posted 09-16-2025 04:34 PM               

For instance, the black line drawing at upper right is the original Apollo 11 Saturn V launch illustration that had been approved by the U.S. Postal Service to use as an official government pictorial cancel (postmark) device for mankind's 50th launch anniversary at the KSC post office. It was created by Detlev van Ravenswaay, a prominent German space artist of space travel and astronomy. Note below his original ink pen artistic rendering that had been applied to multi-thousands of space postal covers as this one at bottom right.

Another van Waay depiction is the hand-painted cover of shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless as the first untethered EVA (spacewalk) that can be seen on the top row. It had been signed by artist van Waay and McCandless in a special way.

But of course, not to take away from our own outstanding cS community of professional space artists and other noted illustrators and designers, such as famed Chris Calle, Joel Katzowitz, Tim Gagnon, Ron Woods (see Ron's painting with an Apollo astronaut holding an American flag pole on the moon at bottom row), Dave Ginsberg, Bob McLeod, Jorge Cartes, and a few others. Check cS for their many space artwork projects along with some of their own national and global websites.

At top center is a pencil drawing of Dr. Kurt Debus that had been signed by the rocket pioneer that had been KSC's first Center Director. Senior NASA graphics designer Frank Wright did the pencil portrait in 1970 while at KSC in Debus' office.

The cartoon-type designed birthday card was designed, produced, and signed by veteran French journalist/artist Jacques Tiziou with another card of "Astronuts Make Better Lovers!" announcing the marriage of Jacques and Annie Tiziou in 1978 by IBM Public Relations Director and artist Nino Perez.

There are a few more wonderful pieces displayed, but perhaps the most unusual would be the child-like "launch box" seen above. The blue vintage lunch box exhibits a colorful 4-sided original artwork of an unknown artist celebrating veteran space age reporter Mary Bubb, the first full-time woman space writer.

The front side of the lunch box highlights the space shots of Apollo 8, 11, and 12 in 1968-69. The back side is an outstanding rendering of Press Site 39 with Mary pictured wearing her Apollo 12 viewing hat during a Saturn V liftoff. It's quite a remarkable one-of-a kind piece of "artwork" that had been gifted to one of the best space news reporters that I have known and worked with during the first shuttle decade.