Secrets of Space Flight

Spaceship on cover is a realistic model of the future, made by the rocket expert G. Harry Stine and photographed on White Sands desert

"Secrets of Space Flight"
Fawcett How-To Book, Number 298
by Lloyd Mallan
published by Fawcett Publications, 1956
144 pages

Contents

1. Ships That Probe the Unknown
2. Space Medicine Forges Ahead
3. Men, Mammals and Gravity
4. Escape Capsules and Rocket Sleds
5. Developement of the Space Suit
6. Spaceship in the Basement
7. Launch Into the Statosphere
8. Searching Through Space
9. School for Future Space Pilots
10. Checkout in a Rocket Ship
11. Research Rocket Takeoff
12. Engines of Tomorrow
13. Giant Step Into Space
14. From the Mouse to the Moon to Mars
15. Men who Make Spaceflight Possible
16. Flying Saucers Brought Up To Date

Profusely illustrated with photos and diagrams (b/w), topics cover rocket developement, test pilots, space medicine and current developments relating to space flight. Some movie stills from "This Island Earth."

Original price $.75

"The Complete Book of Outer Space" - Online

I was doing a bit of online searching for "The Complete Book of Outer Space", and found a number of hits I'd never came across before.



First off, the book is now mentioned on Wikipedia: "The Complete Book of Outer Space" / Wikipedia

This magazine/book is one of my favorite vintage publications. I still have my old dog-eared copy that my Dad gave me when I was a kid. So this next link may be of benefit to others; the entire contents uploaded on Scribd.com:
"Complete Book of Outer Space" / Scribd.com

The Skyrocket in LIFE Magazine

From the pages of LIFE magazine
Date taken: November 1947
Photographer: Allan Grant

A Spacey Christmas to All

the holiday issue of Popular Electronics, 1958

Space Ship of 2038

Amazing_Stories_Dec39_BC, originally uploaded by PopKulture.

Concept art for a space ship one hundred years into the future, the year 2039.
From Amazing Stories, December 1938

Planet Stories

from Planet Stories

The Flying Saucer Reader

It's any day in the 1950's.

There's trouble brewing underneath the calm optimistic exterior of America.

The question lurking in the back of many people's minds - "Are we under the threat of being invaded?"

An invasion not just by unfriendly forces overseas, but quite possibly by beings from another world.

Like the title of the book says, flying saucers were serious business back in mid-century American culture. Flying Saucer Occupants was published in 1967, Flying Saucers-Serious Business in 1966, and The Flying Saucer Reader in 1967.

The ORBIT Newsletter, was put out by Leonard H. Stringfield, founder of CRIFO (Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects) - just one of the many saucer enthusiast groups to spring up in the 1950's and 60's. General news accounts of glowing orbs seen in the sky were faithfully published each month for the membership. This issue dates from Februry 3, 1956

Thick pulp magazines were very popular reading back in the day. The publishers however didn't necessarily try to stick to "just the facts ma'am." There was a fair amount of speculation and fanciful story-telling mixed in with the supposed news items. As for me, I like the collage-style art, with the cut out of the United Planets Cruiser C-57D from the movie Forbidden Planet on the cover. The pulp publication Flying Saucers From Other Worlds is for June 1957.

- - -

This Flying Saucer featurette is also published on the blog Atomic Living

What if? . . . When Meteorites Crash

from Amazing Stories,
June 1940

Every day thousands of meteorites bombard the earth. Most of them are tiny and harmless, but some have been huge. Meteor Crater, in Arizona, was caused by one of these. Another devestated an enormous region in Siberia. The Carolina craters are the remains of an ancient meteorite fall. What if such a meteorite, or meteorite swarm, was to fall in the vicinity of a large city? What if one fell into the ocean off New York? The catastrophe that would result would be one of the most terrible in history . . .

Strange Adventures on Other Worlds

from Planet Stories
Winter 1945

Amazing Stories, Vol. 22, No. 10

Cover painting by James B. Settles, illustrating a scene from "The Brain"

Amazing Stories
Volume 22, Number 10
October, 1948

Dynamic Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 4

illustration by Alex Shomberg

Dynamic Science Fiction
Vol. 1, No. 4
August 1953

Planet Stories Vol. 5, No. 7

Planet Stories
Vol. 5, No. 7
July 1952

Disney's Man in Space

Guide ship XR-1 maneuvers small cargo rocket into the space orbit.
from Walt Disney's Man in Space, Dell comic No. 716, 1956

Tales of Tomorrow

The attacking spaceship looks like it was taken straight from the fantastic Pyro Plastics Space Fleet X-300 Space Cruiser toy!

"Tales of Tomorrow"
Volume Number 6
published by John Spencer & Co., London
(February) 1953
112 pages

Worlds of Fantasy

"Worlds of Fantasy"
Volume Number 8
Published by John Spencer & Co., London
1953
108 pages

The Complete Book of Outer Space

The Complete Book of Outer Space
Edited by Jeffrey Logan
Illustrator Frank R. Paul et al.
Cover artist Chesley Bonestell
Published by Maco Magazine Corp. (book form by Gnome Press)
Publication date 1953
144 pages
Originally priced for $.75

Contents:

1. Preface, by Kenneth MacLeish
2. "A Preview of the Future: Introduction", by Jeffrey Logan
3. "Development of the Space Ship", by Willy Ley
4. "Station in Space", by Wernher von Braun
5. "Space Medicine", by Heinz Haber
6. "Space Suits", by Donald H. Menzel
7. "The High Altitude Program", by Robert P. Haviland
8. "History of the Rocket Engine", by James H. Wyld
9. "Legal Aspects of Space Travel", by Oscar Schachter
10. "Exploitation of the Moon", by Hugo Gernsback
11. "Life Beyond the Earth", by Willy Ley
12. "Interstellar Flight", by Leslie R. Shepard
13. "The Spaceship in Science Fiction", by Jeffrey Logan
14. "Plea for a Coordinated Space Program", by Wernher von Braun
15. "The Flying Saucer Myth", by Jeffrey Logan
16. "The Panel of Experts"
17. "Chart of the Moon Voyage"
18. "Chart of the Voyage to Mars"
19. "Timetables and Weights"
20. "A Space Travel Dictionary"

Profusely illustrated with photos and drawings, published both as a paperback magazine and a hardbound book. A collection of essays about space exploration, life beyond Earth and flying saucers.

"The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed" (1952)

"The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed"
Fawcett Book Number 166
Author: Larry Eisinger (editor-in-chief)
Publisher: Fawcett (Sterling Publishing Co.) NY 1952
magazine, 144 pages
original price: $.75

Contents

1. Spaceships are Already Here!, by Harland Manchester
   
2. The Physical Problems of Space Travel Are Being Solved, by James L. H. Peck
   
3. A Journey to the Moon, by M. W. Wholey, G. I. Mech. E.
   
4. From the Moon to Mars, by Willy Ley
5. Life on Other Worlds, by M. Frederic Sanchez, PH. D.
   
6. Communication With Other Worlds, by Willy Ley
7. The Expanding Universe, by Lloyd Mallan
   
8. Space Travel is a Serious Business, by Alfred Eris
   
9. Space Travel in History, Fiction & Film, by Lloyd Mallan
   
10. Fortress on a Skyhook, by Frank Tinsley
    
11. Possibilities for an Invasion Base on the Moon, by Willy Ley
12. A Case for the Flying Saucers, by Donald E. Keyhoe
13. An Investigation of the Carolina Saucer, by John Duberry
    

Profusely illustrated with nearly 300 photos (B/W). Subjects include rocket development, space travel, life on other worlds, science fiction movies and flying saucers. Cover photo is from the movie When Worlds Collide (George Pal/Paramount Pictures).