Eagle Has Landed: The story of lunar exploration (1970) (part 1)

This is another of those post-Apollo 11 books which takes advantage of the aerospace industry and NASA publicity stills and paintings regarding the next lunar expeditions.  While you probably have seen some of these I like how it presents for children the idea that landing on the Moon was just the beginning. Since there are a lot of illustrations I will make this a "two parter."

Dwiggins, Dwight. Eagle has Landed: The Story of Lunar Exploration. San Carlos, CA: Golden Gate Jr. Books. (80 p.) 28 cm. 1970

This book describes the Moon landings, the story of Apollo, what lunar geologists were expecting to find and what is beyond Apollo.  The photographs are pretty standard but the section "Beyond Apollo" shows these wild ideas. 

First off : Space Stations of the Future!!!

"Talking Through Space" in Boy's Own Paper (January 1962)

This magazine was published monthly in Britain and features an article by Britain's favorite astronomer and space guru of the time, Patrick Moore.

At the time satellites seemed very new and learning how they worked was on every boy's agenda.

The magazine included both non-fiction and fiction stories. This particular story caught my eye with its "weightless cow" Certainly not something you see every day.

Let's Find Out About Mars (1966)

Beyond going to the Moon there have always been dreams of exploring other planets.  While Mercury and Venus were the destination of some of the first planetary probes, the real excitement has always been about Mars.  Mars was a place that it seemed likely that someone could actually visit.  Although there are less books about the exploration of Mars, it continues to be many space flight advocates' goal.  I spent the July 20th, 2013 Lunar landing anniversary listening to Buzz Aldrin discuss his plans for Mars exploration via "recyclers".

Knight, David C. Illustrated by Miller, Don. Let's Find Out About Mars. New York: Franklin Watts Inc. (55 p.) 22 cm. 1966

This book illustrated one of the many plans in the 1960s for placing people on Mars. It was stimulated by the 1965 Mariner 4 mission to Mars. If you are interested in a history of these plans I highly recommend : Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning 1950-2000 by David S.F. Portree. NASA SP-2001-4521.

 

These plans look like they reflect the existing Saturn 5 hardware and the possible planned lunar habitats.

 

Mariner 4 confirmed that Mars was a desolate place and exploration would consist of coping with a hostile environment.

Ultimately the goal of Mars exploration is to help humans find another home. The urge to homestead new places, and "conquer" new lands seems at the heart of many of our dreams of Mars.  The final illustration seems to reflect that no matter where humans go there will always be the nuclear family around the kitchen table.

Planets and Interplanetary Travel (1967)

 
I know many of you had this book and may have forgotten it.  For me I had many in the "How and Why"  series because they were on sale in supermarkets, especially as paperback copies. So I could often convince Mom that I could put a book in the basket.  Many of them were published around the early 1960s but got reprinted and slightly updated later on.  This is a 1967 reprint of the1962 book.

I remember reading my paperback copy until the pages started falling out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_and_Why_Wonder_Books

Highland, Harold Joseph. Illustrated by McMains, Denny. The How and Why Wonder Book of Planets and Interplanetary Travel. New York: Wonder Books. (47 p.) 29 cm. Illustrated boards.

Text focuses on the solar system, history of rockets, human factors in space  travel, and current exploration efforts. Illustrations of rockets, astronauts, a manned landing on the Moon. Updated text through the editions but the illustrations remain the same. "How and Why Wonder Books" #5068.  Also found in softcover ("How and Why Wonder Books" #5048). Also 1967, 1969 editions.

I liked their use of a delta-wing vehicle to illustrate how they orient their ships.

 

 

They show the possibilities and progression we were to take to explore other planets.

They also had some nice illustrations implying how we could dream of what was to come.

Finally the illustration of the stages to the Moon: space station, a lunar lander, and man on the moon bring back simpler dreams of how our space future was soon to come.

 

 

Dan Dare's Space Book (1954) part 3

This is the last part of my illustrations from the Dan Dare's Space Book (1954). The book had a nice color illustration of a "real" rocket launch. The book goes on to speculate what might be next in our space future. Beyond the moon lies Mars...

 The caption is pretty interesting so I thought you would like to read about what the future looked like from 1954 (similar yet unique from Chesley Bonestell's paintings of Mars.)

 

 Lastly I leave you with this illustration of some very British looking space explorers.  (personally I think we need more astronauts with handlebar mustaches).

Colliers Part 6 : March 14, 1953

The 6th part of the 8 part Colliers "Man will conquesr space soon!" series has been put online in the May/June 2013 issue of IAAA Houston Newsletter "Horizons". This one covers the Collier’s magazine space articles of March 14, 1953, Man’s Survival in Space: Emergency!


There are also a couple of reprints of illustrations published in this blog!

These are the best digital versions of these illustrations you will ever see. Be sure to check them out.

http://www.aiaahouston.org/newsletter/

Dan Dare's Space Book (1954) part 2

 
Here is part 1:
http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2013/08/dan-dares-space-book-1954-part-1.html

More on Dan Dare's Space Book. One of the pleasant surprises when I first opened this book was the illustration by Chesley Bonestell, illustrating an article by Arthur C. Clarke.

 I liked this description from Clarke's article how we might mine fuel on the Moon.

I also enjoyed this little description:

"Of one thing we can be certain. The conquest of space is now beginning...."