STRATOS tells the story of a pilot who attempts to reach space. His plane sits in the middle of an empty desert, waiting to embark on a perilous voyage. The jet departs and gains altitude quickly, traversing the firmament which separates Earth from the heavens. Having crossed the threshold between sky and space, he momentarily floats above the stratosphere. However, gravity pulls his aircraft back, and he is sent spiraling down towards the earth again. The journey is over.
In this piece, I wanted to depict a human being who attempts to surpass their limits, but ultimately fails and dies. I was inspired by the voyages of test pilots during the 1950’s and 1960’s, specifically that of Chuck Yeager, who attempted to fly a NF-104 supersonic jet 120,000 feet into the sky, surpassing the stratosphere as a space flight simulation. The jet however could not sustain this altitude and quickly descended, forcing Yeager to eject his seat. Thankfully, he survived the crash.
Throughout history, we humans have always been so eager to reach new limits. However, I believe that we have gotten to a point in our existence where the necessity of pushing for these higher limits has decreased. The subject of space travel has always been controversial; the idea of placing human beings in massive spacecrafts, burning up billions of dollars and millions of gallons of fuel has never been the answer to our earthly problems. Now that space travel has become accessible to the wealthiest members of society, I wonder if it has become an expression of affluence rather than a scientific endeavour.