The desire to travel into space is as old as mankind itself. But it was
not until the beginning of the 20th century that the idea became
anything more than fiction. Although hot air balloons large enough to
carry a person lifted off the ground in the late 1700s, it was the
invention of powered flight-the airplane-that gave man hope of
controlling his ascent into the skies and beyond. Once man was headed
up, he could never again be satisfied being tied down to the earth's
surface. The space age gave man hopes and dreams of a future in the
exploration of the universe. These dreams were translated into
souvenirs, toys, games, entertainment, and every-day items with the
space theme. They are the artifacts of the space age. Collecting the
Space Race explores these artifacts, beginning with the start of the
20th century. Included are first man on the moon items, the original
Mercury astronaut items, Sputniks and satellites, fantasy items (Buck
Rogers, Captain Video, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, etc.), UFOs, Ray Guns,
space-theme postage stamps, mission patches, autographs, and space toys
and robots. This book will inspire and answer some of the questions
about the items that have been saved or collected as it exposes a broad
field of things to collect.