Are we living in a 'Second Space Age'? Framed by wide-ranging debates on scale, temporality, planetization and the Anthropocene, this advanced course charts the making of planet Earth from the 1940s through the present. Individual sessions will be devoted to pertinent philosophical conceptions (biosphere, noösphere, Gaia); the visualized and photographed view of Earth from above (Small Steps, Whole Earth, Earthrise, Blue Marble, Blue Dot); the genealogy of space stations and space colonies (space mirrors, Salyut, Skylab, O'Neill, Spacelab, ISS); reconnaissance, navigation and surveillance systems (Corona, GPS, BeiDou, Galileo); space-based communication infrastructures (Intelsat, Telstar, Iridium); as well as the role of technocelebrities and astropreneurs. A field trip forms part of this class.