when they ran out of space on the surface and underground they started launching the tanks in orbit to be retrieved later and as the shiny containers floated kilometers above the surface outside the new and fragile atmosphere they looked like a myriad stars studding the coffee latte sky , brilliantly reflecting the light from the sun in freshly melted pools and streams of water , and creating a dreamlike emotionally charged imagery that was going to fire-up the creativity and inspiration of several generations of poets and artists .