Comments on: Artifacts From A Previously Undiscovered Space Program

Artifacts From A Previously Undiscovered Space Program

mikepop — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:40:29 -0800

So you go to be spaceman. If the space race had taken a few different turns, we might have ended up with a historical exhibit that looked like the one cooked up by the American Dream Technical Institute.

Currently on display in Portland, Maine. Stroll on by for a look at the full-size spaceship, advertisements and other ephemera of the non-existent do-it-yourself space movement of the 1950s. All artifacts are helpfully explained by text panels, which (somewhat less helpfully) were taken from a 1959 book on space, translated into Russian with Systran, then pushed back through Systran into English. via SPACE Gallery.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:29:07 -0800

This is beyond awesome. Also, gotta love those SYSTRAN text panels. This whole thing feels very Philip K. Dick. Or some sort of sequel to The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson.

By: dansdata

dansdata — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:56:16 -0800

The only really implausible part of this is that it claims that someone was actually able to build a transportation machine that'd been advertised in the back pages of a Mechanix-like magazine. (OK, many of the vacuum-cleaner-powered hovercraft probably worked OK. But you have to push those along with your leg like a scooter.)

By: Xoebe

Xoebe — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:23:54 -0800

Those placards are hilarious! Very cool. Even bomb of bug will make.

By: intermod

intermod — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:48:05 -0800

Reading those is make my brain hurt.

By: suki

suki — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:36:07 -0800

Thank you for posting this! I love this type of vintage aesthetic. Over the winter I bought 5 2' tall stainless steel letters from Randy (for my kitchen decor, of course) and found him to be just as cool in person as one would expect from his art.

By: vertigo25

vertigo25 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:43:29 -0800

Crap. Now I want to build a spaceship.