Recently Found: NatGeo's 1973 Space Posters

I recently came across these large fold-out posters published by National Geographic in 1973. They are approximately 38 inches by 24 inches and in perfect condition. I bet they've never been out of the magazines they came in. Above, the iconic photo of the Earth floating in space as seen by our Apollo astronauts.

The reverse side of the above Earth poster is this lovely painting of all of the Apollo astronauts. Recently deceased Neil Armstrong is on the right holding his helmet. The detail of the painting is really great. All sorts of facts and figures are also printed on the poster.

The second poster from a 1973 National Geographic shows the then recently mapped Mars from all "sides." Forty years later our newest Mars robotic explorer is sending daily tweets from the Red Planet!

• You can follow "Curiosity" on Twitter, here!

The back of the Mars poster has this awesome painting of what they felt Mars would look like on the surface. While I don't think the wind is that strong with Mars' thin atmosphere, we know Mars HAS wind and features like "dust devils" that are like small cyclones. I'd say the artist just about nailed it back then.

• For a photo and an animation of a dust devil on Mars click over to NASA/JPL, here. 
• NASA just released this mega-billion pixel panoramic image of Mars. You can use your mouse to scroll from side to side in an interactive manner. The detail is incredible. Still hard to believe this is an entirely different planet! Here.

Someday I'd like to have these framed and matted. I think I would have clear glass/plexiglass on both sides so they could be hung either way. I'm sure I'd change them weekly, lol.