Imagined Futures: The Space Age

Object is a podcast diving into the histories and meanings behind the art, images, and cultural objects we encounter every day. Hosted by Ferren Gipson, this show explores visual and material culture, offering a lens on how images and objects help shape the way we see and experience the world. Listen on Apple, Spotify or Substack.

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In the mid-20th century, the politics and ambitions of the Space Age transformed the way we pictured and designed for the future. In this episode, I speak to fashion historian Amber Butchart, Vitra Design Museum curator Nina Steinmüller, and NASA historian Lois Rosson about the visual culture of the Space Race. It’s a fun dive into a world of silver spacesuits, atomic design, and rocket-inspired coffee shops that blended Cold War anxiety with genuine utopian ambition.

The ‘Imagined Futures’ miniseries is brought to you in partnership with The Public Domain Review, an online journal exploring curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas. Discover images related to imagined futures, forgotten pasts, and more at publicdomainreview.org.

In this episode:

• The silver Mercury spacesuits

• Hugo Gernsback, Frank R. Paul, and the pulp magazine science fiction covers

• Chesley Bonestell’s hyperrealistic paintings of lunar landscapes

• The Festival of Britain and Googie architecture

• How the Space Age reshaped furniture, fashion, and the home

• The 1999 AD promotional video (Find the full film on The Public Domain Review)

• The NASA Artists Cooperation Program and the artists who gained access to Cape Canaveral, including Robert Rauschenberg and Robert McCall (see the full NASA art program collection here)

• Artworks that have made it to the moon, including Moon Museum and The Fallen Astronaut

• How the Apollo era’s visual legacy echoes in today’s Artemis programme

Images from this episode appear below, and find more Space Age imagery on The Public Domain Review here.

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Mercury 7 astronauts, 1959, photograph by Ralph Morse. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter. Back row: Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.

(Left) The August 1927 cover of Amazing Stories illustrated by Frank R. Paul (1884–1963). (Right) The cover of The Conquest of Space featuring painting by Chelsey Bonestell (1888–1986)

Saturn as viewed from Titan, c.1952, oil on board by Chesley Bonestell (1888–1986)

(Left) Splashdown, 1977, lithograph on paper by Robert McCall (1919–2010), National Air and Space Museum, Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (Right) 2001: A Space Odyssey promotional poster illustrated by McCall.

(Left) Stoned Moon, 1969, lithograph on paper by Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008). (Centre) Photograph of Moon Museum in the Nov. 22, 1969 issue of the New York Times with the photographer’s thumb over Andy Warhol’s phallic drawing. (Right) Fallen Astronaut, 1971, aluminium sculpture and card by Paul Van Hoeydonck (1925–2025). NASA

(Left) Stoned Moon, 1969, lithograph on paper by Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008). (Centre) Photograph of Moon Museum in the Nov. 22, 1969 issue of the New York Times with the photographer’s thumb over Andy Warhol’s phallic drawing. (Right) Fallen Astronaut, 1971, aluminium sculpture and card by Paul Van Hoeydonck (1925–2025). NASA

Grissom and Young, 1965, Norman Rockwell (1894–1978)