A Space Poster With Mysterious Origins

by Reinhard Kargl

In the 1950s, the ambitions of America’s fledgling space program caused great fascination among both young and old.

Above is a poster, with the only identifying information I could find given as “Copyright 1959 Educational Posters # 117 “Space Age”. Only one of the vehicles depicted in the artwork was actually built, and really flew. (Can you tell which one? The answer is at the bottom).

Anyone who knows where and how to obtain a high-resolution image of this artwork: please let me know!

In 1963, the same chart was included in a magazine article. (Dickenson, Fred. “U.S. Space Hardware – Today and Tomorrow”. New York Mirror Magazine, April 28, 1963 pp 9-10). Unfortunately, I have no further information.

Answer to the question above: The North American X-15, shown left and center. It was an experimental hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft, which first flew on June 8, 1959 after being dropped from a B-52 bomber at Edwards Air Force Base in California. During the program, the X-15 reached altitudes over 100 kilometers (62 miles), meeting the definition of “space” as acknowledged by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. In terms of speed, the X-15 eventually achieved Mach 6.7 (or 6.7 times the speed of sound). Even today, this is the world record for self-powered, manned aircraft. Unless, of course, we include NASA’s Space Shuttle in this class. (But that would be a stretch. The initial stage of the Space Shuttle’s ascent relied on external boosters, the second phase on an external tank that weighted a lot more than the orbiter. And the shuttle’s descent was unpowered during atmospheric flight – at which point it was just a passive glider. By contrast, once the X-15 was released by the carrier aircraft, it accelerated and flew under its own power and (at least on most flights) used internal fuel. This self-propelled flight phase was when the X-15 reached its record-making altitudes and speeds. On the return trip, the X-15 was also a passive, unpowered glider like its predecessor, the X-1, as well as the much later Space Shuttle.