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Original mixed-media painting by aerospace illustrator Ed Valigursky, accomplished in acrylic and pen and ink on a 30.5 x 22 sheet of artist paper, depicting a detailed concept for NASA’s Skylab space station in Earth orbit. The composition shows the Skylab cluster with an Apollo Command and Service Module docked at one end and the Apollo Telescope Mount extending above, while a large cutaway section reveals the interior of the orbital workshop, with two astronauts shown working inside; a third astronaut is depicted outside the station at the telescope mount. Valigursky created the artwork for the December 1970 issue of Popular Mechanics, where it appeared as a two-page illustration (pp. 108 and 109) accompanying the feature “Skylab: Our Next Giant Step in Space.” For publication, the magazine supplemented Valigursky’s artwork with the NASA insignia and explanatory labels identifying the station’s principal components and interior features. In fine condition. Accompanied by a copy of the December 1970 issue of Popular Mechanics in which the artwork was published.
Valigursky was an accomplished illustrator whose work encompassed aerospace subjects as well as science fiction and pulp publishing. Created more than two years before Skylab’s 1973 launch, his painting presents the planned orbital laboratory as it was being introduced to the American public, depicting astronauts living and working aboard America’s first space station.
