How the Moon SHOULD Look

The previous post had a comment that sent me on a tiny research mission and I bumped into these images of Chesley Bonestell's vision of a lunar base. 

It's interesting to note that there was another artist who specialized in astronomical art and was actually more important and influential than Bonestell. In 1937, the French astronomer-artist Lucien Rudaux published a book 'On Other Worlds' ('Sur les autres mondes') and rendered lunar landscapes that were astonishingly accurate to the rolling eroded hills that we now know the moon to be. Unfortunately for his popularization, that makes for boring pictures, and his true visions were pretty much ignored.

Bonestell, on the other hand, purposely dramatized his lunar landscapes with towering jagged peaks and jutting geologic formations. This, everyone felt, is how the moon SHOULD look. . .but disappointingly didn't, as the lunar astronauts showed us. But Bonestell helped to inspire a generation of scientists to make the trip possible. So there you are, art was there first, even if it did exaggerate the results. 

Chesley Bonestell, Lunar Base depiction, 1949

Chesley Bonestell, Lunar exploration depiction, 1961