solarbird | on the space jump

Having just watched the space jump – the skydive from near-orbit, the edge of space – I have to say one thing on an old topic.

People talk a lot about things from science fiction coming true, most particularly Star Trek. Star Trek kind of holds the record on that, arguably, and you can quibble about whether that’s prediction or cause (since it inspired so many scientists and engineers) but no matter how you count it, all that’s fair and good.

But this? This space jump from near orbit?

This one isn’t for Star Trek. It’s for that show’s predecessor, Lost in Space.

Nobody remembers this, but for one year – the black-and-white year, which generally isn’t in reruns – Lost in Space was hard SF. Not always very successfully – arguably, not often very successfully – but very much intentionally. They were trying.

And in the very first story arc, in Lost in Space, protagonist Dr. John Robinson made this jump.

Wherever you might be, Irwin Allen: at long last, that’s one for you.

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