Space + Art

There is definitely beauty exists in the space, because the development of the structures of the milkyway and galaxy are so abstracting and attractive to people nowadays. As more advanced technologies are invented, human beings are able to explore the space in depth and recognize the endless puzzles of it.
The first topic from the lecture is the buckyball, which is discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. To form a solid particle, the buckyballs must stack together, as illustrated in this artist's concept showing the very beginnings of the process. The buckyball particles were spotted around a small, hot star -- a member of a pair of stars, called XX Ophiuchi, located 6,500 light-years from Earth. Next, the lecture jumps into atomic bombs, which was a crucial weapon during World War II, then expending to the cold war between the United States and Russia. Atomic bomb is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reaction either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. This explanation of art reminds me of high school's American History class, which emphasized on the cold war between the U.S. and Russia, and the competition between their nuclear weapons.

Lecture part 4 gave a brief introduction about the "first man" in the space and the moon. The first person entered space was Yuri Gagarin 1961 and the first person landed on the moon was Neil Armstrong in 1969.

While on the surface, the astronauts set up several experiments, collected samples of lunar soil and rock to bring home, erected a United States flag, and took core samples from the crust. And thanks to the three astronauts, human beings on earth are able to recognize the structure, composition and utility of the moon. The beauty and the puzzle of an other planet was entirely revealed, and such development significantly pushed people's recognition of space and art.

More space knowledge and beauty are presented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), President Eisenhower established the NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics(NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958. A trip to NASA really taught me a lot of knowledge that I would have never known about the space and aircrafts.

In the last lecture, several movies and TV productions are introduced and change our focus from science to entertainment. Indeed, without the exploration of the space, movies such as 'The Core,' 'Gravity' and 'Tomorrow' would have appeared. To summarize the past few weeks of lectures, arts exist everywhere, and more unexplored misery is awaiting us to develop!

Sources：
1. Vesna, Victoria. "Lecture Part 1." Space Art | Lectures. University of California Online. Los Angeles, . Lecture.
2. Military Wallpaper. N.d. Photograph. Crazy Frankenstein Web. 29 Nov 2013. <http://crazy-frankenstein.com/free-wallpapers-files/military/atomic-bomb-wallpapers/in-city-atomic-bomb-military-wallpapers-1024x768.jpg>.
3. beanz2u, . First Moon Landing 1969. N.d. video. Youtube.comWeb. 29 Nov 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4>.
4. NASA, . United States. Web. <http://www.nasa.gov/>.
5. NASA Looking To Commercial Sector For New Technology And Materials. 2013. Photograph. AERO NewsnetworkWeb. 29 Nov 2013. <http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=d3c22702-66c9-4c76-8ede-97aad1d1eed7>.