A terrific Moon rocket from 1930. Off to the Moon? If only, if only….

Agoraphobia © Austin Kleon

I’ve only just been introduced to the newspaper-blackout poetry of Austin Kleon — I love this one, ever so much. Buy the print here.

I just love these Soviet space illustrations from Flight into Cosmic Space, circa 1949 (and hey, they were posted on my birthday, so happy belated to me!) Above is a space station (or a cosmic-sized ring, your choice), and below is said station with a rocket launching away from it. Check out the post at Dreams of Space for more images!

Would NOT want to be the guy pulling the lever, seems like you might get a little toasty when it takes off….

Posted by x-ray delta one, with permission from Paul Malon.

Aircraft of Uranus, photo by x-ray delta one @ Flickr

Interesting aircraft designs – seems like the gaseous atmosphere of Uranus would clog those engines, but maybe not… as someone on Flickr pointed out, we’ll never know the details without page 238!

And yes, I realize I’m setting myself up for all sorts of tomfoolery in the comments by mentioning this planet.

What do you think? Is this a spaceship? Because it reminds me of a toy my little sister had as a baby… or maybe a cat toy. A hamster ball?

Let the dust jacket copy of this 1958 adventure convince you:

SPEED-AND MORE SPEED-go into the mammoth project of completing Tom Swift Jr.’s newest type of spaceship. It is a race against time and the stakes are high. First, Tom’s foreign enemies appear ready to launch a manned moon rocket of their own. Second, the young inventor’s friends on another planet propose a rendezvous in outer space, in the desperate hope that Tom and his scientist associates can help them conquer the unknown disease that threatens life on their planet.

From the first test flight to the day the Challenger roars moonward, Tom meets with frustrations and sinister perils, more challenging than he has ever encountered. In a neck-and-neck race with the enemy’s rocket ship, Tom’s fabulous invention, the super-repelatron, plays a dramatic part in heading off a crash landing on the bleak planet. One of the greatest thrills of the young space pioneer’s life comes when he guides the Challenger alongside his planet friends’ spaceship.

In this fast-moving, gripping drama of Tom’s double victory in outer space you will find all the exciting elements that have made the Tom Swift Jr. series the Number One choice of boys who thrill to mystery and adventure.
— TomSwift.info

Opinions? Please comment! Do you have a scan of a less-spaceship-y spaceship? Please share!

1947 - Rocketship Galileo, by x-ray delta one, on Flickr

There is something so simple, yet so fantastic about this illustration by artist Tom Voter — I love it! (I prefer Heinlein’s older works, I’ll have to try this one out.)

Scale Replica of the Lunar Module, Cartier Paris 1969

It’s rare that I upload a photo that’s AWESOMELY HUGE, but today is a day for such uploads, and this is a picture you want to see at 3307×4692 pixels! I first heard of these exquisite gold replicas of the Lunar Module while flipping through a large Cartier exhibit book. I was there to feast my eyes on fabulous jewelry, and finding a space object was literally the last thing in the world I expected.

From the book:

Three individual 18-karat gold LM models were made in 1969 by Cartier Paris on behalf of “Le Figaro” newspaper and presented to the three Apollo 11 astronauts during their postflight tour in Paris. This example was presented to Michael Collins.

15.0 x 10.0 x 25.0 cm. Yellow gold, white gold, lacquer, red, white and blue enamel.

I also found an article from the Ohio Historical Society with a more detailed description and history of the scale replicas, and a small image of Neil Armstrong’s replica, showing the custom box it came in. Very cool, check it out!

Awesomely large version of the image found here. Image from Cartier: The Power of Style, published in January 2011.

Abandoned launch complex, Buran assembly facilities and launch fields

Last year I posted a selection of pictures from the abandoned Energiya-Buran assembly facilities and launch fields. I’ve long been fascinated by the Soviet space program — particularly Buran (“snow-storm” in Russian), which had such a vast scope, and yet had only one unmanned flight before cancellation. Now wild dogs live among the dead machinery, grasses slowly break up the concrete, and everything else is rusting in place. It makes me sad.

Sad enough to write a poem about it, in fact.

Lament for Buran
by Danielle Signor

A sleeping giant, left in place
Against the stark horizon stands,
Arms folded, longing to embrace
A rocketship with loving hands.
The future once was vast and near,
All gleaming steel and gantries high.
Such wondrous dreams that foundered here!
They wait, abandoned like the sky.

Now rust devours you — wild dogs pass,
Beneath your silent structures sleep.
The concrete causeway fades to grass,
Forsaken buildings, secrets keep.
Snow-storm, your energy was spent
Before you first drew breath — lament!

---

A wild dog plays beneath a launching/assembly platform.

Sign for launch complex

All photos © drugoi @ LiveJournal.

Found this fantastic pulp cover in a box of fantastically-AWFUL pulps over the Christmas holiday. As can be seen, the prerequisite hot-space-babe/crewmember is being revived from stasis/cryogenic freezing/whatever, and is already being hit upon by the first human she comes in contact with… the doctor. “Hey baby, can I buy you a drink?” I am, of course, kidding. Sortof. Anyway it’s a terrific cover.