Summon the Second Space Age

The last space launch I saw was a surprise. I was at a sunset party on the beaches of Santa Monica, fresh from the water, when a cosmic cloud gently expanded above the horizon.

I stood there, looking up with my toes dug into the cold sand. In that moment, I was reminded of a forgotten childlike feeling of staring at the sky and dreaming.

Space inspires awe and wonder.

It’s more than just a warm feeling. It reshapes your sense of possibility. Watching humanity push into the heavens gives you fresh eyes to question the limits of what is achievable here on earth.

Or as Elon puts it, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past.”

As someone focused on how we usher in a more ambitious, brighter future for California, I keep returning to our state’s relationship to space. California not only developed the technology to make space travel possible, we also once led the nation in cultivating a culture of optimism towards the future.

It’s part of our state’s legacy, and it’s time we tap into our roots to renew a sense of excitement about technology’s potential.

It’s time to foster support for exploring the final frontier.

It’s time to summon the Second Space Age.

The Twin Boosters of the Space Age

America’s Space Age, from end of WWII through the mid 1970’s, marked the peak of a distinct form of American techno-optimism, or the belief that the advance of technology would transform our lives in a radical, positive way.

America has seen repeated waves of rapid technological advancement, but not every one defines an era enough to earn the title of an “age”.

So what defines an “age”? It’s when a period of scientific breakthroughs shapes culture. Science and culture were the twin rocket boosters of the first Space Age, a period when going to the moon resonated with a country buzzing with excitement about how technology could shape the future.

It’s the combination that made the era special, and we need both if we want to make it happen again.

Booster #1: Scientific Breakthroughs

The space age was about more than rockets. Putting a man on the moon was the headline event, but this was a time of rapid scientific breakthroughs that materially improved the lives of everyday Americans.

From NASA’s formation in 1958 to the moon landing in 1969, the pursuit of space embodied America’s commitment to advancing technology. Backed by extensive government funding (NASA peaked at 4% of the entire federal budget) and motivated by intense competition with the Soviet Union, America’s scientific progress became a matter of political pride and national security.

America’s heavy investment into space did more than get us to the moon. It led to other foundational breakthroughs with positive spillover effects. Fields ranging from materials science, computing, electronics, communications, robotics, and weather monitoring were improved as a result of the space program’s work.

The period was also marked by the mainstream impact of technology, when advancements reshaped business and daily life. A short list includes improvements in:

• Computing: IBM was in its heyday creating the first mainframes, laying the foundation of the modern computing age.

• Medicine: We got the polio vaccine, ultrasounds, birth control, and early CT scans.

• Commercial Aviation: Air travel became accessible with the launch of large passenger jets.

• Home Appliances: Color TV’s, portable radios, refrigerators, microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, and vacuums all became fixtures of a booming suburban lifestyle.

Booster #2: Cultural Celebration of Technology

The Space Age was more than a list of breakthroughs. What makes this time special was how the pursuit of space defined the cultural zeitgeist, infusing itself into the look and feel of the era.

The pursuit of space travel resonated with deep American ideals. Since our founding, American culture has been animated by the frontier and the opportunity to conquer the unknown. Exploring the “final frontier” was a natural extension of the American impulse to explore, expand, and redefine the limits of human potential.

Space captured the American imagination. Even in the deeply divided 1960’s, a time of political assassinations and protests, 93% of American households watched the Apollo 11 moon landing on TV.

The earnest excitement and embrace of technological achievement spilled over into popular culture and shaped our aesthetics. People believed, “the future would be sleek, edged in shining chrome, protectively enclosing like the cockpit of a jet fighter.” Astronauts were household heroes and future generations dreamed of a life among the cosmos.

To illustrate the cultural impact of the Space Age, it’s easiest to look at California, where both boosters burned hottest.

The Land of Hardware and Hollywood

California was the headquarters of the Space Age, the land where both the era’s builders and dreamers lived and modeled a more dynamic, innovative, and optimistic society.

You can see this relationship most clearly in Southern California, the center of America’s aerospace industry. As historian Peter Westwick put it, “Southern California as we know it would not exist without Aerospace.”

Southern California had the densest concentration of aerospace talent in the world. Consider that by the end of Space Age Westwick notes that, “Southern California was home to about 40 percent of the US’s missiles-and-space business and one-third of the nation’s aerospace engineers.” At its peak, the industry employed more than half a million people statewide.

Aerospace powerhouses like Northrup, Lockheed, Douglas, Hughes, Rockwell, and General Dynamics were all here, developing and manufacturing world-leading rockets, satellites, and missiles. California also were home to the research centers (JPL, Ames, Lawrence Livermore, RAND, Aerospace Corp) and universities (CalTech, Stanford, UC System) that supplied the industry intellectual firepower.

Southern California displayed a distinct cultural embrace of technological progress and techno-optimism. LA cities like Burbank were home to both Lockheed’s famous Skunk Work division as well as Disney and Warner Brothers studios. Hollywood storytellers and aerospace engineers were neighbors, friends, and colleagues.

This is where Space Age entertainment was created. Shows like Star Trek, the Jetsons, and the Twilight Zone were all produced by LA studios and brought sci-fi concepts to living rooms around the world. Southern California is where Disney pioneered the concept of “imagineering”, fusing Southern California’s trademark disciplines of engineering and storytelling to develop attractions like Tomorrowland.

Southern California also integrated space age visuals into the built environment. “Googie” and “Aerospace Modernism” styles brought a futuristic aesthetic to airports, motels, and drive-throughs. Designers and architects like Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, and John Lautner incorporated sleek, streamlined lines into their work and brought space-age materials into everyday buildings.

The space age ethos infused itself in the region’s cultural groundwater and shaped life in Southern California, which in turn shaped the rest of the nation. The post-war decades were the peak of Southern California’s cultural influence. It was going through a population boom and modeling the suburban lifestyle the rest of the country would soon imitate. At that time, Southern California became America’s model of the good life, a land of abundance, optimism, with residents’ eyes firmly fixed on the technology of the future.

Summoning the Second Space Age

Every age ends. Over time, interest in space dwindled and public investment in aerospace declined as the Cold War came to a close.

But things are shifting, and a Second Space Age is possible. Booster #1 has been re-ignited, and we are once again living through an era of remarkable breakthroughs. As the incoming NASA administrator tweeted when he was nominated, “I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun.”

The space industry is once again pushing past humanity’s old limits. SpaceX is launching (and catching!) the largest space vehicles in history, ones that will be going to Mars within several years. In turn, Elon’s remarkable success has inspired a generation of builders to focus on space. Investors believe they can make money investing in awesome hardware companies, and SpaceX’s reusable rockets have dramatically dropped the cost of getting payloads into orbit, making entirely new categories of space companies financially viable.

There are now startups actively working to pull off scientific marvels. Astrolab is building new rovers. Varda is developing drugs in space. Starlink is offering high-speed internet from anywhere, Astranis is building next-generation satellites, and Albedo will enable high-resolution imaging of the entire planet. There’s even companies like Starfish launching autonomous machines to service all the other satellites in orbit. The list goes on, but the renewed energy in the sector shows the first pillar of a Second Space Age is already in place.

Booster #1 is firing, but that is not enough. I’m not content with a list of cool achievements. I want to unleash a full-blown cultural wave of optimism. I want space to be cool. I want my toddler to dream of being an astronaut. Right now, it remains an open question whether or not we can spark Booster #2 and bring the excitement of the space sector into everyday culture.

Part of the challenge is that American’s general sense of optimism has declined. Material growth has slowed to where Americans’ belief that young people will surpass their parent’s standard of living is the lowest it’s been in three decades. The “techlash” movement has also made it popular to hate tech companies, and many mainstream sci-fi stories are dystopian shows like Black Mirror. Even when a major TV studio made a fun comedy about autonomous cars, one of the most impressive achievements of the last decade, the show’s opening premise was that the car’s AI systems were racist (the show was cancelled after two seasons).

As a result, there’s a massive awareness gap of how many remarkable breakthroughs are taking place. Outside of my friends working in tech or at space companies, very few people I speak are excited about space. Unless people are following Tech Twitter (do we call it Tech X now?), they don’t know what I mean when I talk about The Gundo, let alone that space ships will literally soon be going to Mars.

If we want to ignite Booster #2 and cultivate broad-scale techno-optimism, it will have to be a bottom-up exercise of grassroots enthusiasm. This is the reality of our fractured, polarized media environment. It was much easier to get 93% of American households to watch the moon landing in 1969 when there were only a dozen channels on TV.

Thankfully, the tide appears to be turning. More people are rallying around techno-optimism. Creators like Jason Carman, Packy McCormick, Christian Keil, and others are incubating explicitly techno-optimist content. These ideas could reach escape velocity and spill into broader interest, especially with travel to Mars on the horizon. The general population may also be receptive. As Erik Torenberg has pointed out, the “techlash” of the 2010’s was primarily driven by mainstream outlets rather than a notable decline in popular support.

Tech supporters are also about the enjoy the most political power and media influence in decades. The Trump White House is stocked with Silicon Valley insiders. The incoming Vice President is a a former VC. Elon is in Trump’s family photos and leading government reform efforts as he also launches rockets and reshapes the politics of X. The new AI and Crypto Czar is a tech billionaire and co-host of a leading business and tech podcast. Marc Andreesen, one of the biggest tech investors and author of the “techno-optimist manifesto” recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast arguing a tech resurgence will take place under Trump.

With newfound support in DC and continued breakthroughs that will capture the public imagination, it’s possible Booster #2 will start to burn bright as Americans embrace the belief that technology can improve the future.

Where Does This Leave California?

As I drive past Googie diners and the aging headquarters of Space Age contractors in Los Angeles, I wonder about California’s role.

The good news is we are still home to the coolest hardware startups in the country, including nearly all the startups I listed earlier. California maintains the most concentrated collection of cracked space engineers in the world. So long as that remains true, we will continue to incubate audacious, world-changing startups.

However, the industry’s influence on the local culture is not the same. One reason is the decline of local manufacturing. In the 1950’s, LA was dotted with assembly lines where blue-collar workers built planes and rockets, but the region’s industrial base has shrunk. It was much easier for the space industry to define the regional identity when it paid locals’ bills.

Then there’s the politics of it all. As Silicon Valley dons more MAGA hats, deep-blue Californian politicians will aggressively oppose tech. You can’t be seen cheering for allies of your political enemy when your job depends on appealing to progressive primary voters.

This has already played out with Elon. He announced he’s relocating SpaceX headquarters from California to Texas over political differences. Lorena Gonzalez, an influential Assemblymember, famously tweeted “F*ck Elon Musk” back in 2020. She now leads the California Labor Federation, a Sacramento powerhouse that loves to pick fights with tech companies. These conflicts have consequences. This Fall, the California Coastal Commission rejected the Air Force’s plan to launch more rockets and cited Elon’s politics as a reason. As Newsom and the state’s leaders are, in their words, working to actively “Trump-proof” California, these political differences will only intensify during the next four years.

However, I remain confident change is possible. Culture shifts. I do not believe California’s future is fixed. If I did, I wouldn’t be writing. We can build a cultural groundswell of support for the future, especially if more people feel the positive benefits of innovation. Today, most people’s resentment towards tech is rooted in dissatisfaction with social media, which I sympathize with. But change is possible. The rollout of self-driving cars to LA and the launch of generative AI have both given me draw-dropping “A-ha” moments in the last year. I know I’m not alone, and both technologies will only continue to improve and remind the public there’s more to tech than algorithmic news feeds.

Pair improvements in AI and self-driving cars with a mission to Mars and people will once again have reasons to believe in the excitement of technology. This offers fertile ground for earnest and optimistic storytelling after years of dystopian cynicism.

A culture of optimism and excitement about technology’s potential is possible, we just have to build the support for it, one breakthrough and one story at a time.

With that, here’s to the builders making it all possible and the storytellers expanding our horizons. Let’s summon the Second Space Age.