Posts Tagged soviet
Cosmic Flights
Posted by Danielle in Books & Literature on January 4, 2012
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!
More Retro-Future
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture, Picspam on November 9, 2011
Galactic Manoeuvre, by Nikolai Nedbailo
Two more Russian retro-future images, because I just can’t get enough of this stuff. Image quality isn’t the best on these, but they’re still beautiful to look at! Images courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend.
Russia on the Moon
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture, Picspam on November 4, 2011
To Other Worlds! - Detgiz, Russia
A beautiful illustration from the 1950s of a Russian expedition to the lunar surface. Ah, that retro-future! Image courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend.
Young Ivan Learns About Space
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on September 15, 2011
Image courtesy of x-ray delta one @ Flickr
An intriguing illustration from 1970 shows a young boy (who reminds me ever so much of Ivan, the protagonist of The Humpbacked Horse), learning about the Earth and Moon. A Soviet rocket model stands in the foreground. Learn well, young Ivan!
Human Spaceflight’s Golden Anniversary
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Perspectives, Picspam on April 12, 2011
Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into orbit — the first human to orbit our planet. It’s also Yuri’s Night, a worldwide celebration of human spaceflight! Check out the link for a party near you!
Yuri Gagarin
It is ALSO the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight; you can see beautiful white Columbia below, awaiting her first launch. (I had a poster of this when I was in high school; put it on my ceiling so I could stare at it before I went to sleep.)
Lament for Buran
Posted by Danielle in Books & Literature, Perspectives, Picspam on March 22, 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 SignorA 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.
Spacemen Ring
Posted by Danielle in Currency & Postage, Fashion & Accessories on September 15, 2010
Found something a bit unusual today — it’s a seal ring, it’s a coin ring, IT’S BOTH.
I made this silver ring by the impression (in wax) of a Mongolian coin. The original coin was minted in 1981 (the 20 years anniversary of first human flight in space.) The coin depicts the Mongolian spaceman, Jugderdemidiyn Gurragchaa and his Soviet fellow, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov.
Not your average, every-day ring find! And for interest’s sake, here’s the coin itself:
Distant Worlds
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture, Books & Literature on September 9, 2010
I know, I know, I have a thing for Soviet retro-futurist art… but you have to admit, these Soviet illustrations are nothing short of stunning! (Info and images via Dark Roasted Blend.)
Karl Gilzin’s book ["Travel to Distant Worlds"] (from 1958) contained some pretty neat illustrations … [b]ut the illustrations got even better once this book was translated into Russian, and some nameless artist from DetGiz Publishing House in 1960 drew these inspiring scenes…
I couldn’t decide what planet I liked best, so here’s Saturn:
And here’s Mars:
Lunokhod
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Picspam on June 11, 2010
Credit: Lavochkin Association
I have to admit, when I saw this photo of Lunokhod 1, my first reaction was “oh, HOW CUTE!” (My second reaction was to wonder how much better it would look if recreated in brass, steampunk-style. Mmm. Appealing.) A small version of this little guy could follow me around the house, and I would not mind one bit. Or maybe I’m just insane. Eep.
It may look like some sort of cute alien robot, but it was created here on Earth, launched to the Moon in 1970, and now reflects laser light in a scientifically useful way. On November 17, 1970 the Soviet Luna 17 spacecraft landed the first roving remote-controlled robot on the Moon. Known as Lunokhod 1, it weighed just under 2,000 pounds and was designed to operate for 90 days while guided in real-time by a five person team near Moscow, USSR. Lunokhod 1 toured the lunar Sea of Rains (Mare Imbrium) for 11 months in one of the greatest successes of the Soviet lunar exploration program. This Lunokhod’s operations officially ceased in 1971. Earlier this year, however, the position of the rover was recovered by NASA’s moon-orbiting Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Given that position, laser pulses from Earth were successfully bounced off the old robot’s reflector. Bouncing laser pulses off of this and other lunar reflectors could yield range data to the moon accurate enough to track millimeter-sized deviations in the Moon’s orbit, effectively probing lunar composition and testing gravitational theories.
Buran
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives, Picspam on June 1, 2010
All photos © drugoi @ LiveJournal.
For many years, I’ve been drawn to the Soviet space program, with its secrets, politically-creative explanations, and dreams as big as the motherland. The more that is declassified, researched, written about and digested by me, the more fascinated I get. How could such ambitions and technical advances fall so short, or be abandoned so suddenly?
Needless to say, when I found this photographic tour of the Buran assembly facilities and launch fields, I was utterly engrossed. These images — I’ve selected but a few — are amazing in scale, in scope, and in the end, are so poignant and sad. It breaks my heart to see such large-scale efforts rusting, abandoned in place. (Why have two launch pads, when you can have four, or more?) And to know that the one Buran orbiter that touched space was destroyed, when the assembly facility’s roof collapsed in 2002.
The program is long-dead, but test-mockup Buran lives on (and is viewable, and tourable.) And thanks to the dedication of this photographer, one gets a small glimpse into the sheer scale, the magnitude, of sending an earthbound vessel into space. It takes a lot of hardware.
I see these images, and my heart cries out, “such wondrous dreams were here!”
For full effect, you really need to see the rest here, and you can get a fairly decent translation through Babelfish (Buran means “snow-storm”, so if you see that in quotes a lot, that’s why.)
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About Silver Rockets
This blog celebrates space exploration, human spaceflight and the heavens, through lots and lots ofimages.
My name is Danielle Signor, and I am a space cadet. STS-133 NASA Tweetup Attendee!
This is a blog, NOT A SHOP. Click the images for their source or purchase link, if available.
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