9 ms·

How Soviet science magazines fantasized about life in outer space

150 points by Hooke 7y ago

tus88 7y ago
Science or Science Fiction magazines?
- nshm 7y ago
  Those are popular science magazines. They had both scientific content and some science fiction too.
  - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
    The Soviet version of Omni Magazine?
    - c-smile 7y ago
      Far from that. Popular Mechanics is a better match I think (if to add there SF section - 10% of magazine volume usually).
- rimliu 7y ago
  That "Technology for the Youth" (Юный Техник) was magazine for teens with focus on technology and DIY projects. You can find them here: http://jt-arxiv.narod.ru http://jt-arxiv.narod.ru I've never seen "Знание — Сила" in real life so I cannot really comment on it. There was also a very popular "Наука и Жизнь" (Science and Life) which was more serious popular science and technology magazine.
  - itsyaboi 7y ago
    "Юный Техник" translates to "Young Technician", "Technology for the Youth" would be "Техника для молодёжи"
ailideex 7y ago
And the novelty is? I mean, everyone fantasized about life in outer space - why would the soviets not? Or is the novelty that it is amazing how the people that wrote those magazines somehow eluded the gulags? Because the answer there presumably is that they probably did not elude the gulags.
- dang 7y ago
  This is a case where the leading "How", which HN's software sometimes drops from titles, makes an important difference. The point of the article isn't that they did it. We've re-howed it. Please don't post shallow dismissals to HN, though. The article doesn't make it hard to find out what its topic is or why it's interesting, and there's no need to reflexively 'gulag' every Soviet story. The internet pattern of rushing to the cosmic hash table to find the biggest thing associated with any key, then rushing to post about it, makes for lame discussion. We're looking for things that are less predictable here. Edit: having looked at your account history, I realize that I misread your comment. You've been abusing HN for nationalistic and ideological flamewar. That is not allowed here. I've banned the account until we get some indication that you want to use the site as intended. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22622844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22622844.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  It’s interesting because in the west we didn’t hear much about what was going on in the Soviet Union.
  - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
    Pity how much of that cultural content was lost during the post collapse years of the USSR.
- carapace 7y ago
  Tesla's space truck! It's time to start dreaming again because we are about to be able to do it.
- pjc50 7y ago
monomyth 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism
gumby 7y ago
I'm struck by how different the art in the Soviet articles is from the attempted-hyper-realism in Chesley Bonestell, Bob McCall, and Don Davis typical in the west. The Soviet art is more evocative and poetic (or alternatively, stylistically what might have appeared in advertising in the west), while the US artists I mention made me imagine I could be visiting a toroidal space station or be in orbit around Io.
- c-smile 7y ago
  Well, these magazines were issued in enormous circulation numbers. Year 1933, you would keep number of colors in illustrations as less a possible to make them affordable, right? In 1980ies, with more modern polygraphy technology, they used more rich illustrations, check: https://www.tested.com/science/space/456670-incredible-space-art-russian-magazine-tekhnika-molodezhi/ https://www.tested.com/science/space/456670-incredible-space...
  - orbital-decay 7y ago
    > The tankette, which would weigh not more than a few hundred pounds and would be radio controlled from the earth, would explore the surface of the moon and report its findings back to earth. Information so obtained would make possible the next stage-the mastery of the Moon by man in the next 5 to 10 years. Unlike Khlebtsevich, most people behind the manned Soviet space program weren't so fond of the Moon back in 50s, though. Korolyov, Mishin etc believed that a manned Moon mission would be a mistake. They bet on the Venus or Mars flyby mission as the first step in the Solar System exploration, because the deep space missions clearly needed the ability to build large spaceships in orbit, and single launch missions would have taught them very little. In fact, N-1 was originally planned and optimized for assembling a LEO manned space station/spaceship (MPK/TMK) to be sent to Venus. AFAIK it was the JFK speech that made Politburo switch the target, at the worst time possible.
starik36 7y ago
I remember reading a book as a kid in USSR about some child inventing a rocket ship, flying to the moon and leading a communist revolution among the natives. That book left a really big impression on me - it was truly entertaining. P.S. Found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunno_on_the_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunno_on_the_Moon
- nine_k 7y ago
  It also contains one of the best, most poignant caricatures of American capitalism and mass culture.
- Snelius 7y ago
  It's more like an "Aelita" by Aleksey Tolstoy about Mars :)
Haga 7y ago
The greatest fantasy was that everyone in space ca be by virtue of location entrusted with a nuke. He who has the means for kinetic bombardment can hold the world ransom.
michalu 7y ago
If you find this style of art interesting, I recommend this sci-fi movie animated in Czechoslovakia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet

150 points by Hooke 7y ago

tus88 7y ago

Science or Science Fiction magazines?

nshm 7y ago
Those are popular science magazines. They had both scientific content and some science fiction too.
- Mountain_Skies 7y ago
  The Soviet version of Omni Magazine?
  - c-smile 7y ago
    Far from that. Popular Mechanics is a better match I think (if to add there SF section - 10% of magazine volume usually).
rimliu 7y ago
That "Technology for the Youth" (Юный Техник) was magazine for teens with focus on technology and DIY projects. You can find them here: http://jt-arxiv.narod.ru http://jt-arxiv.narod.ru I've never seen "Знание — Сила" in real life so I cannot really comment on it. There was also a very popular "Наука и Жизнь" (Science and Life) which was more serious popular science and technology magazine.
- itsyaboi 7y ago
  "Юный Техник" translates to "Young Technician", "Technology for the Youth" would be "Техника для молодёжи"

ailideex 7y ago

And the novelty is? I mean, everyone fantasized about life in outer space - why would the soviets not? Or is the novelty that it is amazing how the people that wrote those magazines somehow eluded the gulags? Because the answer there presumably is that they probably did not elude the gulags.

dang 7y ago
This is a case where the leading "How", which HN's software sometimes drops from titles, makes an important difference. The point of the article isn't that they did it. We've re-howed it. Please don't post shallow dismissals to HN, though. The article doesn't make it hard to find out what its topic is or why it's interesting, and there's no need to reflexively 'gulag' every Soviet story. The internet pattern of rushing to the cosmic hash table to find the biggest thing associated with any key, then rushing to post about it, makes for lame discussion. We're looking for things that are less predictable here. Edit: having looked at your account history, I realize that I misread your comment. You've been abusing HN for nationalistic and ideological flamewar. That is not allowed here. I've banned the account until we get some indication that you want to use the site as intended. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22622844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22622844.
Ididntdothis 7y ago
It’s interesting because in the west we didn’t hear much about what was going on in the Soviet Union.
- Mountain_Skies 7y ago
  Pity how much of that cultural content was lost during the post collapse years of the USSR.
carapace 7y ago
Tesla's space truck! It's time to start dreaming again because we are about to be able to do it.
pjc50 7y ago

monomyth 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism

gumby 7y ago

I'm struck by how different the art in the Soviet articles is from the attempted-hyper-realism in Chesley Bonestell, Bob McCall, and Don Davis typical in the west. The Soviet art is more evocative and poetic (or alternatively, stylistically what might have appeared in advertising in the west), while the US artists I mention made me imagine I could be visiting a toroidal space station or be in orbit around Io.

c-smile 7y ago
Well, these magazines were issued in enormous circulation numbers. Year 1933, you would keep number of colors in illustrations as less a possible to make them affordable, right? In 1980ies, with more modern polygraphy technology, they used more rich illustrations, check: https://www.tested.com/science/space/456670-incredible-space-art-russian-magazine-tekhnika-molodezhi/ https://www.tested.com/science/space/456670-incredible-space...
- orbital-decay 7y ago
  > The tankette, which would weigh not more than a few hundred pounds and would be radio controlled from the earth, would explore the surface of the moon and report its findings back to earth. Information so obtained would make possible the next stage-the mastery of the Moon by man in the next 5 to 10 years. Unlike Khlebtsevich, most people behind the manned Soviet space program weren't so fond of the Moon back in 50s, though. Korolyov, Mishin etc believed that a manned Moon mission would be a mistake. They bet on the Venus or Mars flyby mission as the first step in the Solar System exploration, because the deep space missions clearly needed the ability to build large spaceships in orbit, and single launch missions would have taught them very little. In fact, N-1 was originally planned and optimized for assembling a LEO manned space station/spaceship (MPK/TMK) to be sent to Venus. AFAIK it was the JFK speech that made Politburo switch the target, at the worst time possible.

starik36 7y ago

I remember reading a book as a kid in USSR about some child inventing a rocket ship, flying to the moon and leading a communist revolution among the natives. That book left a really big impression on me - it was truly entertaining. P.S. Found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunno_on_the_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunno_on_the_Moon

nine_k 7y ago
It also contains one of the best, most poignant caricatures of American capitalism and mass culture.
Snelius 7y ago
It's more like an "Aelita" by Aleksey Tolstoy about Mars :)

Haga 7y ago

The greatest fantasy was that everyone in space ca be by virtue of location entrusted with a nuke. He who has the means for kinetic bombardment can hold the world ransom.

michalu 7y ago

If you find this style of art interesting, I recommend this sci-fi movie animated in Czechoslovakia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet