His and Her Books (1961)

Just a quick fun set of books.  One style of children's book popular in the late 1950s was the "dress-up" book. A child would be shown in different costumes with a little text about what they were pretending to be,

These two 1961 books show some of the last gasps of dressing up like a "space hero" instead of an astronaut.  While charming they remind us how fast the trends changed when real space flight became possible. Space helmets and space guns became un-chic as silver suits and count-downs became the new style.

I don't want to leave the space women out either.  It is surprising that astronauts HAD to be men but space heroes could be anyone.  You saw a lot less female astronauts in the 1960s.