ASTRO 8 friction-powered flying saucer with wheels. Pressed mild steel and plastic, red with a blue fin. Its wheels powered lights that shine though plastic windows and plastic dome. DAN DARE SPACE CONTROL RADIO STATION battery-powered futuristic central console and 2 handsets. The console is grey plastic with aerials, knobs, dial, and lever for tapping Morse code. Wires with jacks connect the console to its red plastic handsets. MOON EXPLORER battery-powered rocket-like vehicle of tin-plated mild steel, in red and white. Its clear plastic window shows an astronaut. The back has three fins. MOON ROCKET mechanical spacecraft of tin-plated, silver amd red pressed mild steel. Pressing the nose triggers the rocket to push itself upright and reveal an astronaut as it lowers its ramp. Photos: Victoria & Albert Museum. See some of the above, and others like them at the V&A's Young V&A site. Acquisition numbers B.53:1 to 3-2005, B.50:1 to 3-2005, B80:1 to 5-2016, and B.52:1 to 3-2005.
What adventurous setting inspired many children's toys? Outer space!
Toys from the 2 decades in which human spaceflight went from science fiction to reality—the 1950s and 1960s—added lights and sound, while Japan's toy manufacturers perfected the small motors […]
[Original post on toot.garden]
