Hacker Cinema
The Lebanese Rocket Society
2012 · Film · documentary · 93 min
Directed by Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige
Lebanon's brief flirtation with space travel in the 1960s becomes a poignant metaphor for the Arab world's utopian dreams in this riveting documentary.
2 positivefrom 2 commenters
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2 comments on Hacker News
Fascinating! Space programs post ~1970 are one thing, but they reached orbit by 1963! That would make them third in the world after USSR and US. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this before - I'll definitely be watching the documentary mentioned here, "The Lebanese Rocket Society".
I don't care for the writing of this article though, a bit fluffy and scant on information. And does anyone know what this is referring to?
> The Lebanese Army and what remained of the Rocket Society would go on to launch another rocket, the Cedar-10, and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment once and for all.
This is a repost. Original discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6732210
There is also a well thought out documentary on the subject that I saw at the MoMA recently: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361348/
[Edit] Another thought about the Lebanese Rocket Society... this story isn't just about the nascent rise and fall of a small country's space exploration program. It is also about it's diverse demographics and the strength that arises from a multi-cultural population. In this case the story is about Manougian, an Armenian, who lived in Lebanon for only a few years. The story points to the resourcefulness and ambition of the Armenians in Lebanon.