Into Space: Man's First Controlled Space Flight (1961)

 

A bit of ephemera today. This is a pamphlet from a Revell Model Kit. They issued this kit quickly to take advantage of the excitement about this launch. So they had to include a booklet to explain why this slightly inaccurate model was so special. Imagine opening the model kit and reading this story.

Specifically this one, Revell Model Space 1/110 scale - Redstone Missile With Mercury Capsule (No. H1832-98 ) (nice description)

Man in Orbit (1962)

Man in Orbit (1962) is a beautiful book of paintings and the story of John Glenn's Mercury trip.

This is an example of some of the art hidden in these books that I haven't been able to blog about yet so I am excited to share this as a result of being stuck at home and having the time to dig deeper.

Foley, Scott. Illustrated by Miller, Garet. Man in Orbit. New York: Parent’s Magazine Press. (40 p.) 1962.

Seven Into Space: The Story of the Mercury Astronauts (1960)

Not a lot of illustrations, mostly black and white photos but an amazing cover.  It is a book about the Mercury 7 and what they will need to train for spaceflight.

Bell, Joseph N. Seven into Space: The Story of the Mercury Astronauts. Chicago: Popular Mechanics Co. (192 p.) 1960.

 A special gift to a special boy...

Astronaut Press Meeting, Lewis Research Center, March 4, 1960

This is a piece of ephemera I found. It looks like a souvenir of a press event with the Mercury astronauts at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland Ohio.

"Astronaut Press Meeting, Lewis Research Center, March 4, 1960." 12 p.

It is a spiral-bound thick board-book with reproductions of photographs and some news article that covered the event.

 Mostly it was a chance for reporters to see the astronauts and report on the bio-medical testing they were undergoing.

"Perhaps the most impressive simulator, the whirligig called MASTIF (for Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility), located at Lewis' cavernous altitude wind tunnel, was publicized far beyond its value as a training aid. Conceived in 1959 by David S. Gabriel of Lewis as a rig to test space equipment in three degrees of rotational and two degrees of linear freedom, the idea of concentric gimbaled cages was translated into hardware in the altitude wind tunnel early in 1959, when Lewis was assigned the job of testing Big Joe's attitude control system. Robert R. Miller directed the MASTIF project; Louis L. Corpas did the detail design work; and Frank Stenger developed the air-jet propulsion arrangement. Soon they had erected a tinker-toy-like rig 21 feet in diameter at its supporting yoke, capable of mounting a 3,000-pound space capsule inside its three sets of gimbals, and able to turn and tumble the whole combination in three axes simultaneously at 60 noisy revolutions per minute. An early trial revved the outer cage from zero to 50 revolutions per minute in half a turn." see This New Ocean

Mercury Program Trading Card Vending Machine poster (1963)

A poster of Mercury astronauts from 1963 with a good story. I came across this poster and started to research where it came from.  It turns out it was an advertising poster from a trading card vending machine.  Here is the listing and photographs from an auction of it.

 "Mercury program-era Astronauts and Spacecraft trading card vending machine, 10 x 23.5 x 11.5, manufactured by The Exhibit Supply, Co., of Chicago, Illinois. 

http://www.icollector.com/Mercury-Era-Astronauts-and-Spacecraft-Card-Dispenser_i26882944

For a charge of two cents, the "'Compact' Mechanical Vacuumatic Card Vender" sold 32-card packs that commemorated the achievements of the six pilots of the Mercury program. The machine face is detached but present, and consists of a functional spring lever, coin slot, card dispensing space at bottom.

The  poster lists the names of the six pilots and images of the moon, a launching Saturn rocket with tower, and Friendship 7 Pilot John Glenn smiling in his flight suit and helmet. 

I hope you enjoy this nice piece of ephemera.