Rocket Man

Alex’s last post reminded me of the recent BBC production “Rocket Man” . It was a six part drama mini series telling the story of engineer George Stevenson (played by Robson Green). George originally went to Wales to build trains but the carriage factory closed down. He finds himself working in a female dominated chocolate factory. He forms a team from his former work mates to build a sub orbital rocket to launch the ashes of his recently deceased wife into space. Its about the men keeping their old skills and self respect as much as anything else. It ain’t easy, not only does George have technical and regulatory challenges to overcome but he is now a single father. His eight year old son worships him and supports the project but his 15 year old daughter finds herself the woman of the house, she would much rather be an ordinary teenager.

The producers stayed reasonably close to real rocketry. The real Rocket Man was American Ky Michaelson who in 2004 lead a group that launched an amateur rocket to space altitude. Ky is dyslectic so was George Stevenson. Space burial has been a reality for some time.

The series managed to both entertaining and inspiring, TV science fiction could do that in the days of Star Trek but not so much now. One reason is that reality has caught up with the fiction. The staples of yesterday’s SF, space travel, computers etc are the reality of today. If TV writers want to inspire the current generations to the wonder and possibilities of space its space dramas not science fiction, they need to explore.