There’s basically two types of panel at Ad Astra: The intellectual and the goofy. On the intellectual ones you find the scientists and writers. On the goofy ones, you find the fans. Last year trended strongly towards the intellectual panels but this year was more of a balance. I tried to attend both.
On Friday night I went to “Sputnik at 50.” This was a discussion of the Russian satellite and its influence on the space age. It was a bit much to cram into an hour. You could teach whole courses in this. They probably do.
The moderator, Robert Godwin of APOGEE Books, held it together nicely and was a fount of information. The other panelists, particularly astronomer Glen Norman of Toronto and David Stephenson of the British Interplanetary Society, were great. They mixed story with fact, humor with history, and both had years of experience in the field.
There was a minimum of audience participation. Thank God. Listening to these guys talk was like being invited to the grownup table. The last thing anyone needs is someone spouting off about moon hoaxes or other assorted crackpottery.
And there was a bit of sadness too. Not only did the space age fail to emerge, basically climaxing then vanishing with the moon-landing, one of its best proponents and a lifelong member of the BIS, Arthur C. Clarke, recently died. One of his letters was passed around the room and I touched his signature. With my thumb. I washed it shortly after.
After the panel we all rushed outside to the parking lot to see the International Space Station Pass overhead, quickly followed by the Jules Verne. Actually, everyone else rushed outside. I happened upon them while going out for a smoke.
But I knew what was happening and it was pretty damn cool to see the space station. It was very bright in the sky — Godwin remarked that he had never seen it so bright. And it was really neat-o to hear someone marking the location of these things, when they would appear and when they would vanish into the Earth’s shadow. That sort of predictive power is the benefit of astronomy over astrology.
Fuck astrology.
I was so excited by the whole thing I bought a book about the Russian space program and a model of Sputnik. I’ll read one and mount the other. Not going to tell you which.
