing to shell out big bucks for the ride.

Tito won't say how much he's paying for his spin around the Moon; his ISS trip cost $20 million (€20.5 million).

SpaceX has not given a date for the launch of Starship, the focus of Musk's ambition to transport humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars.

However, the world's richest person and CEO of Tesla has said he aims to send the rocket to orbit for the first time as early as next month.

A handful of companies including SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic hope to make space travel a reality, while Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin currently offers sub-orbital joyrides some 100 km above Earth.

Who wants to be the next billionaire on the Moon?

Tito is actually the second billionaire to make a Starship reservation for a flight around the Moon.

Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa announced in 2018 he was buying an entire flight so he could take eight or so others with him, preferably artists.

The two men both flew to the space station, from Kazakhstan atop Russian rockets, 20 years apart.

Tito kicked off space tourism in 2001, becoming the first person to pay his own way to space and antagonising NASA in the process.

The US space agency didn't want a sightseer hanging around while the station was being built. But the Russian Space Agency needed the cash and, with the help of US-based Space Adventures, launched a string of wealthy clients to the station through the 2000s and, just a year ago, Maezawa.

Biggest rocket ever

Tito and his wife recognise there's a lot of testing and development still ahead for Starship, a shiny, bullet-shaped behemoth that's yet to even attempt to reach space.

"We have to keep healthy for as many years as it's going to take for SpaceX to complete this vehicle," Tito told The Associated Press.

"I might be sitting in a rocking chair, not doing any good exercise, if it wasn't for this mission".

Starship has yet to launch atop a Super Heavy booster from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border.

At 120 metres and 7.7 million kg of liftoff thrust, it's the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. NASA already has contracted for a Starship to land its astronauts on the Moon in 2025 or so, in the first lunar touchdown since Apollo.

Tito said the couple's contract with SpaceX, signed in August 2021 and announced on Wednesday (October 12), includes an option for a flight within five years from now.

Tito would be 87 by then and he wanted an out in case his health falters.

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Billionaire books SpaceX trip around the Moon for him and his wife

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The world's first space tourist wants to go back - but this time, he's signed up for a ride around the Moon aboard Elon Musk's Starship. For Dennis Tito, 82, it's a chance to relive the joy of his trip to the International Space Station (ISS), now that he's retired with time on his hands.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA satellite that studies the Moon. It was launched on 18 June 2009. The aim is to examine lunar resources and identify possible landing sites for future exploration missions.

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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — Over 11 Years of Science From the Moon

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Galileo Galilei and the telescope

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Galileo Galilei and the telescope

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Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) is considered the father of modern science. Galileo is best known for his astronomical observations that he was able to make thanks to a new invention: the telescope.

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FRENCH: Jules Verne, 'De la Terre à la Lune' (1865)

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FRENCH: Jules Verne, 'De la Terre à la Lune' (1865)

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'De la Terre à la Lune' is one of Jules Verne’s best-known novels, published in 1865. It tells the story of an American Gun Club, who wants to send three men to the Moon. The operation involves the use of a powerful cannon. Five years later, Verne wrote another novel, entitled 'Autour de la Lune'. The events told are very similar to those of the actual Moon landing (1969).

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ITALIAN: Italo Calvino, ‘La distanza dalla Luna’ (from ‘Le cosmicomiche’, 1965)

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ITALIAN: Italo Calvino, ‘La distanza dalla Luna’ (from ‘Le cosmicomiche’, 1965)

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‘Le cosmicomiche’ is a collection of 12 funny and absurd short stories about the universe, written by Italo Calvino, a famous and eclectic 20th century Italian author. In ‘La distanza dalla Luna’ the protagonist Qfwfq tells about the time when the Moon was only a few metres away from Earth, his stay with the woman he loved, and his bitter return to Earth.

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Iniziamo una piccola serie di articoli dedicati alle Cosmicomiche lunari di Italo Calvino, partendo dalla prima in assoluto, "La distanza dalla Luna"

L'idea per la prima cosmicomica, La distanza della Luna, risale probabilmente alla fine del 1963 e trae spunto da una teoria di formazione:

Il tema scientifico principale è chiaro, ma non semplice: si tratta dell'allontanamento della Luna dalla Terra a causa della perdita di energia dovuta alle maree.
Per capire di che cosa di tratta, è necessario riferirsi a una proprietà di certi sistemi, come appunto il sistema Terra-Luna, di mantenere costante il valore di una grandezza fisica detta momento angolare.
In breve, il momento angolare di un sistema di corpi tiene conto della distribuzione delle masse che ruotano, nel nostro caso la Luna e la Terra, e della loro velocità di rotazione. Per esempio, per un sasso che si muove lungo una circonferenza, il momento angolare avrà un valore dato dal prodotto della massa del sasso, della valore della sua velocità e del raggio della circonferenza sulla quale si muove. Se poi il sasso ruota su se stesso, si dovrà tenere conto anche di questo movimento.
Il momento angolare di un sistema dipende anche dalle forze che agiscono sul sistema stesso, che possono modificarne il valore.
Nel caso del sistema Terra-Luna, però, non agiscono forze esterne, e il momento angolare è destinato a conservarsi.
In ultima analisi questo è il motivo per il quale la Luna si allontana dalla Terra.
Infatti le maree, a causa dell'attrito generato dallo scivolamento delle acque sui fondali marini, rallentano la rotazione della Terra intorno al proprio asse (Calvino si riferisce a questo fenomeno dicendo che la Terra perde lentamente energia).
Se tutto finisse qui, allora il momento angolare complessivo del sistema dovrebbe diminuire. Ma questo non può accadere, perché il sistema Terra-Luna deve mantenere costante il valore del momento angolare totale. Ebbene, si verifica che un modo per ripristinare il valore del momento angolare, è proprio che la Luna si allontani dalla Terra.
Qui entra in gioco l'attrazione gravitazionale di Isaac Newton nella sua manifestazione "lunare" più clamorosa: l'esistenza della marea di acqua e le conseguenze di questa sull'orbita lunare e sulla rotazione della Terra.
Ma come si svolge il racconto? Calvino non è affatto interessato ai dettagli del meccanismo che abbiamo descritto:

Ci sono anche spunti di falsa scienza, se vogliamo definirla in questo modo: a più riprese la Luna è paragonata a un magnete.

È chiaro che si fa leva sul magnetismo come rappresentazione ancestrale e intuitiva di ogni forma di attrazione. Lo si fa anche nel parlato.
La trama è semplice e bella. La Luna è vicina alla Terra, " L'avevamo sempre addosso, la Luna, smisurata": così vicina che quando era plenilunio quasi si bagnava nel mare, perché anche le maree erano particolarmente alte, non quelle poche decine di centimetri a cui siamo abituati oggi.
E se Terra e Luna si sfiorano, che cosa c'è di più naturale per Qfwfq, suo cugino sordo, il capitano e sua moglie, se non prendere una scaletta, andar sotto la Luna con una barca e, proprio quanto il satellite è alla massima vicinanza, salirvi agilmente sopra? Ma c'è persino di più: la Luna, nel suo passar vicino al mare e alle terre emerse, attira sulla sua superficie piccoli animaletti, erbe, radici, che si fermano sotto le sue scaglie - scaglie di Luna - e fermentando danno origine a un latte, un po' acido forse, ma nutriente e buonissimo. Andar sulla Luna è come andar per fattorie a ricavare del buon latte fresco - certo di Luna, ma non meno ghiotto.
E se anche questo non bastasse, pensate allora alla Luna, alla cui luce è così semplice innamorarsi. E sotto quella Luna così immensa, così grande, che cosa c'è di più naturale se non un grande amore? Specialmente se la moglie del capitano, la signora Vhd Vhd suona l'arpa

Qfwfq è innamorato della moglie del capitano, che a sua volta ama il cugino sordo del protagonista, il quale ha una sua sintonia naturale con la Luna, e neanche si accorge di aver destato l'attenzione della signora. O forse sì, ma non se ne cura.
Ecco dunque che la Luna esercita due forme di attrazione: gravitazionale e "animale", per dir così. Quest'ultima in qualità di nutrice (il latte lunare) e di donna (oggetto di desiderio da parte dello zio). E in entrambi gli aspetti, la Luna è antagonista di Madre Terra (nutrice degli uomini) e di una donna, nel contendere l'attenzione del cugino alla signora Vhd Vhd.
Inesorabilmente le maree fanno il loro lavoro e arriva il giorno in cui la Luna è sì abbastanza vicina da salirci sopra, ma i protagonisti hanno una solo tentativo per scendere con un tuffo e tornare sul pianeta natale. Non possono sbagliare. Rischiano di rimanere confinati su quel satellite destinato ad essere un'isola nello spazio.

Dunque la moglie del capitano e il cugino sordo sono sulla Luna. Ma il cugino non desidera altro che appartarsi con lei, la Luna. E si nasconde in una piega lunare. Finché non è il momento di tornare, e rieccolo sulla Terra con la sua consueta capriola. Senza neanche curarsi della sua innamorata terrestre, la povera signora Vhd Vhd.
E la moglie del capitano? Può tornare sulla Terra? Al centro di un triangolo di un marito deluso da lei, lei delusa dal folle amante della Luna e di un innamorato da lei respinto? Decide d'istinto. E rimane sulla Luna: è il tentativo estremo, violento, di identificarsi con il satellite, oggetto di desiderio del cugino sordo:

È lei, la moglie del capitano, che conferisce un'anima alla Luna, popolandola di se stessa: una Luna altrimenti deserta e inospitale. È la moglie del Capitano che " rende Luna la Luna e che ogni plenilunio spinge i cani tutta la notte ad ululare, ed io con loro" - dice Qfwfq.
Sono quindi il desiderio, il sogno, le speranze umane che rendono Luna la Luna: una donna innamorata (l'umano) che si identifica in un oggetto inanimato, ma amato da colui che lei ama, nel trasferimento totale - estremo, appunto.
Una doppia metamorfosi, dunque, della donna che si fa Luna, innervando di se stessa il satellite, e della Luna che si fa donna, acquisendo un'anima.
Di mito, qui, ce n'è di che sfamarsi.

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Cosmicomiche: La distanza della Luna - EduINAF

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Iniziamo una piccola serie di articoli dedicati alle Cosmicomiche lunari di Italo Calvino, partendo dalla prima in assoluto, "La distanza dalla Luna"

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Unlike the 'Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia', in this poem the Moon comforts the author. The central theme here is memory. For the poet, memory is a source of pain, and he turns to the Moon as a force that brings inner peace.

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Giacomo Leopardi - "Alla luna" (Lettura di Arnoldo Foà)

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ITALIAN: ‘Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia’ (1831)

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ITALIAN: ‘Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia’ (1831)

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In ‘Canto notturo di un pastore errante dell'Asia’, the author in the guise of a shepherd asks the Moon some questions concerning the human condition and the profound meaning of life. The questions remain unanswered, and for the author there is no escape from human misery. In this poem, Leopardi expresses the ‘cosmic pessimism’ that characterises existence.

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Giacomo Leopardi, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia (Foà-Beethoven)

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The Moon plays a special role in Giacomo Leopardi’s works. In many poems, the author talks to the Moon, that appears as a character, someone to whom he addresses his thoughts. The Moon reflects the maturation of Leopardi’s poetics: from a source of peace and consolation, it becomes a silent witness to the human condition.

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ITALIAN: Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso (1516), canto XXXIV (Astolfo sulla Luna)

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ITALIAN: Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso (1516), canto XXXIV (Astolfo sulla Luna)

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In the 'Orlando furioso', Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem of 1516, all things lost by men are collected on the Moon. So, Astolfo must fly to the Moon to recover the sanity of Orlando, the protagonist of the poem and a dear friend of him. On the Moon, Astolfo finds a mountain made of the sanity lost by men.

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Astolfo sulla luna | Letteratura italiana | Rai Scuola

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Astolfo sulla luna - La luna negli autori classici e moderni

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MUSIC: David Bowie, 'Space Oddity' (1969)

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MUSIC: David Bowie, 'Space Oddity' (1969)

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‘Space Oddity’ is the title of a song by David Bowie, and title track of his following album. The song was released in 1969 and is full of suggestions from the space race and films such as ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Space also becomes a metaphor for the artist’s alienation and loss of control.

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David Bowie - Space Oddity (Official Video)

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MUSIC: Ludwig van Beethoven, 'Moonlight Sonata' (1801)

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MUSIC: Ludwig van Beethoven, 'Moonlight Sonata' (1801)

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Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor was written by Beethoven, who dedicated it to Giulietta Guicciardi. The title by which this work is best known, Moonlight Sonata, was given by the music critic Ludwig Rellstab. It suggested to Rellstab the image of a man contemplating an Alpine lake in the moonlight.

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Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata (1st Movement)

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Apollo 11 was the American mission that took man to the Moon. Captain Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the lunar surface. Together with his colleague, Buzz Aldrin, he explored the area of the Moon where they had landed for about two and a quarter hour. Armstrong and Aldrin remained on the lunar surface for 21 hours and 36 minutes before returning to Earth.

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Neil Armstrong - First Moon Landing 1969

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From 1955, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the space race. The space race became part of the cultural, technological, and political clash between the US and USSR.

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Physical features (size, diameter, surface ...)
Distance from Earth
Orbit and spin
Phases and eclipses
Gravity and tides