By Ethan Shea

New Moon Suit (Image courtesy of NYT)

Last week, NASA unveiled their new moon suits, which will be worn by astronauts the Artemis program plans to send to the Moon by 2025.

For temperature regulation, the suits actually used on the Moon will be white instead of the black suit presented here. Temperatures on the surface of the Moon can reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime and drop to -208 degrees Fahrenheit at night, so needless to say, astronauts need to take every precaution they can.

Without even taking the extreme temperatures into account, humans could, in theory, only survive a matter of seconds (about 15) on the Moon without a spacesuit. This is because space lacks air, so asphyxiation would occur very quickly, as the body will have used up all the oxygen in its blood in a matter of seconds.

This recent lunar fashion show is a perfect opportunity to highlight some extra-terrestrial threads you can find right here in Falvey’s stacks. Below, you’ll find a collection of iconic space-related outfits from popular literature and even their cinematic adaptations.

“Hidden Figures” promotional poster

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

This book turned movie shows that moon suits aren’t the only outfits essential to sending astronauts to space. Hidden Figures tells the story of a group of Black women mathematicians who overcame discrimination to help make the Apollo moon landing possible. The movie’s iconic promotional poster shows three women wearing outfits that just can’t be excluded from this list.

2001: A Space Odyssey

This classic Stanley Kubrick film showcases a memorable spacesuit that goes far beyond the moon. There are several iconic scenes in this flick, featuring everything from apes to robots!

Image from “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Men in Black

Sometimes space-wear is more earthly than you might think. The classic Men in Black suits certainly can’t be left out of any space fashion show.

Gravity

Gravity shows Hollywood stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney sporting more traditional spacesuits. This suspenseful story of survival is a must-see.

Star Trek Beyond

I couldn’t make a list about space fashion without including the iconic Star Trek fits. This most recent Star Trek film stays true to the classic suits. Which one is your favorite color?

Ethan Shea is a graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

By Ethan Shea

On Monday, Aug. 29, NASA was scheduled to launch the unmanned spacecraft Artemis I. The goal of this Artemis mission is essentially to rehearse and ensure the safety of future missions, including Artemis II and III, the latter of which is scheduled for 2025 and intends to land the first woman on the moon.

Artemis I Mission Patch (Photo Courtesy of NASA)

At liftoff, Artemis I will weigh 5.75 million pounds and generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch itself 500 feet directly upward in only seven seconds. After traveling 1.3 million miles, out past the Moon and back to Earth, Artemis I will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at higher speeds than ever before, 24,500 miles per hour (Mach 32), and eventually splash down safely.

Unfortunately, Monday’s launch was scrubbed due to engine issues and unfavorable weather, but to make up for the lack of anticipated celestial expeditions, this week’s “Cat in the Stax” will point to some stellar resources here at Falvey because sometimes we all need a little space.

For one, Falvey has a robust collection of films, available on DVD and online, related to space exploration. You may want to watch something fictional, such as Gravity or 2001: A Space Odyssey, both available on DVD at Falvey’s West Stacks, or you may prefer something like Apollo 13, a documentary about the “successfully failed” Apollo 13 mission, which did not accomplish its goal but managed to bring its crew back to Earth unharmed despite all odds.

Of course, there are also plenty of books on space available too. If you have access to a telescope, you should check out The Telescopic Tourist’s Guide to the Moon. It’s just like any other tour guide, except it’s designed for another celestial body. This book will guide stargazers through famous locations on the moon, such as where the Apollo missions landed and where well-known movie scenes take place.

If you lean more in the direction of science-fiction, space is a common setting for such literature. One such novel, Dune, is currently available in Falvey’s stacks, and it was also recently adapted into a film for the second time. Although this new movie has not yet arrived at Falvey, the original film, released in 1986, is available as a DVD in the stacks.

As of now, there is still a chance that Artemis I will launch on Friday, Sept. 2, but it is not guaranteed. I guess this blog will have to satisfy our astronomical cravings for now.

If you’d like to learn more about the specifics of Artemis I and the planned missions of the Artemis Program, check out NASA’s website here.

Ethan Shea is a graduate student in the English Department at Villanova University and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

Happy Friday, Wildcats! After a year off, Falvey Memorial Library is bringing back Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Jenna, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week. 

We earthlings have always been fascinated by space, whether it’s looking at what we can see through a telescope, watching movies and TV shows about space, or dreaming of one day traveling to space. This past September, a new Space Race concluded with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being the first privately funded, non-government trip to orbit. This weekend, take some time to indulge your love of space by checking out these recs.  

If you have 4 minutes… read about the winners of the Space Race 2.0. 

If you have 11 minutes… read this article about the Discovery Channel’s new show, Who Wants to be an Astronaut, and make sure to watch the embedded video about the commercialization of space. 

If you have 33 minutes… listen to The Skimm’s pop culture podcast episode entitled “Why We’re Still Obsessed with Space.”  

If you have 7 hours… borrow Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects by Teasel E. Muir-Harmony through InterLibrary Loan. The book uses 50 key artifacts from the Smithsonian archives to tell the story of the space exploration program. 

If you have all weekend… Binge-watch this list of Star Wars content in order to prepare for Disney+’s newest Star Wars show The Book of Boba Fett. 

Jenna Renaud is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the #Apollo11 moon landing, we received a copy of the Sunday New York Times featuring the event! (Here, Beaudry Allen, Preservation and Digital Archivist, meets with Mark Shiffman, PhD, Associate Professor, Classical Studies.)

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is communications and marketing program manager at Falvey Memorial Library.