Escape Velocity
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it so fast?
Because I wanted a short, to-the-point video that I could watch in under 5 minutes.
What is the music?
The song is called Human Legacy by Ivan Torrent.
What were the sources for this video?
You can find a full list of sources here.
What software was used to make it?
It was edited in Final Cut Pro X.
When will you make an updated version?
At the moment, probably not before 2026, which would the 100 year anniversary of Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket launch.
Why are some countries missing?
There were several significant events that I would have liked to include in the video, including (but not limited to) China putting Yang Liwei into orbit and India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission confirming water ice on the Moon.
Unfortunately, I was not able to due to being unable to clear copyright on these images. The government (or government-owned media) own copyright for all public media for those missions, and I was unable to determine if it could be used in this context.
Where are Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic?
Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic both license their images and footage through Getty Media, which I chose not to purchase licenses for due to both philosophical and financial reasons.
NASA and SpaceX have made their media available on a more permissive basis, although SpaceX’s position has become less clear in the years since 2016, when this video was made.
Why are there some missing milestones?
The goal was to keep the video short and to the point, so not everything could be included. There are a few events I would include on a future update, should such a video transpire. In particular, this would include cosmonauts and astronauts who perished, such as:
- Vladimir Komarov on Soyuz 1
- Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev on Soyuz 11
- Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee on Apollo 1
There may be a couple of other milestones missed, such as Apollo 8 (first manned mission around the Moon).
I spotted an error
There are several errors in the video, including:
- Footage of Stalin in 1957 (although this was pulled from the same location in the original documentary).
- A typo of “Suyez” for Soyuz T10-1.
- Listed Skylab’s launch date as April 19, 1971 instead of May 14, 1973.
- Listing Mir’s country of origin as ‘Russia’ not the ‘USSR’.
Let me know if you spot any others - I’ll try to correct them in the next version.
Wasn’t Laika was launched in 1957?
You are correct! The dogs (yes, there are two) in this video are actually named Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган, “Gypsy”), and were launched into sub-orbital space (above the Kármán line) in 1951.
Laika was on Sputnik 2, which was launched on November 3, 1957. She was the first dog to achieve orbit, but Dezik and Tysgan beat her into space.