Unless you are an experienced astronaut, your conception of outer space has probably been influenced by Chesley Bonestell's superrealist paintings of other-planetary scenes, which caused a sensation when Life first published some of them in 1944. From 1964 to 1980 he was Assistant Director and Head of the Astronautics Department of the National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, where he developed not only the present collection of rocket and spacecraft but also the museum's core collection of space art. A graduate of Lehigh University, he became a commander in the US Naval reserve after serving as Director of Engineering, US Naval Air Rocket Test Station (Dover, NJ), as a flight deck officer on the aircraft carrier USS Sable, and as a Navy test pilot. Durant's career spans the entire history of modern rocketry and spaceflight. His original paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. He has lectured on space art and space history in the USA, the UK, France, Japan and Italy, and has been on the faculty of the International Space University.

His work has appeared on scores of book jackets, book interiors and in countless magazines.

Ron Miller is an illustrator and author specializing in astronomical, astronautical and science-fiction subjects.

The art of chesley bonestell