As a boy my mom picked up the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet books by Carey Rockwell for me at garage sales. They were about a boy learning to become a space ranger. The first in the series was Stand by for Mars! (1952) I loved the adventure and suspense, they were much more interesting than hardy boys at the time . As I got older, I realized they were loosely based on Robert Heinlein’s Space Cadet, a 1948 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about Matt Dodson, who joins the Interplanetary Patrol to help preserve peace in the Solar System. The story translates the standard military academy story into outer space: a boy from Iowa goes to officer school, sees action and adventure, shoulders responsibilities far beyond his experience

As a boy who watched the first human to walk on the surface of the moon, I somehow thought I might have a chance for adventure in space, unfortunately, the opportunity has not risen, however, I still have the great memories and, these books.

As a child of the 60’s these amusement rides that could be found at shopping centers in all types of themes were everywhere. For a nickel or a dime, I could be paid off for good behavior when shopping upon exiting the store. My favorites were always the ones that were outer space themed. Most of the time they would just rock in a circular motion. Once in a while, they might have a button that turned on lights or made a noise. These cool rides we’re going to be in the future I am the futiure I hardly see them anymore, how about you?

Classic toy ray guns! Love them for the graphics and the promise of adventure in space and on alien worlds against creatures that were trying to eat me for some reason. I really never figured out why. Watching the Buster Crabbe Serials with Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers made it all look so much fun .

It’s New Year’s Eve and I can’t help but think about Retrofuturism.

Broadly, retrofuturism is books, movies, comics, and other types of art that imagine the future based on the time period they were produced. It can also be a genre encompassing contemporary creations based on previous time periods.

As an adult, I long for the optimism in the future that’s lacking with so many people today. Many people want to shame and hurt others, distracting people from the potential we all have to become more than we are. Personally, with this new year, I will do my best to reach for the future.

It’s Saturday night, this means monster movies! A classic from my childhood, It Came from Outer Space.

After an amateur stargazer (Richard Carlson) and a schoolteacher (Barbara Rush) see a meteorite crash in the Arizona desert, they suspect an alien presence when some of the local townsfolk (Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson) begin to act strangely.

We only saw one of the aliens completely but it was amazing, as a boy I had never seen anything like it.

I received a restored copy of the film in 3D for Christmas. Guess what I’m about to watch.

I hope you get a chance to see it.

Gidney and Cloyd are fictional characters originally appearing in the American animated television program Rocky and His Friends. They were so funny, I never get tired of watching them.

Gidney and Cloyd are "Moon Men", inhabitants of Earth's Moon. Both Gidney and Cloyd possess the ability to disappear and reappear at will; they can disappear completely, but at times their eyes, and/or Cloyd's mouth, may remain visible (in the manner of the Cheshire cat's smile). The Moon Men appeared in Jet Fuel Formula, the first Rocky and Bullwinkle story arc, broadcast 1959-60. In this story they come to Earth in an attempt to thwart a rush of tourists to the Moon, only to become media celebrities themselves. They initially succumb to the temptations of fame but soon tire of it. (In Cloyd's words, "It's all so wonderful we can't STAND it anymore!") With the help of Rocky and Bullwinkle, they are eventually able to get home. Gidney and Cloyd return in the second-season story arc, Metal-Munching Mice, and in the third season Missouri Mish Mash.

One of the interesting things that these characters had with them to protect themselves was a gun called a Scrooch gun. When fired it would make the bad guy freeze until he was shot again with it to unfreeze him.

The closest star system to us, Proxima Centauri, is 4.25 light-years away. The star known as Proxima Centauri, the sun’s nearest interstellar neighbor, turns out to have a hair-trigger temper, frequently erupting with potentially damaging stellar flares, including its largest ever recorded. 

Isn’t it funny that the Jupiter 2 was headed to Alpha Centauri but then got lost in space.

For forty-nine months between 1968 and 1972, two dozen Americans had the great good fortune to briefly visit the Moon. Half of us became the first emissaries from Earth to tread its dusty surface. We who did so were privileged to represent the hopes and dreams of all humanity. For mankind it was a giant leap for a species that evolved from the Stone Age to create sophisticated rockets and spacecraft that made a Moon landing possible. For one crowning moment, we were creatures of the cosmic ocean, an epoch that a thousand years hence may be seen as the signature of our century.

— Buzz Aldrin

Artwork from toy robot boxes were always amazing and so cool. I still have some of these, with pistons and gears and missiles that shoot and lights that blink, actually, my piston robot is blue with orange pistons, so much fun and great memories 

When I was young, it was all about robots, robots, robots, and more robots. Never had to worry about them taking my job. Of course, if they wanted to do my schoolwork, it was OK, but mostly they were there to absorb radiation and carry things for you. 

Released in 1974, Mego’s Communicator was a stylized walkie-talkie made to resemble the same device used on the Star Trek television show. Each walkie-talkie operated on a 9-volt battery and could send and receive voice messages up to 1/4 mile – perfect for alerting your landing party of a pending danger! Mego sold Communicators in two forms: a boxed set and a carded “blister pack.”

A large part of the coolness factor of the toy was its two-tone blue case, silver and black Starfleet insignia, and a cover that flipped up at the press of a button, just like the antenna grid on the original prop. The Communicator also featured a telescopic antenna, a push-to-talk switch, a belt hook, and a green/red alert signal button that was used to emit a “twin warp

Another super cool toy from childhood, they really worked!

Major Matt Mason was an action figure created by Mattel in 1966. He wore a jet pack, had a space sled, lived in a space station, and moved around the moon in his space crawler. Matt Mason’s gadgets weren’t imaginary; they were actually based on Nasa prototypes. He and his friends were the greatest of astronauts, and our first defense against the inevitable alien invasion as the USA went out into the great unknown. Loved playing with these, plus the Colorforms aliens.

The original off, off-road vehicle the “moon buggy” from the Apollo 17 mission.

Flash Gordon, spaceman hero of the science-fiction comic strip Flash Gordon, created in 1934 by illustrator Alex Raymond and writer Don Moore as a Sunday feature for King Features Syndicate.

Flash Gordon was a Yale graduate and a well-known polo player. He and his two companions journeyed in Dr. Zarkov’s rocket ship to the planet Mongo, which posed an imminent danger to Earth’s existence. Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov constantly faced death as they fought against Ming the Merciless, the evil emperor of Mongo.

Over the years, it’s been from the newspaper, comic strips, movie serials, TV shows and movies 

The movie serials were my favorites 

In August of 1835, the New York newspaper The Sun published a six-part series about life found on the moon. The series described goat-like creatures with horns and beards frolicking about on green turf. Another installment focused on water birds and animals, including a spherical amphibious creature that rolled along the moon beach. Most thrilling of all was the description of beings that walked upright with dignity and “averaged four feet in height, were covered, except on the face, with short and glossy copper hair, and have wings composed of a thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs, from the top of the shoulders to the calves of the legs.” for a time, readers were completely taken in by the reports.

"The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835) by Edgar Allan Poe: This short story follows the journey of a man who travels to the moon using a hot air balloon.

“The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in June 1835 by The Southern Literary Messenger as “Hans Phall — A Tale”. Poe has intended for the story to be a hoax but this was preempted by the Great Moon Hoax of 1835.

“Horrors of a nature most stern and most appalling would too frequently obtrude themselves upon my mind, and shake the innermost depths of my soul with the bare supposition of their possibility…”

Get this! Curiosity has been on mars for 11 years!!

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree panorama using its black-and-white navigation cameras, or Navcams, at a location where it collected a sample from a rock nicknamed “Sequoia.” The panorama was captured on Oct. 21 and 26, 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Does that make us invaders or explorers?