At the time Tomorrow is Yesterday aired in January 1967, the Solar System was still relatively
At the time Tomorrow is Yesterday aired in January 1967, the Solar System was still relatively unexplored. The Pioneer missions had looked at the Sun, Mariner 2 performed a flyby of Venus in 1962, both the US and USSR had achieved flybys and uncrewed landings on the Moon, and there had been a flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 two years earlier, but that was it. No human-built spacecraft had yet ventured out beyond the inner Solar System.Of course, this would change rapidly in the few years after this episode aired. The actual first successful Earth-Saturn probe was Pioneer 11, which performed a flyby in 1979. It’s already been established that this episode takes place in the late 1960s, so Pioneer 11 is way too soon to be headed by someone who hasn’t been born yet. It’s possible they’re talking about Cassini, which was the first spacecraft to actually enter orbit around Saturn. But even that launched in 1997 and having a mission head no older than 30 at the time of launch is a bit of a stretch.My point is, for all that people talk about Star Trek being wildly optimistic about the future of humanity, it actually underpredicts the advancement of technology and space exploration. Which is pretty cool, and I assume means we’re on course to have warp drive before 2063. -- source link
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