1956 BeanO Bubble Gum : The Conquest of Space



The Conquest of Space card series was distributed in 1956 by food and beverage companies in England. Brands observed include BeanO Bubble Gum, Cadet Sweets, and Lipton's Red Label Tea. Each card measures approximately 1.45 x 2.68 inches (37 x 68 mm). The illustrated 50-card collection depicts the history of aircraft from the Montgolfier hot air balloon to the Viking sounding rocket.

1956 The Conquest of Space #30 - Martin Viking No. 9 1956 Beano Bubble Gum : The Conquest of Space #30 - Martin Viking No. 9

Viking #9 (Martin RTV-N-12a) was launched into space from White Sands on December 15, 1952. The single-stage rocket reached an apogee of approximately 135 miles (217 km), carrying a 750 lb. experiment package to measure cosmic radiation.

Viking 9, December 15, 1952 (National Air and Space Museum 34288)
Viking #9 (National Air and Space Museum)

The "First Space Travellers" card depicts the launch of Aeromed 3 at Holloman Air Force Base on May 21, 1952. The Aerobee RTV-A-1 rocket carried two Capuchin monkeys named Patricia and Mike, and two white mice named Mildred and Albert. Aeromed 3 was fired to a height of 38.6 miles (62.1 km) . Patricia and Mike were the first primates to safely land from such a high altitude. The Aeromed 3 mission is documented in the 1953 U.S. Air Force film Animals in Rocket Flight .

1956 The Conquest of Space #31 - First Space Travellers 1956 The Conquest of Space #31 - First Space Travellers

The card erroneously reports the altitude as "80 miles above the Earth." The first primates to survive spaceflight were two macaques named Miss Able and Miss Baker. On May 28, 1959, the monkeys rode a PGM-19 Jupiter missile to an apogee of about 300 miles.

Aerobee X-8 RTV-A-1 (National Museum of the USAF)
Aerobee X-8 RTV-A-1 (National Museum of the USAF)


Checklist
1 Stepping-stones to Space
2 The First Aeronaut
3 First Parachute Descent
4 The First Airship
5 Lilienthal's Glider
6 The First Aeroplane
7 Balloon of the 1900s
8 Aeroplane of the 1920s
9 Graf Zeppelin
10 Upper-air Research Balloon
11 D.H. Mosquito
12 Jet Propulsion
13 Gloster-Whittle Jet Aircraft
14 The Flying Bedstead
15 Guided Missile
16 The Earth's Atmosphere
17 Principle of the Rocket
18 The Earliest Rockets
19 The Congreve Rocket
20 Life-throwing Rocket
21 Rocket-propelled Aeroplane
22 First Liquid-fuel Rocket
23 Rocket Fighter-plane
24 The Rocket Motor
25 Douglas Skyrocket
26 Stratosphere Air-liner, 1
27 Stratosphere Air-liner, 2
28 Stratosphere Air-liner, 3
29 Lay-out of a Space Rocket
30 Martin Viking No. 9
31 First Space Travellers
32 Space Suit
33 Human Centrifuge
34 Weightlessness
35 Step Rocket, 1
36 Step Rocket, 2
37 Step Rocket, 3
38 Space Station
39 Building a Space Station
40 Space Ship
41 Refueling in Space
42 Return of a Rocket
43 Surveying the Moon
44 Moon Rocket
45 Exploration of the Moon
46 Moon Base
47 Worlds to Explore
48 Mars
49 Venus
50 Mercury