Into the Extreme: U.S. Environmental Systems and Politics beyond Earth

Into the Extreme is the first book-length, in-depth ethnography of U.S. human spaceflight, revealing how outer space contributes to making the scope and scale of today's natural and social environments. It examines how U.S. experts work within the solar system as a container of life and a vast site for new forms of technical and political environmental control. It shifts our attention from spaces political geography to its political ecology, showing how scientists, physicians, and engineers collaborate to build the conceptual and nuts-and-bolts systems that connect Earth to a specifically ecosystemic cosmos.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 22 May 2018
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

The first book-length, in-depth ethnography of U.S. human spaceflight delves into the intriguing question of whether outer space is an integral part of the human environment or, rather, defines it. In her groundbreaking work, Valerie Olson explores how outer space plays a crucial role in shaping the scope and scale of today's natural and social environments. Through unparalleled access to spaceflight worksites, ranging from astronaut training programs to life science labs and architecture studios, Olson examines how U.S. experts engage with the solar system as both a container of life and a vast site for new forms of technical and political environmental control.

Olsons book takes a significant departure from traditional perspectives on space politics, shifting our attention to its political ecology. She demonstrates how scientists, physicians, and engineers across North America collaborate to build the conceptual and technical systems that connect Earth to a specifically ecosystemic cosmos. This cosmos is evolving into a competitive space for potential economic resources, social relations, and political strategies.

By highlighting how contemporary U.S. environmental power is intricately linked to the production of national technical and scientific access to outer space, Into the Extreme offers valuable insights into modern environmental history and politics. At a time when global ecologies and economies extend far beyond Earth's surface, Olson's new analytic frameworks assist us in understanding how various outlying spaces are known, made, and organized as distinct environments, whether they are terrestrial or extraterrestrial.

Weight: 364g
Dimension: 142 x 216 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517902551