No, I’m not thinking about the Mickey Mouse Club Theme, although there is a Disney link below.
Ca. 1957-1962, I remember a coffee-table art book describing future ventures in outer space. This was post-Sputnik, but pre-Armstrong; hopes were high, knowledge was low.
The book talked about missions to the moon, space stations, even trips to Mars, I think, but the only sure thing I remember about it was a satellite project called M.O.U.S.E., but there’s no chance I can remember what that was an abbreviation or acronym for.
The plans in the book were presented as serious, but I suspect a large dose of fantasy was mixed in due to primitive space knowledge and optimistic speculators.
Google doesn’t turn up anything I can use. Anyone know about this scheme? Bonus points for finding the actual book!
It very well could be. Putting the complete name into google gives this:
…which looks like a Life magazine article much like the book I remember. Maybe the book was a Life book instead of a Disney book? Further research is needed…
IIRC, Lester del Rey’s Rockets Through Space had a chapter on Operation M.O.U.S.E., and the acronym was as described by previous posters. It was an early proposal for getting a US satellite into orbit ASAP, and was scrapped.
I think that just might be the book! But at $30 used, maybe I don’t need to see it again all that badly. Still, it’s nice to clear up a mystery that has bugged me for 50 years, and had me wondering if my memory was faulty.
My copy wasn’t a coffee table book; it was a regular paperback. So I think we are talking about two different books. (I’m pretty sure my copy is long lost, but I can check.)
The one in your link says hardcover, and juvenile. So it’s probably a “junior” coffee-table book, which sounds about right, as I was a teen around that time. I imagine a paperback version would lose considerable charm over big, glossy pages!