Friday, November 21, 2025

Space Travel (1960) / All About Satellites and Space Travel (1958)


Today is the Cantonese translation of the book All About Satellites and Space Travel, David Dietz (1958).

The Cantonese is translated for me by Google Translate so I apologize for the mistakes.

I am always looking for these children's books that got translated into other languages. This one is interesting to me since it seem like the children's level material is represented as a way for children to learn more about the future of space travel. It does not look at all like a children's book.

The book title and citation information seems to translate as:

Dez, David (sp?). Space Travel. Translated from English by Lo Tiande. Garden Road, Hong Kong : World Today. (135 p.) 1960.



TRANSLATED Back Cover: "Traveling to space is no longer a dream. Today's youth have the hope of traveling in the boundless universe. You should be prepared. David Dietz is a world-renowned author of popular science readings, and has won the Pulitzer Prize for scientific articles for many years for Scribes-Howard newspapers. This book uses simple text to describe the process of human study of space, with a popular and detailed introduction to the principles and development of tools used for space travel such as rockets, artificial satellites, and spacecraft."







Here are some scans of the 1958 book:














Friday, November 7, 2025

To The Moon By Rocket Ship (1940)

 


A bit of obscure ephemera today. In 1940 the Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia had a program they called "To the Moon by Rocket Ship." It was a program for adults and children describing the science of what it would be like to go to the Moon. It also explored the formation of craters (thought volcanic at the time.) They also sold this souvenir booklet of the program.

So from a hot summer night some 85 years ago we take you on an exploration of the Moon.

Franklyn Institute. To The Moon by Rocket Ship. Philadelphia, PE: Fels Planetarium.  (10 p.) Aug and Sept 1940. 















Friday, October 24, 2025

Sugar Jets Cereal (1954)

 



Sugar Jets Cereal! More sugar than your body needs in easy bite-sized bits.

Sugar Jets cereal was introduced in 1953, but here is a 1954 box. Its mascot for years was Major Jet. I have collected a bunch of ads, premiums, and comic strips about this cereal since I loved the "space age" design. So here is my collection so far.

I do have to recommend this 1958 Sugar Jets commercial for its space age appeal and the commercial for the Lindberg Space Station model you could send away for.

Sugar Jets - Your Breakfast for Tomorrow (1958 Commercial)

https://youtu.be/MHGhW4hPXcs?si=P6-8-Bb2ulcJzScQ


Back of the cereal box:




Some advertisements of the time


A giveaway premium: Major Jet's Rocket-Glider




Major Jet's Magic Googles

Next is Major's Jet's Magic Paint Set. I had blogged about these cereal premiums back in 2013.







"Yes, the universe of tomorrow may seem as small as the world of today!"







Finally here is some of the advertisements/comic strips that used to appear in the Sunday comics.







Thank goodness for Major Jet and his Jet Helicopter!