Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet – A talk by Dallas Campbell

Fifty years ago, ‘we chose to go to the moon’. Project Apollo was the culmination of some 400,000 people working to meet John F Kennedy’s impossible deadline, with technology that didn’t yet exist, to explore a place that we knew nothing about. It has become one of human history’s defining moments.

Join TV science presenter and author Dallas Campbell for a grand tour of the science and history of human space flight. From forgotten stories of the early space race, to those first footsteps on the moon, to our future on Mars and beyond.

This is an interactive online, ‘show-and-tell’, featuring beautiful images from Dallas’ critically acclaimed space history book, Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet, stunning archive footage, and clips from his TV science programmes (including his behind-the-scenes footage from Tim Peake’s launch). Dallas also has a perfect replica of Neil Armstrong’s A7-L spacesuit.

Dallas presents some of television’s most popular factual programmes including Science of Stupid, Bang Goes the Theory, The Gadget Show, Stargazing Live, The Sky at Night, Supersized Earth, Time Scanners, City in the Sky, Egypt’s Lost Cities, The Treasure Hunters, and Britain Beneath Your Feet.

Beyond television, Dallas is an author, speaker, and ambassador for STEM education. He has won many plaudits for his services to the public understanding of science, including an Honorary Masters degree, an Honorary Fellowship from the British Science Association, honorary life membership for his work at the Royal Institution, and an Arthur C Clarke Media Award for services to space science. In 2016 Dallas was a guest director of the Cheltenham Science Festival.

His book Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet charts the history, science and culture of human spaceflight. He has also contributed to the book Aliens: Is There Anyone Out There? edited by Jim Al Khalili, and has written for The Sky At Night magazine, BBC’s Science Focus, and The Observer.

AN EMAIL HAS BEEN SENT TO MEMBERS WITH A LINK TO REGISTER FOR THIS ONLINE EVENT.