Did you know that Australia has been involved in the world’s discovery of what’s going on in space? We even have our own space agency!
This is something I didn’t know until I started writing about Princess Hayley’s Comet, and even more, A Very Special Moon Mission. I read a lot about space and moon missions and it’s really interesting stuff. Of course, I’d heard a lot about space when I was growing up but most of the stories you read and movies you watch are about Americans and Russians and the space race. They’re lots of fun, of course. One of the most touching ones I read when I was younger was a great story called The Cosmonaut about a young Russian boy who wanted so much to be a cosmonaut and his teacher who encouraged his dream.
Later, I loved the movie Gattaca as it depicted a man who would go to any lengths to go to space.
But it was a very different experience when I attended a talk from a representative of the Australian Space Agency. He told us about how Australians had been assisting in these space projects. Unlike many of the Australian and Russian stories, we probably won’t be the single heroes who will have our faces in the magazines. However, as he pointed out, space projects require a great deal of collaboration and Australia is part of a team effort. We have a lot of … well … space in Australia to construct things like the infrastructure that can be helpful for these space projects (Space for Space!). We can be very proud of the contribution we make to something that’s exciting for the entire world.
I later watched a great movie called The Dish which shows the critical part that Australia played in bringing the first moon landing to everyone worldwide. Something a lot of people don’t know about. It’s funny and very Aussie and absolutely inspiring.