Space

Cover of a short booklet: We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters , by Helen and Betty Mitchell. Clarksburg, W.Va.: Saucerian Publications. Mouse over the image above to see a close-up of part of the illustration . Two sisters encounter space aliens in a coffee shop in the 1950s! Read all about it at the Internet Archive: We Met The Space People (1959) .

For more information, see the full cover of this booklet:

Part of a game that encouraged schoolchildren to eat a healthy breakfast that included Kellogg's cereals. Late 1960s or perhaps early 1970s. Excerpts from the text of the leaflet: Kellogg's "Astronaut'" Breakfast Game (Will your team be first to reach the moon?) . . . You are now a member of one of the Moon Ship Crews that is racing to have breakfast on the moon. . . . When you have a healthful breakfast like the one pictured on the inside of this score card, you are helping your team win the race to the moon. . . .

"Easter Seals. Space Ranger." A tin-lithograph tab button pin issued by the Easter Seals charity in the late 1950s. The satellite depicted on the pin looks similar to Vanguard 1 , which was launched by the United States in 1958. It's still orbiiting the earth today even though its solar-powered radio transmitter stopped working in 1964.

Front cover of Space Ship To The Moon , a 1952 Rand McNally Elf Book, authored by Edwin Clark Reichert with illustrations by Arthur K Bilder.

Outer Space Guide Instructions: Find desired planet on this wheel. Set it opposite arrow on bottom piece. In windows provided find answers. Diameter in miles. Period of revolution around sun. Mass (Earth = 1.00). Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

"See--flying saucers are real!" An advertising postcard with a postmark dated July 27, 1967. Excerpts from the back of the postcard: "Extraterrestrial Spaceship. Actual photograph of a flying saucer taken by Paul Villa on June 16, 1963, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Learn: Why spaceships and their crews from other worlds are visiting our planet…. Subscribe to: Flying Saucers International…. Send for free brochure and saucer book to: Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, Inc. (AFSCA)…." The Flying Saucers Are Real was also the title of a popular paperback book written by Donald Keyhoe and published by Fawcett Publications in 1950.

Or at least it was live back on July 20 and 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first astronauts to walk on the moon. The TV screen on the left (above) is an enlargement from a photo ( Don't Give Your Television the Boot --see below) that initially attracted my attention because of the distinctive boot-shaped vase that was on top of it. I couldn't determine what was on the screen, however, and didn't give it a second thought. Thankfully, though, when I posted the original photo, Angelica Paez noticed the date printed on the photo (August 1969, reflecting when the photo was developed) and suggested that those might be astronauts walking across the screen. After searching on YouTube, I located a video, CBS News Coverage of Apollo 11 - Moon Walk 06 , which shows the scene on the right (above) at 6 minutes and 57 seconds. Although the image on the left is faint, the white areas where sunlight is striking the lunar lander, flag, and astronaut seem to match up nicely with the corresponding parts of the image on the right. I'd like to thank Angelica for spotting this!

Because it just doesn't look right sitting there on top of it. -------- Thanks to Angelica's sharp eye (see her comment below), I've confirmed that the image on the television shows the first moonwalk in July 1969. For more info, see Live Coverage of the Moonwalk! (below).

Fellow citizens, be vigilant! The invasion has begun! Sighted along State Route 255 near Penfield, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, October 26, 2014, at approximately 1354 hours. Now I wish I would have listened when they said that the Flying Saucers Are Real!

Interested in vintage magazines? Check out the Cover of a Magazine group, which is now administered by Smiley Derleth and yours truly. Read more about it here: Welcome to Cover of a Magazine! The cover of this May 1959 issue of Flying Saucers: The Magazine of Space Conquest has retained its pleasant garishness even after the passage of fifty-five years. The illustration, a scene from the 1950 movie Destination Moon , shows astronauts in their spacecraft during their perilous journey to and from the moon (I believe that the one fellow is actually dispensing a space sickness pill, although it looks like he's performing dental work). Raymond A. Palmer , who authored books on flying saucers and edited Amazing Stories and Fate magazines, was also the editor of Flying Saucers .

"Kolonel Keds personally certifies that bearer, whose name is on back of this card, is a member of Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol. Kolonel Keds." What kid in the 1960s wouldn't want to wear Keds sneakers and be a member of Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol! See below for the back of the card . In a later, less Martian-like incarnation, the Kolonel was portrayed by an actor wearing Keds and a Bell Rocket Belt , who swooped down from the sky in TV commercials and did heroic stuff like saving a school bus from an avalanche. Head over to YouTube and see it for yourself: Keds Sneakers with Jet Pack Kolonel Keds .

"Member, Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol. Name ________ Address ________ City ________ State ________ Is entitled to all privileges of membership in Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol and may take part in all activities, open or secret, of the patrol. U.S. Keds." For more information, see the front of this Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol card :

"Transfer Picture Book. Made in Japan." Cover of a small booklet containing a few pages of decals or stamps. The creature on the cover is Mogera , a robot with laser beam eyes that first appeared in Earth Defense Force , a 1957 Japanese science fiction film that was released two years later in the United States as The Mysterians (yes, that's where the music group Question Mark and the Mysterians got its name). The Mysterian Space Station, a ringed planet, a Sputnik -like satellite, and a couple of rockets are visible in the sky above Mogera (did his laser beams miss that rocket or are they going right through it?).

"In Washington, D.C., see National Historical Wax Museum. America's finest air-conditioned wax museum. 26th Street at E. N.W., near Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 9 am to 9 pm, including Sundays. Commander Alan B. Shepard." Cover of a 1960s brochure for the National Historical Wax Museum.

Space Shuttle playground toy at Whissel's. See also:

"Leave It to Beaver Rocket to the Moon Space Game. Thrills with Beaver on a race to the moon. As seen on A.B.C. television coast-to-coast." The disembodied head of Beaver Cleaver floats in space somewhere between the earth and moon on the lid of this 1958 board game tie-in with the TV show Leave It to Beaver .

"Be sure to get back for Rally Day. 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.' Psalm 19:1." Rally Day is a special celebration held by some Protestant churches in September or October to promote family attendance at church services and children's participation in Sunday school. This postcard, which was used to remind church members (and astronauts, too, I guess) to attend Rally Day activities, likely dates to the 1960s when the Space Race was taking place. For some earlier aeronautical Rally Day reminders, see Rally Day Airship and Visit Our Sunday-School Air Port :