I am now much more interested in astronaut stuff than space opera nowadays

[CmdrShep2183]

Something strange happened to me during the quarantine. I got bored and checked out Apple TV's "For All Mankind". I knew about it before but dismissed it as some silly "Astronaut Wives Club" style soap opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3RjayAF0b4

It started off slow but once it got into space I could ignore all the ridiculous soap opera.

Thanks to this show I find the history of real spaceflight much more interesting than any sci fi universe. That includes Mass Effect. After finishing the first season I dived into "The Right Stuff", "Apollo 13", and "First Man".

I think the Saturn V is the most beautiful machine humanity has even built!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0htvEVqJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U48vnfP0Rjo

Perhaps a realistic astronaut show would draw in more mainstream TV viewers than a sci fi space opera.

[Trekker 42]

I got the Saturn V LEGO set and man it’s beautiful. 

[MisterPL]

Sounds like it's time for a profile pic of the real Commander Shepard. ?

The Right Stuff is one of my favorite films. What a time in history.

[Turtle]

On 9/21/2020 at 4:03 PM, Trekker 42 said:

I got the Saturn V LEGO set and man it’s beautiful. 

A true thing of beauty.  I have it displayed with the Lander, the ISS and the Women of NASA set.  Awesome stuff. 

 

The First is a TV series I think you might enjoy, CmdrShep.  It's far from perfect, but it's a real world show set in the near future about preparations for the first trip to Mars.  I enjoyed it.  I also recommend the book series the Lady Astronaut.  It is an alternate history/speculative fiction piece that is based in real world science.  The supposition is that a massive meteor hits near DC in the 1950s, decimating the eastern seaboard and seriously altering humanity's need to reach the stars.  It focuses, as the name implies, on the women who fight to join the space race.  So it's kind of a history lesson while also turning it on its head.  Really enjoyable audio books.  Oh, also, if you haven't already done so, consume The Martian- watch it, read it, audio book it.  It's great.  Commander Hadfield reviewed the film and said the only thing not right is that Martian sandstorms would be less severe.  The attention to detail is otherwise amazing.  Unlike, say, Gravity, which is a beautiful film, but a pretty shoddy hard-science experience.