The Speed card collection was issued in 1962 by Como Confectionery Products, Ltd. of London. One illustrated card was included with each box of Wyatt Earp Sweet Cigarettes from Como. The 50-card collection was released in two series of 25 cards. The Speed Cigarette Card Album was sold separately by mail order for five empty boxes.

Variant printings of the Speed series were distributed in 1966 with boxes of Ipana toothpaste from the Bristol-Myers Company, Ltd. of Middlesex, England. Each card measures approximately 1.42 x 2.64 inches (36 x 67 mm).

Series 1 features the North American X-15 experimental research aircraft. NASA developed three of the experimental aircraft to investigate problems that pilots would encounter near the edge of space. The X-15-1 (56-6670) was first piloted in an unpowered glide by Scott Crossfield on June 8, 1959. Crossfield flew the X-15-2 during the first powered flight of the X-15 program on September 17, 1959.

The X-15-3 was first flown above the Kármán line by Joseph A. Walker during Flight 90 on July 19, 1963. The highest altitude achieved by the X-15-3 was 67 miles (108 km) during Flight 91 on August 22, 1963. Walker was posthumously awarded NASA Astronaut Wings on August 23, 2005.

The X-15-1 is displayed in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. The X-15A-2 is displayed in the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Series 2 includes the Vanguard 1 satellite, launched on March 17, 1958. The satellite is estimated to reenter the atmosphere in 2198.