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Mario Regalado

Dr. Sharity Nelson

10/13/2022

English 1301

Visual Analysis SpaceX’s Retro Ambition

The SpaceX retro poster was published in 2015 to help market the push of the

space rocket industry. The header reads “Summit Olympus Mons The Solar System's

Highest Peak.” At the bottom right of the image, there are two people standing inside a

gondola staring at the mountain's great height. The bottom left of the image contains two

miniscule mountain climbers making their way up the summit.  In the background, there

are more gondolas moving upwards towards a large red mountain with a sky-blue

background. (fig1) The purpose of the image was initially to symbolize SpaceX’s

aspirations of reaching the summit's peak, but conquering the mountain is a fraction of

the mission.  

When opening the image, one of the first things the viewer sees is a woman

holding onto a man's shoulders from behind. Although there aren’t any indications that

the couple are married or together, it can be inferred that man and woman were likely

chosen for SpaceX’s great ambition of populating the red planet.  As the man and woman

move upwards towards the red mountain, more civilians are also lined up in gondolas

arriving at the same destination.  This could represent a fresh beginning for not only the

couple, but the human race as a species.  

But why would SpaceX promote ambitions of conquering the tallest mountain on

Mars? Why not go to Venus which is much closer to Earth. Mars is the most habitable
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compared to the other planets. Not only is it the second closest planet, but there has also

been recent discovery of water, which is essential to human life.  SpaceX’s desire isn’t

only to reach Mars but colonize it as a whole. As stated prior, the company has intentions

of populating the red planet with the pioneers inside gondolas representing Mars’ first

inhabitants. 

The two mountain climbers portray characteristics of determination, doing

whatever it takes to reach the top of the summit. Based on the top header, Olympus Mons

is much taller than the tallest mountain on Earth - Mount Everest. Climbing this mountain

further supports the idea that SpaceX has a higher level of resolve and is ready to work

diligently to achieve a reputable milestone.  But why take control of the mountain first?

Granted it might be easier to dominate the planet's flat land first but taking control of the

highest point in Mars construes that the most difficult task of dominating Mars has

already been achieved and that the rest should be a breeze.

The tone of the image hints towards a 50’s retro promotional poster. In the 50’s,

there was a competition to see who could achieve better spaceflight capabilities between

the United States of America and the Soviet Union. This battle was referred to as “Star

Wars” by President Reagan but was better known as the Space Race. There was plenty of

propaganda surrounding the Space Race, but mainly retro posters of man on the moon

being plastered every inch of the United States urging NASA to bring pride to their

nation. SpaceX’s poster delivers the same style to bring back the history of the Space

Race and how instead of putting man on the moon, they will achieve man on Mars. The

retro style of the image symbolizes the past meeting the future.  All the troubles the

United States went through to put man on the moon are being put to the test; but this
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time, to climb the solar system's highest peak and put the human species on the red

planet. What kind of technologies are needed to arrive at Mars? What type of space

rocket improvement needs to be made? These are similar questions to what people first

asked when John F Kennedy declared that the United States was going to conquer the

moon. The days of research set on better refining space innovation are depicted by

futuristic gondolas.

The image conveys a sense of inspiration for the reason that everything in the

frame is pointing upwards - the mountains, gondolas, people, and even the lights. The

rays of yellow light on the bottom right help bring ambition to the viewers. There is a

myriad of ideas as to what the light can represent ranging from sunshine to happiness.

However, according to the bible, light rays represent wisdom, intellect and most notably,

hope. Rays of light are typically aided by a bright color, usually orange or white. But

these light rays were paired with the vibrant color yellow, which in our modern culture, is

used to delineate optimism. Inspiration is also represented by the people in the gondolas,

diving headfirst into a planet of uncertainties. When the viewer's eyes follow up, they

will see a horizon and ambition of the human race to explore a new frontier.

All these elements help contribute to the SpaceX mission to put man on Mars.

The image conveys great aspirations for Mars colonization and alongside bringing a

fulfilling ambition for the human species to evolve.  It’s important to remember that

although the illustration is part of a company with a large influence in the modern

economy, their end goal isn’t to monopolize the space rocket industry, rather to

encourage humanity to see their greatest adventure come to fruition.

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Appendix

Figure 1 Image for SpaceX Retro Poster (2015)

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Works Cited
 SpaceX Retro Tourism Poster

https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2015/5/15/8613099/spacex-made-some-awesome-travel-posters-
for-mars