Soviet Space Art

LET’S SAY THAT BUSINESS IS RATHER LIKE GOVERNMENT. In the case of the USSR’s space industry, the government was in the business of captivating the imagination of a nation, to inspire young children to study science, and to make the USSR a interplanetary power. Okay, that’s a bit extreme. Great art is used to evoke feelings of pride. However, like Pets.com or many other startup business, the Soviet Space program rushed launches before sufficient tests were conducted; comparable to a company buying an office before having any cashflow. In Silicon Valley, the running joke was that a startup that bought this highly stylised chair at $600 each was doomed upon purchase. In London, there are still startups with decorations, mascots but no cashflow. It’s important to dream imaginatively, but art is supplementary rather than complementary. The USSR should have invested more in testing the N1 Rocket and computer technology and less on the propaganda around it. By the 2000s, the Russian space program became the dominant channel for delivering supplies to the international space station…


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