This painting depicts the Earth Orbit Rendezvous concept for travelling to the Moon. A space station assembled in Earth orbit is used to assemble the lunar expedition spacecraft and serve as the redezvous point for the trip to the Moon.

Painting copyright 1953 Chesley Bonestell
Conquest of the Moon (1953) Wernher Von Braun, Fred Whipple & Willy Ley, Viking Press, NY. oct. 1953