Chesley Bonestell

Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. (January 1, 1888 – June 11, 1986) was an American painter, designer, and illustrator, best known for his realistic-looking paintings of space exploration, including future spacecraft and scenes set on moons and planets in the Solar System. His work helped inspire the American space program and appeared in popular magazines and books from the 1940s into the 1970s. He is considered one of the founders of "space art" for scientific illustration and his style has been influential in science fiction art, illustration, and cinema.

Physicist Sidney Perkowitz summarized his historic reputation as: "Chesley Bonestell portrayed planets, stars, and spacecraft with stunning, near-photographic realism. Collaborating with experts like rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, Bonestell's renditions combined the best scientific and engineering knowledge of the time, and scientific exactness, with artistic imagination". According to American space policy expert Howard E. McCurdy: "No artist had more impact on the emerging popular culture of space in America than Chesley Bonestell. Through his visual images, he stimulated the interest of a generation of Americans and showed how space travel would be accomplished". Noted astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan put his artwork in personal terms: "I didn't know what other worlds looked like until I saw Bonestell's paintings of the solar system".

Bonestell's artwork from the 1940s through the 1950s into the early 1960s, along with his innovative techniques and visualization skills, have led many artists and scholars to dub Chesley Bonestell "the father of modern space art" for his pioneering role.