I recall a book I loved when I was in Junior Infants (about 4 or 5 years old) that was in the library in my Primary school classroom. It was the tale of a rocket that goes on an adventure to the moon, something like Thomas The Tank Engine except with a rocket ship. I have no idea how old the book was at the time, but it was 1986 when I saw it, so it could be early '80s or earlier. It was colourfully illustrated and I have no idea how popular such a book was. Anyway I hope someone knows what the hell I’m on about.
Googling on “anthropomorphic rocket” and “personified rocket” all I could find is a character named Rusty Rocket, who seems to be in multimedia shows at planetariums all over the US. But not a book, sorry.
I’ll post this question at goodreads in the “what’s the name of that book?” section.
Totally random guesses (just books I recall from childhood with a lunar-adventure bent):
Little Bear (contains “Little Bear Goes to the Moon”)
Babar?
If the rocket is a vehicle and not a character, my guess would be Harold’s Trip to the Sky by Crockett Johnson. The Harold and The Purple Crayon books were still popular in the 80s.
I could swear that the rocket ship was the character but then it’s so long ago maybe I dreamt it!
You didn’t grow up in the US, right? You might be better off asking this question on a forum with a higher percentage of people from UK/Ireland; a lot of children’s books of the type you describe don’t make it across the pond.