So far, my favorite was printed in May of 1958, just as the space race was really heating up! Dr. Israel Monroe Levitt (1908-2004) wrote a fascinating account of how America might plan and execute the monumental lunar landing... by the year 2000. Wow, we beat that by 31 years! It's a real eye-opener to see what the bright minds of the mid-20th century thought of potential space exploration.
"Manned flight cannot be initiated in the immediate future. A tremendous volume of preliminary work must be completed first. Before we can think of landing on the moon, it will be necessary to establish a manned space station circling the Earth as a base of operations."
Yeah, not so much.
Read more at the Popular Science archives or at Pillow Astronaut, where I’ve highlighted numerous space articles throughout various eras.
