"The Martian Olympics" (1960)

I have to be away from my blog for a few weeks so I thought I would give you a fun mystery to ponder. I recently got a serialized story that most people haven't read. The author is well known to all of you who read this blog. In fact, in some way, they are responsible for this blog. I am also fond of the artist who illustrated it. I will eventually post the whole story.

I find these illustrations the perfect "mash-up" of how most of us have been spending our time; watching both the Olympics and Mars on TV.

Any guesses? Please leave a comment.

Prudential's Guide to Outer Space: The future belongs to those who prepare for it (1965)

 Prudential Insurance Company issued this space map in 1965. It uses elements from the Hammond space maps but seems unique in some of its images too.

 Unfortunately the best way to show it off is to show the panels one by one but you really miss the whole effect. This map came to mind because of the exotic space vehicles shown.

One of my favorites is this "Mars Expedition Spacecraft". I have never seen this as a proposed Mars design before and I am not sure how it would work. The delta wing shape seems unnecessary streamlining but it does look cool.

 This interplanetary craft is more suited to deep space. Has anyone else heard of "Empire"?

 This is the only image that seems directly re-used from the Hammond maps.

 This image also includes lots of details of current and future exploration of the Moon.

 These details of an extended expedition on the Moon are very interesting.

 "Moonship of the Future"? Look more like the moonship of 1955, someone used a little artistic license.

These images of the proposed Voyager probe to explore the planets and the Manned Orbiting Space Base are also cool.  A high value map that gives me (and you) lots of hardware to enjoy.

Curiousity on Mars!!! (August 5, 2012)

A quick break in our regular postings to celebrate a further step in our dream of going to Mars.  The most sopisticated rover yet is on Mars and is getting ready to look around and answer questions. So here are a few nostalgic images to remind us where dreams can take us.

Man on the Moon : Our future in space (1961)

I have a lot of older scans where I had scanned just the cover (back in the dark ages I didn't have access to the memory to store a lot of pages).  Here is another example where the cover is great and I remember the interior was too.  So until I can excavate it from the deep storage you will have to be satisfied with this "teaser".

Throneburg, James. Illustrated by Plasencia, Peter. Man on the Moon: Our Future in Space. New York: Alfred A Knopf. (63 p.) 22 cm. (1961)

An excellent early book about a manned voyage to the Moon. It discusses the history of study of the Moon, what current theories about it are and why we must explore the Moon. It lays out the steps building up to a manned trip and then discusses an imaginary voyage from take-off  (in your 6-man ship) to touchdown. Illustrations of rockets, astronauts, a lunar lander, and a Moon base.