USSR Propaganda Space Posters
Propaganda as art
This edition is a bit different, I have gathered up some Soviet Space Propaganda posters for you. These have been cleaned up and sometimes enlarged by me, using techniques including AI clean-up, as well as manual adjustments. Substack does not have a proper gallery feature, so they are placed inline. As usual, click on an image to see a larger version.
This edition’s Cool image:
Well as an image it’s not that spectacular - but… An Ekranoplan big enough to carry a Buran Orbiter? Vadim Lukasevich tells me this was a real project:
The design was carried out by the Alekseev SPU Central Design Bureau under the direction of NPO Energia. The drawings show ekranoplans with the aerodynamic layout of flying aircraft carrier, as a transport-service platform. The one with Buran is the Heavy Ekranoplan variant No.1 with a take-off weight of 1100 tonnes, The version with the Energia Launch Vehicle - Heavy Ekranoplan variant No.3 with a take-off weight of 3500 tonnes.
I’m hunting down more information.
This edition’s Cool link:
International Association of Astronomical Artists, “Pulsar” back issues.
If you like space art, this is essential - completely free back issues of the IAAA Space Art magazine, “Pulsar”.
This edition’s time limited download:
Object E1, (1st Lunar Probe), collected source documents in Russian.
Only available free for 1 week after publication, no exceptions.
What’s interesting to me is how pretty these are. Most modern propaganda, which pretends to be unaware it is propaganda, is intentionally unaesthetic.
Very cool!