Introduction

Earth, Cosmos and Culture explores the relationship between outer space, geographical enquiry, and British society since the start of the twentieth century. It foregrounds the importance of place, landscape and national identity in understanding outer space, drawing from a rich tradition of parallel enquiry into Earth and cosmos in geographical scholarship. The start of the twentieth century is identified as significant in the development of these relationships, as the anticipation and emergence of spaceflight formed part of a discourse that bridged imaginative and scientific modes of enquiry. The cultures and politics of the United Kingdom also provide essential context for this book, considering how discourses of outer space were connected to society more broadly throughout the past century, in ways that were different to other parts of the world. The book takes a roughly chronological structure, encompassing themes of literary geographies, the synthesis of astronautics, post-war popular cultures, the geopolitics of space exploration, concepts of interstellar spaceflight, nationalism in outer space, and the ambivalent futures of spaceflight in the UK.