What is it in Space-Age Russian? by Michael S. Vartanoff

'In the 1960s, suddenly everyone is very enthusiastic about the idea of being in space,' says Sankova. The Soviet space programme, for so long a closely guarded secret, became a powerful propaganda tool – but it also had popular support from the artists themselves. But its popularity as a theme exploded as the space race took shape. Sankova says the USSR's cosmic iconography blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s, much as it did elsewhere in the world, fed by science-magazine imaginings of life in a future age. Everyone thought he was crazy, but the Soviets, after the revolution, made him part of the permanent ideology.' 'This interest in space started long before the Soviets got into power, it goes back to the days of Tsiolkovsky.

How Russia's cosmonauts trained for space.

Yuri Gagarin: The spaceman who came in from the cold.Cosmism: Russia's 'religion of the stars'.But its roots go far deeper than that, says Alexandra Sankova, the director of the Moscow Design Museum. The Soviet Union's early lead in the space race, spearheaded by captured German scientists and the brilliance of designers such as Sergei Korolev, became a new canvas for Soviet artists, sculptors and product designers. In a political system where religion was banned and only the most revolution-friendly pre-Soviet figures were exalted, Soviet artists turned instead to the iconography of Soviet leaders such as Lenin, the symbols of the USSR's industry and science – and space.

The titanium-clad granite sculpture is so large that its base is big enough to house an entire museum, the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The Monument to the Conquerors of Space is cosmic art on an out-of-this-world scale.īuilt of titanium, the 107m (351ft) tall sculpture of a rocket shooting from the ground towers above anything in the exhibition park itself – it's nearly twice as tall as the Vostok rockets whose missions inspired it, one of which is on display inside the park. A time when, to quote the submarine captain in the movie The Hunt for Red October, 'the world trembled at the sound of our rockets'. It was built at a time when the USSR was leading the space race. It stands outside the gates of the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy, the giant trade-show-meets-amusement-park intended to show off the might of Soviet industry and science.

What is it in Space-Age Russian? by Michael S. Vartanoff