Space enthusiasts, get out your favorite powdered orange drink, because a brand new set of glasses is bringing space history back to your kitchen cabinet (or basement bar).
Chop Shop, a Pennsylvania-based design studio with a give attention to space, science and popular culture, has launched its latest crowdfunding campaign for a trio of recent tumblers celebrating “Milestones in Space.” The project, which is now live to tell the tale Kickstarter, began on Monday (Oct. 23) and runs through Nov. 20.
Drawing inspiration from the space-themed drinkware that was popular 60 years ago, Chop Shop’s founder and inventive director Thomas Romer has created a modern-day equivalent while retaining the graphic design that made the Mercury and Gemini era glasses collectible.
“After gracing my display shelf for years, I yearned for more,” wrote Romer of his original Libbey glasses in his introduction to the campaign. “This original set, created around 1962, commemorated 4 pivotal milestones within the U.S. space program. It included Explorer 1, Enos the primary space chimp, Alan Shepard’s ‘First U.S. Manned Flight’ and Faith 7, the longest manned space flight (at the moment).”
“I could not help but imagine how incredible it could be if these glasses were expanded to encompass the wealthy history of space exploration beyond their initial release around 1962, a full seven years before the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. So, let’s kick things off with that!” he wrote.
Each glass within the Chop Shop set focuses on a distinct aspect of space exploration, from the past and present push to the moon to the journey out to Mars and the probes sent to the periphery of our solar system and beyond.
The Lunar History glass, highlighted in blue, showcases NASA’s Mercury and Gemini missions; the primary humans to orbit and land on the moon on Apollo 8 and Apollo 11, respectively; and the Artemis program, the U.S. space agency’s current effort to return astronauts to the lunar surface, including the primary woman and first person of color.
The red-hued Mars History glass commemorates the Mariner probes’ first up-close views of the Red Planet; the Viking landers and the rovers that followed them onto the Martian surface a long time later; and the long run of humans living on Mars.
Lastly, the Outer Planets History glass, decorated in yellow and orange, features the Pioneer and Voyager interplanetary (and now interstellar) missions; Huygens soft landing on the large Saturn moon Titan; and Latest Horizons’ flyby of Pluto and its on-going exploration of the Kuiper Belt.
Each glass also depicts the launch pads and rockets that gave each milestone its start and temporary descriptions providing the rationale for why each featured event is a historic turning point in space exploration.
Individual glasses can be found for a pledge of $15. The set of three Milestones in Space glasses is $45, and a set of 4 all of 1 design is $60.
Enthusiasts can even support the campaign by pledging for 2 sets of the three Milestones glasses, for a complete of six glasses, two of every design, for $80 or, in the event that they are a fan of the Voyager probes particularly, can pledge $50 for “The Voyager Collection,” which incudes one tumbler featuring Voyager and other outer planet missions, a Voyager themed sticker, velcro-backed patch, shirt and enameled pin.
Chop Shop expects to ship the Milestones in Space glasses in December, when the retail price will rise to $17 per tumbler.