Robert McCall (1919-2010)

[major_clanger]

Robert McCall, noted space artist and illustrator, has died at the age of 90. Still working until very recently, he may be most familiar to sf fans for the dramatic poster artwork for 2001.

Comments

[nmg]

While I knew McCall primarily for his 2001 artwork, I hadn't realised that he'd also been roped in to illustrate the Von Braun Mars expedition plan of 1969 (itself only a slight reworking of the 1968 Boeing Integrated Manned Interplanetary Spacecraft.

His illustrations include the complete spacecraft assembly (clearly from the Von Braun plan, because two ships are shown as opposed to a single ship in the IMIS proposal), the Mars Excursion Module, and a nuclear shuttle (NERVA, via the Boeing Propulsion Module design) shown with a space tug and crew module (from the 1969 Integrated Program Plan).