4.3 Article

Visual Displays in Space Station Culture An Archaeological Analysis

Journal

CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 62, Issue 6, Pages 804-818

Publisher

UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
DOI: 10.1086/717778

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Funding

  1. Australian Research Council [DP190102747]

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This study provides an archaeological analysis of the visual display of space heroes and Orthodox icons in the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station, tracing the origins and evolution of the items displayed in space. The research identifies a particular type of space station culture through the displayed items, which has implications for the design of future habitats in space.
We offer an archaeological analysis of the visual display of space heroes and Orthodox icons in the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS). This study is the first systematic investigation of material culture at a site in space. The ISS has now been continuously inhabited for 20 years. Here, focusing on the period 2000-2014, we use historic imagery from NASA archives to track the changing presence of 78 different items in a single zone. We also explore how ideas about which items are appropriate for display and where to display them originated in earlier Soviet and Russian space stations starting as early as the 1970s. In this way, we identify the emergence and evolution of a particular kind of space station culture with implications for future habitat design.

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