11b The Carnival - Ladybirds Books (1966)

 

Art by Martin Aitchison, I believe.  Unless someone wants to tell me different?


Steve

Capsule (2015)

Its 1959 and a British fighter pilot, who is in command of Britain's first manned mission to space, is stuck alone inside a malfunctioning craft. 

I quite like the sounds of this home-grown offering and shall be seeking it out for a little look-see!

 

Thanks for the tip off Tim.

 

 

Steve

A Suitography of the "Moon Zero Two" Spacesuits (1969 and onwards)

Moon Zero Two (1969) Gallery Film - Full suit
Smash Mash TV Advert (1970)  TV Advert - Helmets
Here Come The Double-Deckers (1970) - Invaders from Space - Gallery TV Show - Full suit
Doctor Who - The Ambassadors of Death (1970) - A Gallery  TV Show - Helmet
Space: 1999 - Mission of the Darians (1975) TV Show - Full suit
Restricted View (1975/?) TV Advert - Full suit
Superman II and the Moon Zero 2 connection. (1980) Film - Helmet

 

 

Steve

'How it Works' The Rocket - Ladybird books (1967)

Another Ladybird Book showing us what the future was going to look like just a few years before it happened for real. Beautiful art by B. H. Robinson from this 1967 book.

Ladybird was a very important part of British culture, and I doubt there was a kid growing up through the 60's and 70's that didn't own a few or at least borrowed them from the library to do some homework for school.  I've recently treated myself to a copy of the above from the local Oxfam store and added to it with the Television one from the same 'How it Works' series.  The technology for both has moved on a bit since then but I'm not sure the quality of the illustrations can be bettered.

 

And we all trusted what Ladybird showed us so if they said we would by circling round the moon for fun then I for one believed them.  Of course I used to think I would be the kid up front but I realise now that I'm to be the dad at the back.

Somethings just take a little longer to come true


Steve

Kids Incorporated. (1984) ....where have I seen those space helmets before?

I previously blogged about this; Kids Incorporated - NASA Space Week (1984)

Which featured a Men into Space helmet & suit and four other unknown space helmets.  I suggested at the time that such items were too expensive for such a cheap show to manufacture themselves, therefore they would have been from somewhere else.  Well the mystery was solved quite quickly when blog followers; John Nowak came up with the answer, and the ever reliable Tim Armstrong gave his agreement.  So, until such times as we track down more of them, I present to you the first recycling of the 1965 to 1968 Lost in Space, Jupiter 2 space helmets.

1968 to 1984 is a lot of years so where else did they pop up?

Two were sold at auction in new colours so they've definitely been somewhere else in between times.  Lets go track them down and report back here with our findings.

Exhibit A and B below but that may just be the tip of the iceberg.

 

 

Steve

Blake's 7 - Killer (1979)

Another of our irregular: "Not really a spacesuit but..". blog posts.

From the second series of Blake's 7, episode 7; Killer, are featured these ill considered outfits.  If I remember correctly - I worked through the box sets a couple of years back - these are not spacesuits but rather protective outfits worn by a Federation boarding party.

Now I'm not going to tell you they look like this fella...

...because that's sort of obvious but I might mention that they look very similar to these suits...

..from Come back Mrs Noah, (1978) blogged all the way back in December 2010.


Steve

Passangers (2016)

Passengers is an upcoming 2016 sci-fi thriller written by Jon Spaihts and directed by Morten Tyldum. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and should be out and about for a good viewing at the end of the year..... And it looks sort of interesting.

Steve