Something different (and non-illustrated) today. I found this interesting article in Harper's Magazine published in May of 1952. It outlines some of the current thoughts about spaceflight at the time. More interestingly it shares a debate about whether manned exploration is necessary. While this is not my usual post I am fascinated by how there was a decision point where people needed to be convinced whether or not to support space travel.
This first article "The astronauts are serious" tries to convince the reader that this idea is not science fiction but a soon to come reality.
The second article tries to explain why space travel is a bad idea with too many unknowns.
I will be offline for a little while but look forward to my July postings as a share a series of 6 coloring books about the Moon landings. See you then!
This is a bit of a "mystery book". I don't have a date on it so I have to guess it might be mid-1950s. It also seems more British than American so there is that. It is only 10 pages.
It displays a lovely streamlined design sense for future vehicles. The vehicles are all driven by children and are fanciful.
The cars especially remind me of both "Thunderbirds" in the 1960s and of the soviet books that always had: A car, a helicopter, a hydrofoil and a spaceship.
This book also had coloring examples for the illustrations so you could chose to paint them?
But I love rockets for children and this final illustration of rockets to Saturn while the animals of Earth wave is pretty special.
