Back in 1980 the US space program was in the doldrums. Apollo was fading into history and there hadn’t been a US astronaut in space for five years. The quirky space shuttle, much diminished from its initial vision, was still waiting to make its maiden flight.
But that fall came Cosmos, a revolutionary documentary series with a compelling host. Both the television universe and the real one have never been quite the same.
Carl Sagan, by equal measure professorial and childlike, offered space enthusiasts a new paradigm. Buck Rogers was out; refined and groovy cosmic citizen was in. Here was a visionary whose perspective dwarfed the politics of the space race and who spoke of humanity as a brotherhood with a common past and a transcendent future in the heavens.
“We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands,” he told us. “The loom of time and space works the most astonishing transformations of matter.”
Sagan, who died in 1996, would be turning 75th today, an occasion which has prompted the celebration of Carl Sagan Day.
I was under the impression his birthday was on the 9th, actually. Odd they would have this on the 7th
Mike – You know how it is with family birthdays. The weekend is always better for a get-together.
Yep…Carl Sagan. Still dead after all these years.
What a pity, a great man. I grew up watching his documentaries on space.