Introduction

Humans have been trying to expand the space boundaries ever since they started flying. Space is unknown to almost every one of us, and every country wants to excel in its space missions. Space missions are rising year after year, and now the private companies are also competing for their share of space.

This data visualization deeply looks into all the space missions from 1957 to date. It tries to inform users about the countries involved, mission status, progression over the years, and much more. In this visualization, I have focused on comparing countries with one another and how they spend their assets on these space missions. Take your time and dive into the journey of the great space race!
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Inspiration & References

For this visualization, I wanted to do something that could catch the attention of the viewer. The idea was to create a custom visualization for this data, a visualization that can engage viewers from all age groups. Hence a custom visualization is made that could grab the viewer’s eye and is supported by other graphs and bars from the data.

Firstly I looked at some visualizations that were on a similar topic. This way, I could strategize my custom visualization that could suit the data appropriately.
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1 – Celebrations around the world

This visualization was an inspiration to work on something unique. I liked the idea of creating a circular calendar that could go along with my data. This source was my base inspiration, and the concept further developed as I moved forward with my project.
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2 – Moon phases

Here too, the visualization is exploring the idea of a circular calendar. The visuals here are very minimal, but they still provide appropriate information. As my database was vast, this visualization was a desirable example to provide detailed information with minimal visuals. In the end, I didn’t want my visualization to look cluttered.
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3 – Satellites orbiting the earth

This visualization was a perfect example for me to explore graphs and bars. The visualizations used here are appropriate to the content and do not mislead the viewers. It inspired me to add graphs and bars to my visualization that could provide detailed information about the data. The hierarchy here is also to point, and the eye movement is also very natural.

These visualizations are a great example to set the base, and they gave me clarity about how and what I wanted to achieve with my data visualization.
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Materials

Kaggle provided the data for this visualization, and the link to the data set is – All space missions from 1957. The data set includes information such as – company name, location, date, detail about the mission, rocket status, mission status, and the money spent on these missions. These details were appropriate and enough for the visualization that I wanted to create.

However, after downloading the dataset, there were some changes done to accommodate according to the visualization. To execute these changes, I have used OpenRefine. Changes such as the country of the company and changing the format for the date. Since in this visualization, I compare different countries, it was necessary to add the homeland for each company. This way, it was easy for me to create a visualization that could easily compare space missions based on countries. The format of the date is also changed so that it is easier for software to read a universal date format.

After editing and updating the dataset, it was now time to work on visualization. To work on my custom visualization, I had to make some sketches on paper before finalizing things. These prototypes helped me to understand the visualization and how to present them. In the end, I have used Adobe Illustrator to work on the final custom visualization. There is also the use of Tableau Software to create graphs and bars for this visualization. Finally, all these visualizations were put together as a poster by using the software – Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
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UX Study

Initially, I made a rough draft of my visualization to test it on the participants for the UX study. The study aimed to understand how efficiently the visualization can communicate with the viewers. The purpose was also to test the language of the visualization, visual aesthetics, and the information presented. Participants selected for this visualization were from diverse backgrounds, which helped me to understand the visualization from different perspectives. One of the participants was from the air force, and that helped to learn about how my visualization could improve in technical terms, from the use of language to displaying the essential content. I also gained a lot of visual help from the other participant, who is a student of interactive arts at Pratt Institute. Both the participant from this UX study provided quality feedback, which helped me to create and develop the final visualization.

To view the initial draft of the visualization – click here!
To view the detailed plan and tasks given to the participant for this UX study – click here!
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Findings from participant 1

• The final visualization can have a better layout.
• Instead of fading out the countries name, keep them of solid color so that it is easily readable. This feedback was to improve the discoverability of the countries in the ‘countries with the most number of space missions’ graph (figure 1).

• The participant also mentioned the legend for ‘number of launches for countries’ was very much misleading. Instead of writing any number, the participant suggested me to write ‘most’ and least’ on the legend (figure 2).

• Overall the users found the visualization very engaging and also very informative. However, the font and text were not readable on the computer screen, and they can be a bit bigger for better readability.
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Findings from participant 2

• Initially, the participant was curious about the visualization and would invest time to know more about it.
• The participant was confused when looking for the ‘number of launches per countries’. The participant felt that the showcase of the world map was not ideal according to the content (figure 3). 

• Lines were also not visible when looking through ‘decades of space missions.’ The participant mentioned how I could make the lines bold so that they are easily visible and distinguishable.

This UX study became an excellent guide for me to work on my final visualization. With this, I was much more confident about my ideas and how to present them.
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Visuals

The final visualization experiment with custom visuals. The idea was to create a poster out of this data visualization. Something that viewers can store with them as a collectible. Teachers from school can put up this visualization in their science lab to make space study more interesting for the students. This visualization proudly presents how far we have come since the first space launch in 1957. With this data visualization, we can be proud of the human race for all the efforts and time put into all these space missions.

I have divided the final visualization into two parts.
1 – Custom Visualization
2 – Graphs and bars

As soon as the viewer view this visualization, they notice the custom visualization first. The thought behind this was to grab the viewer’s attention and hold them long enough to read the full visualization. As soon as the viewer views the custom visualization, they get more curious to know more about the visualization. Here is where the graphs and bars support custom visualization. It provides all the other miscellaneous information that the viewers want to know. The custom visualization and graphs & bars go in hand in hand with each other. Where the custom visualization provides a big picture of the space missions, the graphs and bars give detailed information about these space missions.
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Custom visualization

Prototype

This prototype was the base of my final visualization. The idea was to create a circular calendar that could accommodate years and months. As I was developing this visualization, the concept kept on evolving and growing along the way. It also helped me to understand how I can efficiently display various information. This way, I explored different variants for the circular calendar until I decided on the final one.
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Final custom visualization

As you can see (figure 4), the final custom visualization is the evolved version of the prototype. It takes inspiration from the space orbits and tries to present the number of space missions like an orbit around earth. To view the high resolution file – click here!
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In this visualization, every country has separate icons to distinguish from each other (figure 5). The viewers can locate these icons on the visualization and get to know the country by reading through legend.
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Colors in this visualization also provide the necessary information. The colors here represent rocket status from the space mission(figure 6). The blue represents active, yellow represents retired, red represents failed, and the outline represents upcoming missions. Combining colors and icons, the viewers can tell if the space mission for a particular country was a success or failure.
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This visualization showcases space missions in decades. The viewers can see the years on the radial line. As users go away from the center, they go back in time, and the visualization starts to fade away. This way, the viewers have more focus on the present time, and the current year can be the subject of the visualization. The viewers can also see the months wrapped around the circle. It was tough to locate each date correctly, and hence, a centerline divides each month into two parts. This division is helpful to distinguish between the first half of the month and the second half. With this, the viewers can understand the approximation of space missions along with the years(figure 7).
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Altogether, this visualization provides all of the necessary information(figure 8). It informs about all the space missions, the rocket status, and the dates. You can also see how the number of space missions has increased over the decades and how populated the current year is! This visualization provides a big picture to the viewers and is a great way to make the viewers curious and encourage them to read the whole visualization. To view the high resolution file – click here!
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Graphs and bar

The second part of the visualization is where I display graphs and bars(figure 9). To view the high resolution file – click here! These visualizations are to support the custom visualization and provide with all the other necessary information. The bars and graphs unfold like a story and keep the user engaged with the visualization. They provide four types of information to the viewers, and they are –
1 – Number of space missions
2 – Countries and space missions
3 – Money spent on space missions
4 – Countries and the number of launches
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1 – Number of space missions

This data informs the user about the total number of space missions since 1957 (figure 10). I have used a graph chart to represent the data over the years, and through this, it is easy for viewers to understand space missions year wise. Under the graph chart, the users can also read the information about mission status and rocket status. Mission status provides information about the mission and whether it was a success or failure. Whereas the rocket status grant with information about rockets, and whether they are still active or retired.
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2 – Countries and space missions

I have selected the top 5 countries and their number of space missions since 1957 for this visualization (figure 11). I have used a bar chart to present information about countries and their total number of space missions. With this visualization, the users can tell which country is leading and which country is falling behind. This visualization also informs about the failed space missions of the country. It is helpful to compare the number of successful and failed space missions in a country. To provide more detail on this, I have used a line chart to present information years by years. In this line chart, the viewers can see the progress of space missions for each country. It is a suitable way to compare different countries and their space missions based on years.
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3 – Money spent on space missions

The line chart on this visualization represents the average money spent on space missions throughout the years (figure 12). This line chart helps to understand which year had the most spending and which year had the least. As you can see the average money spent on these space mission have been decreasing since 2010. It could be maybe because the rockets have been more efficient and the resources have become cheap. The second visualization for this data informs about the average money spent on space missions by countries. These are the same countries that have the most number of space missions. By looking at this visualization and comparing it with the one above, one can wonder how Russia has the most space missions even though they spent less money than the USA.
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4 – Countries and the number of launches

In this last visualization, the viewers can understand countries and the number of launches (figure 13). It is different from space missions, as this informs about the number of launches for a country. For example, India may have a space mission, but the USA can be the country with the most desirable condition to launch that space mission. Hence it is crucial to know which country has the most favorable situation to launch a space mission and which country has the least. Here the sizes of the circles represent the number of launches for a country. Big circles represent the most number of launches, and small circles represent the least number of launches.
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To view the high resolution file – click here!
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Result

To view the high resolution file – click here! The idea is to make this a collectible poster and something to remember as a milestone. This data visualization represents all the human effort for space missions into a single sheet of paper. People can keep this visualization as a collectible item or in schools to use as a learning medium. A lot happened in 2020, but we must remember that no matter how hard times were, humans have never stopped experimenting in search of space!
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Reflection

In this final visualization, there was a lot of learning that happened to me. I was able to achieve a custom visualization without any use of visualization making software. I realized that software can limit the creativity of the creator and can restrict him/her from experimenting. This final assignment was good practice for me to understand what information may be necessary for the viewers and how to avoid the overload of information. However, I see the continuing of the space missions can add more value to this visualization. The other way to take this project could be to compare how private and government organizations are performing in space missions. It can also lead up to questions such as – why are private companies doing much better than government organizations? We can also look into how space is opening for tourism. Space travel is just opening up for everyone, and with it are opening endless possibilities.
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Sources

• IvettAlexa, Celebrations around the world, “https://public.tableau.com/profile/yvette#!/vizhome/CelebratesaroundtheWorld/CelebratesaroundtheWorld“
• Bekker, J., Moon phases “https://studentwork.prattsi.org/infovis/?p=21272&preview=true“
• Amicis, G., Satellites orbiting the earth “https://www.behance.net/gallery/48330715/Satellites-orbiting-the-Earth-La-Lettura-271“