Zedo Into Space (1952)

A nice early space coloring book with a cut-out space ship on the back

Zedo Into Space Coloring Book.  Kenosha, Wisconsin: Samuel Lowe Company (1952)

Uchu-u Ryoko (travel/trip in the universe) (1971?) Part 2

 Part 1 of this post is at:
 http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2012/02/japanese-space-encyclopedia-1971-part-1.html

We pick up this space encyclopedia after we have landed on the Moon. I love this exploration vehicle, although it looks more like some of the proposed Mars "RV" vehicles.  It look like explorers could travel for several days in this beauty. although I lied in the previous post about showing the Moonbase, I guess I was just dreaming.

 And onward to Mars!  I think this "shot" comes just before the other cover painting.  I like the beautiful south pole and rich spring greenery.

 A very nice shot of Jupiter and a ship that would not look out of place in 2001.  Well equipped for the long voyage outward from Earth.

 The reason I guess this is an encyclopedia are the 4 pages of text at the end.  Since I don't read Japanese I thought I could at least show the really cool border they put around the text.

 Here is the diagram showing how the space station and the shuttle would work.

 And this diagram lays out our plan for conquest of the solar system.

A lot of really neat paintings that remind me of the wonders of space exploration that still might be yet to come.

Uchu-u Ryoko (travel/trip in the universe). (1971?) Part 1

 Thanks for putting up with my Weekly Reader posts, now back to cool space art.  Not reading Japanese I can't tell you much about this thin "board" book.  It seems to be part of a pictorial encyclopedia series. This volume is about our future in space! You are looking at the back cover. Since I ended scanning most of the illustrations I will break this post into 2 parts.


My readers rescue me again! Chris says:

"The title of the book is uchu-u ryoko (travel/trip in the universe). It's a picture book for the 3-5 years old kids (the numbers in the right). It's for the kids before the primary school (maybe "kindergarten" ?)."

 My friends over at Project Sword Toys will appreciate this one. It reminders me of Thunderbirds vehicles. Someone was familiar with the Cape Kennedy "crawlers" but guessed how space shuttles might use them.

 Here are some beautiful painting of dramatic re-entry procedures.

 There is also a beautiful painting of the space station and how the space shuttle would be using it.

 The book seems to follow the "space progression" so the next step is landing on the Moon.

I will be back next week with the moonbase, mission to Mars and some cool space graphics.

My Weekly Reader April 1958

April 7, 1958 

The science supplements in My Weekly Reader were interesting also. Not to read too much into them but the tone and information shared does suggest a certain point of view about what the U.S. "should" be doing in the space race.

 Again there is a "timetable for space" presented for our future in space. We were to land on the Moon sometime between 1968 and 1978.

 Here is the news from our second successful satellite launch

Note also the article "Five Spacemen Return".  Even if we could not launch a man into space it didn't keep us from suggesting it was the next step.

April 21, 1958

There were different My Weekly Readers for different grades. Here is the rewritten space station and satellite articles aimed at a more advanced student.

My Weekly Reader March 1958

 March 3 1958

"What makes a good spaceman?

 I like the timetable for space.  Even if we had not announced it was a race, children were now given a way to measure our progress against the news they heard. Note they do not predict a manned moon landing until 1978.

 March 17 1958

For anyone who argues that the X-15 program was not part of space exploration, here it is in print stating they expected Capt Kincheloe to be the first American in space.

Let's hear it for "space food". This has to be one of the earlier articles for the general public about food in space.

My Weekly Reader February 1958

 February 3, 1958

 My Weekly Reader was always a little behind the "real" news so the success of Vanguard took a little time to be brought to the attention of school children. When it did appear it was presented as the first step in our travel to the moon and beyond.

 February 17, 1958

 Sorry for the incomplete page but I like both the "Message to young Americans" from Von Braun and the last line of the cherry pie champion of Canada!

"I can hardly wait for space travel to start. I'm pretty sure the red color of the planet Mars comes from the juice of cherry pies!"

A very incomplete page, but gives the sense of how children were being told this was the most important moment of history they were going to be living through.

My Weekly Reader January 1958

 January 6, 1958

 No mention of the recent failure just a reminder that we were moving forward

 January 20, 1958

"The moon is a long way from the earth" (so don't expect any results soon)