When it comes to vintage chart porn, there's nothing quite like the Rockwell Integrated Space Plan. Now, New York-based design firm 212box, in cooperation with the original ISP's designer and a team of space enthusiasts, have given the ISP a much needed overhaul as the result of a successful Kickstarter.
Originally created in 1989 by Rockwell analyst Ron Jones as a long-range systematic perspective of the Western World's space program, the Integrated Space Plan was an insanely intricate technology tree for the next 100 years of space exploration, ranging from then-recent aerospace events ("Voyager II Uranus Encounter") to far-flung concepts bordering on sci-fi ("Stationary Martian Skyhook" or "Interstellar Traversing World Ships.")
No wonder its been pinned up on so many walls of universities, science labs, and NASA itself: the Rockwell Integrated Space Plan is to aerospace geeks what a pin-up of Rita Hayworth was to G.I.'s in World War II. Except it's a lot less eye-pleasing: nothing but densely-placed typewriter text and wireframes, the Integrated Space Plan looks like an engineer made it, not a designer. And since it's over 25 years old, the ISP is also out of date: many key metrics like the world's biggest aerospace firms, the world's most abundant resources, and space budgets have totally changed since Jones put pen to paper in the late '80s, while technologies like the Space Shuttle are a thing of the past.
Featuring a modern, color-coordinated design, the Integrated Space Plan has now been updated for the 21st century. Not only has the information the chart conveys been updated to account for the last thirty years of progress—and, in some cases, lack of progress—in space technology, but it's simply much easier to read... albeit, at the expense of some of the original's practical analog charm. (If you prefer an updated version of the original, you can download a high-res, vector-drawn PDF update here.)
About the redesign, Eric Clough of 212box says: "A lot of the original content was text based and designed with an interlaced network of boxes and arrows. Our new collaborative strategy was to condense as much of that information as possible into pictorial diagrams that might be more effective, both visually and comprehensively. You may still need a magnifying glass and a large wall to ingest 100 years of future space exploration, but we also hope that from afar you get more of an interstellar view of our potential future in space."
The new Integrated Space Plan poster will be shipped out to Kickstarter backers in the coming weeks, then be available to purchase by the general public here. If you love space, this is a prettier Rita Hayworth for your wall.