Retro Thing: Visions Of A Soviet Retro Future In Outer Space

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The folks over at darkroastedblend.com have collected a number of Eastern Bloc paintings of life in space. Reminiscent of outlandish American pulp covers from the 50's, these paintings are full of faith in the technological future that never really happened quite that way. Let's not forget how close the Cold War space race could get at times - the overwhelming fear in the U.S. was that the flag that flew over the moon could be a red one.

Many of the fictitious designs feature cavernous all-glass rooms (imagine the heating costs, let alone paying the oxygen bill!), vehicles with robot pincer arms, and of course the hazards of winged space beasts - all meant to fire landlubber's imaginations.

Sov_headlamp The interesting thing to bear in mind is that all of these spaceships and living quarters would have to exist in the harsh realities of space. You'd think that would limit some design choices when creating these fantastic vehicles and dwellings. Even with those sorts of design parameters, you can still sense elements of the arts' iron curtain origins.