Transport through the Ages picture cards were released in 1966 by Brooke Bond Ltd. of London. The 50-card series was illustrated by Richard Ward. The text descriptions were written by Arthur G. Bourne. The cards were distributed free with purchases of Brooke Bond tea in England. A Transport Through The Ages collector album was available from grocers for six pence.

Each card measures approximately 68 x 36 mm. The original 1966 card backs are printed with blue text. The series was reprinted in 1973 with black text. A similar collection was distributed in 1967 by Brooke Bond Canada Ltd. titled Transportation through the Ages (Le transport à travers les âges).

 

Illustrations of the Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle are pictured on the album cover and on card #50, "Space Rocket." The Atlas LV-3B is a modified Atlas SM65-D intercontinental ballistic missile. The Atlas D was originally designed to deliver a W49 thermonuclear warhead.

"On 12th April 1961 a Russian, Major Yuri Gagarin, was launched in the rocket space ship Vostok 1, and thus became the first man to go beyond the pull of earth's gravity into free orbit. The Americans, using a Mercury capsule on an Atlas booster rocket, put Colonel John H. Glenn into orbit on the 20th February 1962. This space craft is shown on the card. Since then other astronauts have orbited the earth, have walked in space free of the earth's gravity, while unmanned rockets have crashed on the moon or have travelled far beyond into space."