1973 Panini : The Conquest of Space

The Conquest of Space was released in 1973 by Edizioni Panini S.p.A. of Modena, Italy. The 270-piece album showcases the history of flight from the legend of Icarus to the Apollo lunar missions. Each paper packet contains four sticker cards, each measuring approximately 2 x 3 inches. The collection includes 16 additional stickers that reprint aviation posters, plus 60 logos of aircraft manufacturers from around the world. Each logo card contains two stickers.

The collector albums were printed in different language editions for English, Dutch (De verovering van de Ruimte), French (La Conquête de l'Espace), German (Die Eroberung des Weltraums), and Italian (La Conquista dello Spazio). The series was distributed in Spain by Ediciones Vulcano, S.A. of Bilbao.

The Project Mercury chimpanzees Ham and Enos are featured on stickers #157–158. Officially known as Number 65, "Chop Chop Chang" was nicknamed Ham after the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center in New Mexico. On January 31, 1961, Ham safely completed a suborbital flight aboard the Mercury No. 5 spacecraft. Ham reached an apogee of 155 miles (250 km) .

The Enos card incorrectly depicts a photograph of Miss Sam, a rhesus monkey used in Mercury abort tests. Sam was nicknamed after the School of Aviation Medicine, in San Antonio, Texas. On December 4, 1959, Miss Sam and the Mercury boilerplate craft were launched atop of Little Joe 2 (LJ-2) to an altitude of about 18 miles (29 km) . On January 21, 1960, Miss Sam was launched on Little Joe 1B (LJ-1B) to an altitude of around 9.3 miles (15 km). Miss Sam later retired in the San Antonio Zoo .

 

Soviet space dogs Veterok (Ветерок, "Breeze") and Ugolyok (Уголёк, "Coal") appear on stickers #159–160. On March 16, 1966, the two canines set a new record for the longest spaceflight after spending 22 days in orbit aboard the Voskhod 3KV No.5 spacecraft (Cosmos 110).

 

The checklist is not a direct translation of the album text. Identifications and corrections are included. No entries are listed in the album for stickers #52, #100–111.