Space Station (1956)

Today's retro-futuristic eye candy comes from the 1956 book The Complete Book of Space Travel. This donut-shaped space station, popularized by Wernher von Braun, popped up on TV, in films and even on lunch boxes. Do the kids these days still carry lunch boxes? I really have no idea. I vaguely recall carrying an ALF lunch box to school, but I may be stealing that memory from a Full House episode or something.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• The Complete Book of Space Travel (1956)
• Space Suite (1956)
• Rocket Ship (1956)
• Challenge of Outer Space (1950s)
• Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)
• Man and the Moon (1955)
• Space Age Lunch Boxes (50s and 60s)

Toroidal Space Colony of the Future (1982)

This image appears in the 1982 book Walt Disney's Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow. One thing I find curious about the illustration is that it appears to be of a toroidal (or circular) space station, but you can see what looks like sailboats in the water. My simplistic (child-like, really) understanding of toroidal space colonies leads me to believe that they spin to simulate gravity. But how could there be anything resembling wind within them? Someone smarter than myself, please enlighten us all.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Like Earth, Only In Space .... And With Monorails (1989)
• Space Colonies by Don Davis
• Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)
• More Space Colony Art (1970s)
• Space Colonies of the Year 2000 (1979)