Doctor Who and the Moonbase (1967)

This is Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, on the moon in the year 2070.  He’s about to have his first rematch with the Cybermen within the titular moobase but before that can happen he has to get there from the TARDIS.

The design of his outfit here owes far more to the 1950’s idea of what a space suit was going to look like rather than anything that was actually being used by NASA at that time.  My guess is that the choice of a retro design over anything more realistic is most probably a budgetary one. 

We’ll be back to the worlds of Doctor Who again and again as successive Doctors don their spacesuits in predominantly cash strapped futures.

Steve

The House of Hammer magazine (1976)

Here is the cover art by Brian Lewis for #5 of The House of Hammer magazine, published in the mid 70's.

Aimed at the teenage market, each issue featured news and reviews of forthcoming genre releases as well as comic strip adaptions of Hammer's back catalogue.  For the most part the strips were of horror films such as; Horror Of Dracula or Curse Of Frankenstein but here they're having a go at Moon Zero Two...although the artist has brushed liberally and broadly with the gore in excess to anything actually seen in the film.

Similar liberties have been taken with the accuracy of the interior art although for me these compliment the story and add a few thousand more to the look of the story than the real budget could have stretched to... plus by this point its the 70's so styles had moved on.

Steve

Shipwreck (1977)

I love this image.

It's by David Bergen and was used on the cover of the paperback of Charles Logan's; SHIPWREK published by Panther Books in 1977.  I distinctly remember standing in WH Smiths as a kid, looking at this and imagining the story within.

I found a second hand copy a few months back and I'm going to read it sometime soon as I've since discovered its considered a bit of a classic. I just hope its as evocative as the artwork.

Steve

Star Cops (1987) again

I found these images for BBC 2's Star Cops that gives a better detailed view of the space helmets.  I believe that they were made especially for this series but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get re-used, showing up again, somewhere else, in some future production. 

Lets keep them peeled!

Steve

Journey Into Space (1953)

This is what spacemen on the radio look like...

Journey Into Space ran for 3 original series and 1 remake from 1953 to 1958 on BBC radio.  The costumes seen here being worn by the cast for publicity pictures are allegedly genuine prototype suites made for Britain's potential incursions into space. (I'm a little sceptical of that but I'll look into it and report back at some future point).

So successful was the show that there were novelisations for each of the three series, the picture above coming from the back of one of them.

To publicise the start of the second series The Radio Times went with this rather wonderful cover image of the now classic fishbowl style of helmet and rippled suit which must have been so very potent back then.  This look and feel for a space suit was in keeping with the thinking of the time and, I believe, left an impression upon some of the designers that would go on to work on future television productions in that and the oncoming decade.

Steve

Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon (1969)

Portrait of Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing mission in his space suit, with his helmet on the table in front of him. Behind him is a large photograph of the lunar surface.

Neil doing his thing

 

 

Steve

The First Men in the Moon (1964)

Windak Goes to the Moon

The First Men in the Moon (1964) was adapted from H G Wells’ book by Quatermass creator and noted television scriptwriter, Nigel Kneale.  The film features two types of space suit.  The Victorian conceit of a Deep-Sea Diver’s suit with 60’s aqualung cylinder and then there's this one; the far more modern (for the time) Windak High-Altitude pressure suits which having been retired from active service with the R.A.F. were seen here embarking on the start of a long and successful career in film and television.

Note the two different colours which, while being interesting in its self, will also assist us in tracking which particular suit makes it into the sci-fi hall of fame.

Steve