Introduction to part IV

Abstract

Judging from its (omni)presence in everyday life, from the 1950s, the cosmos had become a central part of popular culture in the Soviet Union. Space motifs appeared in many different genres and contexts. In addition to space motifs in songs and films, in art or popular scientific literature as well as in the areas of consumer behaviour and material culture analyzed in this section, the cosmos was brought into daily life by the world-famous GDR car ‘Trabant’ (Satellite), the cigarette brands ‘Laika’ and ‘Sputnik’, or even confectionery with names such as ‘Cosmos’ or ‘Stratosphere’. It was the special mediality of the notion of cosmos that made it a hallmark of a modern mass culture.