4.11.2020
To mark the 20th anniversary of continuous habitation of the International Space Station, ESA commissioned two graphic artists to illustrate the Station from two perspectives. We spoke to the artists and asked them how they approached this challenge.
The International Space Station celebrates a huge milestone on 2 November 2020. For two decades, it has continuously hosted humans in space. Eighteen ESA astronauts have flown to the Station. Altogether, more than 240 crew members and visitors from 19 countries have visited the station and made it their temporary home.
A collaboration between five space agencies, the station has become a symbol of peaceful international cooperation. It represents the best of our space engineering capabilities as well as humankind’s pursuit of scientific knowledge and exploration.
By any standards, it is an incredible piece of spacecraft engineering. Weighing 420 tonnes and the size of a football pitch, it travels in low-Earth orbit at more than 27 000 km/hour, circling Earth more than 15 times each day.
Crew members conduct scientific research in microgravity at facilities such as ESA’s Columbus module. Some of these experiments and tests are preparing the way for human exploration of the Moon and beyond. But the Station also provides a unique view of Earth, while the science benefits life on our planet.
To celebrate 20 years of human habitation of the Space Station, ESA asked two well-known graphic artists to illustrate different aspects of the Station. Ale Giorgini, an illustrator from northern Italy, chose a view of space from inside the Space Station’s Cupola observatory, while Riccardo Guasco, also Italian, drew the spacecraft from an external perspective. To get an insight into these illustrations, we asked Ale and Riccardo what influenced their original illustrations of the Space Station and how space has inspired them.
A limited number of signed prints, plus themed apparel, are available in the ESA Space Shop.
A view over Earth, by Ale Giorgini
What influences your style?
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s watching Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as the Wacky Races, the Jetsons and the Flintstones. I also lived above a well-stocked library and fell in love with the illustrations of Czech author Miroslav Šašek. At school I studied geometry and trained as an architect, so all these things influenced my later work.
What ideas and feelings do you convey in your work?
There is no profound meaning in my drawings. Rather, I want to give the observer – and myself while I’m working – a moment of serenity. I like to use a single line to construct several elements: a person’s face, the outline of a tree or the body of a cat. This for me represents my view of life: that everything is connected.
How did you draw the Space Station?
The first challenge was to draw something I’d never actually seen in real life – and that was fun. From a technical point of view, the challenge was to study the interior of the Space Station and to represent it in such a way that, even though it is stylised, experts and space fans would still be able to recognise it. I imagined the famous cupola like a balcony with a view of space and this fascinated me as a concept. I’m pleased that the final illustration creates the feeling of floating in space because it can be viewed from different directions and doesn’t have a right way up or down.
What is it about space that intrigues or inspires you?
We are still exploring and learning about space, so it’s an environment we know very little about. It’s also somewhere that I am almost certain I will never visit. The unknown has always fascinated me.
How do you like to work?
I tend to wake up early, between six and seven, and focus on challenging projects first. I take breaks and always have a proper lunch with the phone switched off. In the evenings I go for a run. More than anything, peace and quiet helps me work well.