Rocky, The Rocket Mouse (1961)

Rocky, the Rocket Mouse was a fictional story about a research rodent in the rocketry program.It was published a little late for the real testing program but 1961 was the height of the space race so maybe it had been waiting for a while to be published. On the other hand I don't think mice were sent to the moon so maybe it was newly written.

Bergey, Alyce. Illustrated by Lawrence Spiegel. Rocky, The Rocket Mouse.
Minneapolis : T.S. Denison, 29 cm. 1961.

 "I think he is just the mouse we have been looking for."

 I like the miniature space couch and cabin.

 "Maybe somewhere I could find that green cheese Mama had told me about" (What are we teaching our children?)

He is glad to be put back into a cage even if he has to take that "nasty red powder."