Witnesses to the space race: Ireland watches the moon landing

Paper number

IAC-17,E4,3B,4,x40643

Author

Ms. Ruth McAvinia, Ireland

Coauthor

Mr. Petter Evju Skanke, ISU, Norway

Coauthor

Mr. Adam Elkins, United Kingdom

Coauthor

Ms. Amy Capener, Kings College London, Ireland

Coauthor

Ms. Annette Parks, United States

Coauthor

Mrs. Paola Belingheri, Women in Aerospace Europe (WIA-E), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Giorgio Taylor, International Spacde University, United Kingdom

Coauthor

Ms. Marta Lebron Gaset, Spain

Coauthor

Mr. Marcel Kaufmann, Canada

Coauthor

Mr. Florian Glass, Switzerland

Coauthor

Mr. Sam Franklin, International Spacde University, United Kingdom

Coauthor

Ms. Siobhan O'Neill, Ireland

Coauthor

Ms. Victoria Katharina Schebek, International Spacde University, Austria

Coauthor

Mr. Bryan Chan, International Spacde University, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Chunlei Guan, China

Coauthor

Mr. Bing Liu, China

Coauthor

Mr. Xuodong Wang, China

Year

2017

Abstract

A long-time member of the European Space Agency, Ireland has never had an astronaut and may perhaps be considered to have had limited impact on the story of space so far. However, from an Irish perspective, the space race was as real and vital there as anywhere else on this planet. From the pride in John F. Kennedy, a US President of Irish heritage, to the relief that Communism would not be delivered from the sky by the Soviets, Ireland was active in its consideration of everything that happened in space in the 1960s. 

The impact of the moon landing on Ireland was profound, as it was elsewhere. Reactions on the streets of the capital, Dublin, varied from pride and excitement to concern over the cost. At the time, Ireland was undergoing near-revolutionary social change, while tension over inequalities in Northern Ireland was about to overflow into violence that would dominate the next three decades of Irish life. 

This paper combines archive and online survey research with interviews to be conducted by participants in the humanities department of the International Space University's Space Studies Program taking place in Cork, Ireland, in summer 2017.

Abstract document

IAC-17,E4,3B,4,x40643.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-17,E4,3B,4,x40643.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.