I’m in a similar situation in !ultralight@lemmy.world. Getting people engaged is a bit like getting people to dance at a party, many people want to but someone has to break the ice… things I’ve tried is pinning a post asking people to stop by and say hi, also comment on each post so there’s something to latch onto, people won’t click in with 0 comments. You can also try a joke post to break the ice, in the case of SpacePorn you could combine a picture of a galaxy and a swimsuit model and say “Am I doing this right?!?” or something; it’s stupid but hopefully it makes someone laugh.

I’ve got a piece of glass (fused silica, actually) that’s flown on multiple shuttle missions. Does that count?

* To be clear it’s a piece of glass from a 1” thick experiment window that failed it’s flaw growth recertification test (mostly due to human error) after being used several times. It was the biggest piece left after the explosion. 😁

Made the !half_life community yesterday and it does feel like this. The only other post is a post my friend made so I could promote him to moderator. I don't have much experience so I'm not sure I'm able to fully understand your situation though.

Same. I‘m missing a lot of niche hobby subs (duh) over here which I’m mainly active on, and that‘s about it, honestly. Design and performance could be a lot better too. I‘ll stick around and see where it goes.