Potočnik ’ s spacecraft in Kubrick ’ s film 2001 : A Space Odyssey , 1968 . Photo : NASA .
Interview with Frederick I . Ordway III at the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Washington , 2008 . Photo : KSEVT .
2001 : A SPACE ODYSSEY
Herman Potočnik Noordung was the first person to recognize the importance of geostationary orbit . He proposed that his space station be placed in geostationary orbit , and several decades later Arthur C . Clarke popularized the idea in the Wireless World magazine . His space station was designed to spin around an axis , with the centrifugal force generating artificial gravity , thus enabling humans to spend longer stretches of time in space . Space architects from around the world have copied his spinning circular design and it even appeared just before the moon landing in Stanley Kubrick ’ s 2001 : A Space Odyssey , inspired by a short story by Clarke . Even now , communications and broadcast satellites typically operate in geostationary orbit .
FINALLY
“ I have read the first full English translation of Noordung ’ s Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums with a sense of both relief and satisfaction — relief that the book is finally accessible to the English reading public and satisfaction that the project was achieved in the first place . Like most efforts that are ultimately realized , from my perspective the Noordung translation had quite a history .” Frederick I . Ordway Ill
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