Exploring God's World (1965)

A rare and infamous pamphlet about God's place in space exploration. It has some very nice color drawings and some text that captures one aspect of what 1965 in the United States was like.

Jauncey, James H. Illustrated by Tom Eaglin. Exploring God’s World. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing. (32 p.) 22 cm. Paperback. 1965

IT. Primary/secondary. Color paintings. Discusses God’s place in space flight, exploration of the solar system, undersea exploration, and man’s destiny to use and protect the earth. Illustrations of rockets, space suits, Moon and Mars exploration. No. 2586.

From the introductory section: "Man Voyages Into Space."

I like the large variety of spacecraft that seem to be traveling between Earth and Mars

 I also like this very cheerful illustration of a "space port" where anyone can book their ticket to Mars.

 This rationale for why the United States must go to space first is interesting. Since this was aimed at junior high school students it makes a very specific point about "evil."

 This illustration is just silly, it is not clear whether they are on the Moon, Pluto, Mars or wherever.

 The pamphlet ends with ways American can choose to use the oceans, including evidently undersea drilling and pumping of oil.

Summer Edition: My Weekly Reader July 13 (1964)

Once again I dig up an old Weekly Reader for your pleasure. This is the Summer Edition "D" from July 13, 1964.

Even though My Weekly Reader was normally handed out in school you could subscribe to a summer subscription so you would get mail over the summer. I think "D" edition was for 4th graders. The issues were much lighter in news and content but always good for a few minutes of entertainment.

 So here we had a crossword puzzle where you had to identify the objects and fill up the puzzle. I have started it for you :) so it shouldn't be too hard.

If you are still having trouble, here are the answers:

There was also a little "space news" in the issue in the form of another puzzle:

Hope you enjoyed this little treat.

Top Secret: The first flight to the moon (1960)

Top Secret is a British juvenile novel that I recently discovered. There were many of these published around that time but I found the illustrations in this one particularly charming. The plot is similar to many with children having a relative who happens to have a home-built rocket.


Top secret; the first flight to the moon. David Young. Illustrated by Eccles Williams.
Leicester: Brockhampton Press, 86 pp.  19 cm. 1960

 The author was a Fellow of the British Interplanetary society and an engineer. He was inspired to write a story for his children.

 I very much like the statement at the front about confidentiality and a secret moon gun under study by the British government.

 I also liked very much that Jodrell Bank is mentioned as the satellite dish that receives the signals they are returning from the Moon.

They did not pick a very conspicuous landing spot did they? I am surprised that this "secret mission" is not more widely known.

Mickey Mouse to the Moon (1960)

Happy"blogiversary" to me!

This is beginning my 9th year of blogging about these space books. I am now up to over 1.1 million pageviews! 

This a 1960 Japanese "reprint" of Mickey Mouse and His Spaceship (1952). I have blogged about the 1956 Portuguese edition of this book here:
http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2013/06/viagem-lua-travel-to-moon-1956.html.

In this version it was converted to a series of pictures from the book and  contained a record reading the story to the viewer as they flipped through the 16 cards. It was evidently #4 in this series of Disney stories

 Stunning lunar views

 Early lunar geological exploration