What’s your favorite science fiction book or movie? Ever wonder how the worlds in these stories are created? How are imagined worlds used by scientists and engineers?
We'll explore these questions, take you through the steps of how science fiction and fantasy writers use their imagination to create, and help you create your own fictional world!
Listen to space history museum curator, Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, explain why.
Our museum collects, preserves and studies all things related to the history, culture and science of aviation, space and the study of the universe - and science fiction and fantasy play a part in this! Before someone can create new and better technologies in aviation and space, they have to imagine it. The imaginary worlds in science fiction and fantasy help us think about what technology could look like in the future, how spaceships can travel through space, or how we can live on different planets. Often, scientists, engineers and designers are inspired by imaginary worlds to test ideas and think about how to design for the future.
Ready to exercise your imagination? Check out the activities below.
Jump to a Section: Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Looking Closely at Imaginary Worlds What Would You Imagine? Science Fiction to Real Life
Both science fiction and fantasy combine parts of the world that we know with ideas that are imaginary.
Science fiction contains parts that are scientifically possible but are stretched by the imagination towards something that doesn't exist yet but might in the future, like flying cars, household robots and space travel.
Fantasy is much more imaginary than science fiction and often set in a place like Earth, but contain things that make it different from Earth, like magic, made-up creatures, environments and people with special powers and abilities.
Check out the examples below that show these differences. We've broken down what to look for when figuring out whether something is science fiction or fantasy, and then give you the big reveal at the end of each example!
People make imaginary worlds in movies, books, tv, comics, and other forms of art all the time. All of these worlds are different, and we can look at them closely to guess why they were designed that way.
1. Pick a world to look closely at. It could be your favorite movie, TV show, or book! Below, we use Star Wars as an example.
2. Think about:
3. Did your family members look closely at a world different from the one you chose?
Share with each other what you discovered about your favorite imaginary world!
A set of Star Wars toys manufactured for the release of The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. This set was donated to the Museum in 1997 from a private donor, Michael O’Harro. Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum.
Now that you have the tools to build your own imaginary world, and recognize the parts of other imaginary worlds - what worlds will you imagine?
Click through this slideshow of one example of how a science fiction movie and novel have become reality.
If you like this topic, come back in February 2023 for a Soar Together @ Air and Space family program about how science fiction has influenced modern technology.
Author Arthur C. Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick co-wrote the story for the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 1968.
In this film, they imagined a space station orbiting Earth, which was futuristic for the 1960s.
Skylab was the first space station sent into space by the United States on May 14, 1973. Three crews lived and worked on Skylab in 1973 -1974, staying 28, 59, and 84 days.
Now, we have the International Space Station which has orbited Earth for the past 23 years, with astronauts representing different countries on Earth.
Soar Together at Air and Space is made possible by the generous support of Northrop Grumman.
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