This issue's cover is inspired by the pair of essays discussing the Soviet influence on science fiction and technology throughout the communist domain of the Cold War era. It is a composite of images of stamps issued in North Korea, the main focus of the lead piece in the pair. Although the stamps were produced in the late 1980s, they commemorate key moments and individuals in early Soviet space exploration: Konstantin Tsiolkovski (1857–1935), who was a Russian (later Soviet) rocket scientist whose interest in astronautics led him to come up with the ideal rocket equation; Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched in 1957; Laika the dog, the first living being to make it into orbit; and Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, who, in 1963, was the first woman to fly into space, and is still the only woman to fly solo. Her commitment to space continues; in 2013 she offered...

You do not currently have access to this content.