"From Imagination To Reality" - A day of space exploration

The motto of the British Interplanetary Society is "From Imagination To Reality", and this is the name of a special one-day event which will feature a number of speakers who will show how the imagination of the writers of science and science-fiction turned into the reality of space exploration.

From the Moon to Mars, from Dan Dare to the stars! An entertaining look at our views of exploring space.

David Hardy - ‘Faces of the Moon’ – the way our nearest neighbour in space has been perceived in fiction for the earliest writings, to present-day movies.

David Baker – ‘A British Apollo’ – how engineering ideas from the BIS in the fifties were transformed into reality.

Alan Bond - ‘Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future’ – how comic-book heroes can influence very real space projects.

Bo Maxwell - ‘The Red Planet – Fact and Fiction’ – Mars, our favourite target, from past imagination to the future for real.

Mat Irvine - ‘Moondust to Spaceport’ – space tourism, from Arthur Clarke’s "A Fall of Moondust" to Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America.

Jerry Stone - ‘The Way to the Stars’ – the all-time favourite of SF, but how could we travel the vastness of interstellar space?

Jack Cohen – ‘Is There Anybody There?’ – what would aliens be like – and are there any out there anyway?