American Futurism in the Atomic EraMain MenuIntroductionUnderstanding the Development and Context of Futurism in the Cold WarBusinesses Embrace FuturismNASABoosted by FuturismMarketed AudiencesSuburban American; Youth; Specialized: Scientists, Technologists, IndustrialFuturism by ThemeConclusionBibliographyGina Plumeye78b6aad26fa4301c0f15031f1ee2970fee53980
Figure 22: Popular Mechanics Cover, May 1950
12019-12-04T23:20:17+00:00Gina Plumeye78b6aad26fa4301c0f15031f1ee2970fee53980661Popular Mechanics Cover from May, 1950. Early space illustrative design involved an emphasis on team missions to space and the idea that going beyond the earth would be an adventure. As space travel became a realty marketing teams would have to work to compete against this early imagery.plain2019-12-04T23:20:17+00:00Gina Plumeye78b6aad26fa4301c0f15031f1ee2970fee53980
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12019-12-04T23:20:10+00:00NASA1Boosted by Futurismimage_header172019-12-04T23:20:10+00:00 Within less than a year of the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik, the United States officially established NASA in its effort to win against the communist threat on the front of technological superiority. While the dream of space had already been decades old from a marketing standpoint, the momentum in applied sciences to the endeavor as well as in public and commercial support was unprecedented. Partly, this could be due to the late 1930’s and early 1940’s emphasis on war technology. Additionally, the evolution of rockets into the space race was necessary for adjacent technological progress to be achieved. The space race provided ample inspiration from a marketing standpoint. The result was a boom in advertising material and popular culture that centered on the message of a particular vision of tomorrow which promised the American public a leisurely future if they collectively got on board.[1]
[1] David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek, Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2014) 1-15.
