http://www.secapl.com/bonestell/sciam.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
CB's effect on space exploration
Chesley Bonestell's Effect on Space Exploration
The name Chesley Bonestell is recognized by those in the fields of architecture, motion picture illustration, and astronomical art for he excelled in each of these areas. However, many consider his illustrations to space explorations and solar system scenes to be his most important. Frederick C. Durant in Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell (1983, p.1), writes, : "the most influential and compelling of his works are illustrations of manned visits to planets at a time when the subject was only the dream of a few enthusiasts. Certainly before it was professionally acceptable - or even respectable.
According to Scientific American (May 1994), "Bonestell's paintings of astronomical vistas and space-faring explorers not only anticipated the great technological triumphs of the 20th century, they helped to bring them about. His attention to pictorial and technical realism transformed the popular perception of spaceflight from fantasy to an immediate possibility, if not a certainty."
Durant, Frederick C. and Ron Miller, Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell. Norfolk: The Donning Company, 1983.
Miller, Ron. "Chesley Bonestell's Astronomical Visions" Scientific American 270:5, p. 50-53.