Back To The Soviet Future

A towering hydrofoil cutting across the high seas. The text reads, “On wings through the ocean.”
 

A vertical-takeoff and -landing aircraft, sketched 17 years before the similar Bell Boeing Osprey took flight in the United States.

Moscow as sketched by a Soviet soothsayer in 1952. Construction of the building on right began in the 1930s after an iconic church was blasted into rubble to make way. But the planned 415-meter “Palace of the Soviets” was scrapped when World War II broke out. The church has since been rebuilt on the site.

A jet-powered grappling hook for next-level alpinists. Technika Molodezhi (Youth Technics)  magazine first appeared in 1933 and is still published today.

A spidery mountain buggy alongside text that reads, "Walking on walls." The magazine's stated purpose is to introduce youngsters to the "world of scientific and technical creativity, innovative thinking, and daring."

A star sailor adjusting his sails. During the magazine's Soviet heyday, however, not all daring was celebrated. In 1984, Technika Molodezhi's longtime editor was fired after a story by British author Arthur C. Clarke was published in the magazine. The story featured characters named after Soviet dissidents.

An amphibious ship grinding through the Arctic on caterpillar tracks. A similar design would eventually become reality in 2017, though the Soviet flag might look a touch out of place on the sleek French design.

Slurping up sealife in the heady days before depleted fish stocks became a concern.

Personal helicopters with some questionable engineering attributes hover above a propaganda march in Moscow.

The eerie synth soundtrack of Blade Runner (1982) can almost be heard in this 1973 vision of a future city.

A rocket blasts from its Moscow launch ramp.

Seafloor-wheel drive: an underwater truck having some technical problems, surprisingly.   

An engineering fruit salad on an intersection of the future.

An orbiting space station illustrated on a 1950 cover, 48 years before the launch of the International Space Station (ISS).
 

A smart watch resembling something straight from Jony Ive’s playbook.

Unloading time is cut to a few roaring, dust-clouded seconds in this vision of a ship delivering coal.

Parachutists crammed into a chilly-looking craft as the world slid toward war in 1937.

A space-aged Adam and Eve making small steps on another planet. The text reads, "...Our traces will remain..."