I rather like the cover art, although I don't know anything about its history. I like the banner with the exploding spaceship, and the curved arc (curved by gravity, I assume) that leads the eye down the page to the panel with the actual escape pod. There aren't any people visible, although they're implied, but the pod itself looks rather anthropomorphic. It's certainly evocative enough for me, although I understand that tastes differ.
I followed the link to the suggested artist's website, and although a couple of pieces in the gallery were cool, the majority was pretty unimpressive to my eyes. If there's a possibility of replacing the cover art, I'd rather have a contest than commission one artist to do a piece.
In any case, I'd way, way, way rather spend any available money on the stories and a little recognition for the staff than on the site cover art.