Fifty Years of NASA = Fifty Years of Space Collectibles

Robert Pearlman, editor of the Houston-based space history and artifacts project collectSPACE, says:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA as it is more commonly referred to today, began operations 50 years ago on Oct. 1, 1958. Charged with leading the nation's civilian research into air travel and space exploration, it was the latter that caught the public's imagination, which in turn led to a wide desire for commemorative and actual pieces of NASA's exploits in outer space.

In honor of NASA's anniversary, collectSPACE offers a tour through the agency's first 50 years as guided by the space collectibles it inspired. Each item pictured is contemporary to the milestone it was selected to portray.

Fifty Years of Space Collectibles

[#1 posted by ibdense , October 2, 2008 7:50 AM]

And... 50 years of space junk!

[#2 posted by vespabelle , October 2, 2008 9:09 AM]

My dad was an engineer for NASA for 30 years. However, he worked in what he called "the small a" part of NASA: aeronautics. He still got me a patch for all the early shuttle launches.

[#3 posted by zuzu , October 2, 2008 9:57 AM]

God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money

[#4 posted by OM , October 2, 2008 10:32 AM]

...Good to see Robert Pearlman getting Boing Boinged! He's been in high regard around the sci.space newsgroups for years, and he deserves the recognition!

Except when he reminds me of the space memorabilia I no longer have thanks to their being lost in a move...:-(