Russian Matchbox Labels
An amazing set of old Russian Matchbox Graphics celebrating early Soviet success in the space race.
These wonderful images are taken from an astonishing selection of over 1,000 Labels! All featured via Flickr User Mariad http://www.flickr.com/photos/maraid/sets/72157594234429063/. The majority of the labels are of Eastern European origin, and of course not all space related. Maraid also put together a feature on her blog here: http://is.gd/Tylc
So then, a little more on each of the featured labels:
Top: Luna 1 (Mechta)
Launched in 1959 Luna 1 was the first Spacecraft to reach the vicinity of The Moon and thus by doing so also become the first to fully achieve escape velocity from Earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1
2nd top: Sputnik 1
Launched in October 1957 the first man-made object in space was totally unanticipated in the West providing the spark the ignited the Space Race – Sputnik 1 spent 3 months in orbit emitting a radio signal for approx a third of that time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
3rd top: Sputnik 2 & Laika
Following on from Sputnik 1 came Sputnik 2, the second man-made object launched to earth orbit. This time carrying ‘Laika’ the first living animal to leave our biosphere and enter space, alas of course, never to return. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2
4th top: Solar Distances
The relative distances (in Kilometers) of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. Aside from measuring distance in light years, another major cosmic measuring unit is AU (Astronomical Unit) each AU is relative to 149 598 000 kilometers. To put that in context the nearest star to our Solar System is the Red Dwarf Proxima Centuri which is roughly 4.2 Light Years away, that’s 268 000 AU or 40 Trillion, 92 Billion, 264 Million Km’s away, at least that’s what Wolfram Alpha Says. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit
5th top: Luna 2
Luna 2 launched Sept 12th was first space craft to reach the surface of the moon when it was purposely crash landed after 33 .5 hours of flight. Also noteworthy for confirming the existence of Solar Wind http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2
Bottom: Radio Telescope
Caption reads “Radio Telescope” (cheers Uisgea / Lionel )
28 thoughts on “Russian Matchbox Labels”
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Those are gorgeous!
But the Laika one makes me sad.
Rui, this is an astonishing find! Ya gotta love love those post-modern graphics from the Russian masters! Thanks!
BTW I am following you on Twitter.
Great job.
FeedMyDay is veeeery cool!
You might want to check out Skyaak at http://www.skyaak.com
Cool?
Over and out, Rui,
Cheers and TTYSoon,
Michael
Excellent! All one has to do is get them perforated and dip them in acid!
Hey yeah – it’s always made me sad too! I remember reading somewhere that the Dog sent into space was actually a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samoyed_(dog) or samoyed/spitz mix – there’s a bit more about that here: http://www.novareinna.com/bridge/laika.html
Cheers Micheal – yeah probably the best flickr set I’ve seen….. Digging the Skyaak BTW 😉
Hmmm I always thought blotter sheets featured either Ganesh, Shiva or Bart Simpson!
Actually I do know it’s a popular sub genre of psychedelic art … some blotter Art sites here: http://blotterart.com/ and http://www.blotterart.net/
I guess the caption just says “radiotelescopes”.
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-russian/radio%20telescope
радиотелескоп
Thanks Lionel – I’ll amend that…
Isn’t the second picture inspired from Sputnik.
Yup and the third….
These Russian retro art are so cool. I love it.
Yeah, the last one does translate to “radiotelescope.”
Cool stuff!
Hello,
Speaking of matches and Russia, you should see what has become one of my favorite movies : “Kin Dza Dza” http://bit.ly/1iPWr
We will show it also in Second Life on the 22nd of July -> http://bit.ly/nsgHL
Cheers Webkot …. I did not know of that film, one to research – thanks
Vintage matchbox labels, my favorite lol lol!!
The 3-11-1957 is just awesome as a vintage matchbox label.
Stumbled here…
I think number for actually says:
Earth (Zemlya)
Mars
The Moon (with the “L” missing from Luna)
Thanks Westfork 🙂
“Радиотелескопия” correct translation is “Radiotelescopy”.
In 1959 my grandfather was on a union delegation
To Russia. he returned with a collection given to him by a Russian friend. some are pretty revolution. Are these worth anything as they are gathering dust in my shed.
I am collecting matchboxlabels, -skillets & -covers and have nearly 125,000 different from all over the world in my collection. Please feel free to take a look at a part of my worldwide collection on my private website.
Thats this address?
phillumeny.dk
The address of my website is: http://www.phillumeny.dk
The address is http://www.phillumeny.dk