Book of Space Adventures (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966)

1963 Book of Space Adventures #1. London : Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd. (62 p.) 31 cm.

Full title on the title page is "Boys' Book of Space : with factual features on the World's space programme and fictional adventures of SPACE ACE - intrepid Commander of the Galactic patrol".

Today is another post inspired by another blog: Project Sword Toys had this posting about the 1965 Book of Space Adventures 3 which inspired me to show you some of the other annuals:

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-of-space-adventures-3.html

Four issues were published of this cool British annual. This is the 1963 version.
Like other annuals these had a mixture of fiction and non-fiction materials. My favorite aspect of them however is the covers. The covers capture different aspects of the space race as fantasy turned to reality.

No more scans of the first one but the 1963 has short articles on the history of rockets, training for space, exploration of the Moon, and the Dyna-Soar project.

1964 Book of Space Adventures #2: The Latest Developments in the World Space Programmes. London : Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd. (93 p.) 27 cm.

This one contained factual articles about Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, U.K. 3 satellite and the E.L.D.O. (European Launcher Development Organization) projects. Also contains fictional comic strip "Ace Jordan".

1965 Book of Space Adventures: The latest developments in the world space programmes #3. London : Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd. (95 p.) 29 cm.

This one had short articles about the Douglas Aircraft Global Transport Rocket projects PEGASUS (single-stage passenger rocket) and ITHACUS (single-stage ship-launched troop-carrying rocket). Also articles about Project Gemini and manned exploration of the planets and Ace Jordan comic strips.

1966

Veale, S.E., Allward, Maurice, and Carter, F.J. Book of Space Adventures #4. London : Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd. (79 p.) 27 cm.

Contains factual articles about the history of spaceflight, satellites, manned exploration of space, the Apollo missions, and future spacecraft. Illustrated with photographs of spacecraft and missions.