Sunday, May 3, 2015

Exploring Space : A True Story of the Rockets of Today and a Glimpse of the Rockets That Are to Come (1958)





Although I have shared this book before, This is part of my re-scan project to present more material from the best space books.

While very inexpensive I would venture to say most of you are not familiar with this wonderful book. It's painted illustrations were done by Tibor Gergely, one of the premier children's illustrators of the 1950s. He did a large number of the Golden Books and is worth seeking out. Find out more about him here: http://www.tiborgergely.com/site/Home.html




Wyler, Rose. Illustrated by Gergely, Tibor and Solenewitsch, George. Exploring Space : A True Story of the Rockets of Today and a Glimpse of the Rockets That Are to Come. New York: Simon and Schuster. (24 p.) 21 cm.



 This is one of the most remembered of children's space travel books by those who grew up in the late 1950s. It covers the basics of rocket propulsion and then summarizes the current state of research up through the 1958 launch of Laika, the space dog.   "Little Golden Book" (#342).




The charm for me is capturing the post-Sputnik/pre-manned flight feeling about spaceflight. 

Recently some of the paintings from this book have been for sale. I thought I would share what the original pages looked like and the expertise of Mr. Gergely.








One of my favorite illustrations is the cross-section of a "typical" rocket. Observe the: radio equipment, the power plant, animal container, beacon, parachute and the two rocket stages.


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