Red Rocket X2703 Orbiting the Moon – Super Science Stories Aug 1951

A deep crimson rocket ship blazes across the cover in a sweeping low-angle arc, its delta-wing silhouette marked 'X2703' banking hard against a massive, crater-pocked lunar surface rendered in cool silver-blue. Twin exhaust tubes trail behind as the craft skims the Moon's terminator line, with smaller celestial bodies scattered in a star-dusted purple-black void. The composition captures raw mid-century space-race optimism — aerodynamic, urgent, and gloriously optimistic about humanity's near-future reach into the cosmos.