Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Station "Moon" (Stantsiia "Luna") (1974)


This is an updated version of this 1965 Russian book:
http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2009/06/station-moon-stantsiia-luna-1965.html

I blogged about that one more than 18 months ago so you may not have seen the post. What I would like to do is reuse some of the illustrations from that older book to compare and contrast how they chose to update them.  Since I don't read Russian I can't really comment on the text.

This is the 1965 version of what planning for the moon base would look like.  This picture was recently on "Project Sword" so I thought I would show more of these images.

I like seeing the new vehicles they chose to include. Notice the Apollo "moon buggy" in the front?  It also has a different style, less cartoony and more like an accurate illustration. Also for some reason there is no observatory in the 1974 illustration.


Here is the 1965 version of the complete base. For some reason the book assumes that there will eventually be an atmosphere on the Moon. Otherwise I am not sure how to explain the helicopter. I also like how they have preserved an original mountain under glass as a conservation effort.

The 1974 version again tries for a more realistic style. There is still that unexplainable helicopter but the terrain has been less altered. There are less outside plantings (although cactus still seems popular).



These illustrations from the 1974 book definitely show the impact of 9 years of space exploration.  In fact they seem a little dull even if they are more familiar to us now.


3 comments:

  1. What a brilliant Russian book. There's so much Gerry Anderson type craft - Sidewinder, Spectrum Helicopter etc - that the pictures remind me of! I wonder if any of the shows where shown in Russia? Would that have been feasible? Well done John for sharing on what is probably the best looking blog on the net.
    Woodsy

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  2. The robin's egg blue vehicle in front of the glassed-in mountain looks like a VW bus or an airstream rv. Vacation on the moon?

    I kinda' prefer the fun illos from 65.

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  3. your effort is amazing

    I used to read this book in real live..

    memories..

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