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.

More from this book soon!
http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2015/05/exploring-space-true-story-of-rockets_8.html

Star Dance (1964) for Yuri's Night 2015

Happy Yuri's Night to all! If you are not familiar with this celebration, the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin, flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961.


So for this special celebration I recommend DANCING!!!

This is not a children's book but rather a document showing how Yuri's achievement was celebrated.  It seems to be from a book of music and choreography that the seller called Star Dance. One of the dances in the book is celebrating how a cosmonaut visited the heavens, dancing with the stars and moon.

Star Dance. Moscow. 1964. 20.4 x 25.8 cm (8" x 10.2") 128 pages + 24 pages of photos.

In the introduction to this section you can see the dedication to/inspiration from Yuri's flight.

Punch-out Mobile Solar System (1959)

Another example of space art but not necessarily space ship art for children, I love the colors and painted illustrations in this very thin book (6 pgs!).

Punch-out Mobile Solar System (1959) Dell Publishing Co. Racine, WI.  No. 151

It was very ambitious. Observe that it contained not only all 9 (8) planets and their moons, but also the Sun, the constellations, asteroids, comets, ring nebula, star clusters, and a spiral galaxy! It is the universe in your own bedroom.

First Men to the Moon (1960) (part 2)

I continue my exploration of this wonderful children's book. The only one written by Wernher von Braun.

Von Braun, Wernher. Illustrated by Freeman, Fred. First Men to the Moon. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. (96 p.) 24 cm. Cloth, DJ.

 Exploring the Moon looks like a very geological expedition. At the time the biggest question seemed to be what the Moon was made of, since it was our first big sample of extraterrestrial material.

Perhaps Fred Freeman had hoped to make many of the illustrations paintings. Unfortunately this one is the only full-color illustration.

Another nice illustration showing how a different space-suit might be needed when exploring a surface.

 These "kitchen tools in space" are some of my favorite odd illustrations. When imagining what the future may hold it is these small touches that make it real.

But all journeys must come to an end. 

 This chapter (yes the book only has 4 chapters) is the shortest, and least illustrated. Showing how to get there was fun but the return trip is just doing it all backwards (or they had to edit something out so why not this part)

In the words of the author: "Let's go back to the moon!"