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Spacecraft & Missiles - 1950s

Before the Second World War, rocketry and spaceflight seemed as fanciful as anything out of a Buck Rogers comic strip. But the technological breakthroughs made by both the Germans and the Allies during WWII turned what had been a child-like dream into not just a conceivable reality, but a political priority. With the United States and Soviet Union locked in a life-or-death struggle for planetary supremacy, it became incumbent upon both superpowers to use spaceflight milestones as key instruments of political propaganda.

In the decade's first half, ex-German rocketeers like Werner von Braun and Willy Ley were used to introduce the American public to the realistic possibilities of manned space flight, their then-state-of-the-art engineering concepts appearing in everything from Collier's Magazine to the "Disneyland" TV series. 

And then, on October 4, 1957, America awoke to learn that what had been "science fiction" was now science fact: The Soviets had launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, into orbit. 

The Space Age had officially begun.

Beginning in the 1950s, numerous plastic model kit manufacturers have created products based on early Space Age subjects. Below are examples of "Real Space" models from this seminal period.

Picture
CHANCE VOUGHT REGULUS 1 MISSILE
(1951)

Topping Models
1:48

Picture
BOEING
BOMARC IM-99 ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE
(1952)

Revell
1:46



Picture
NORTHROP
SNARK SM-62 CRUISE MISSILE
(1952)

Revell
1:81

Picture
MGM-5 CORPORAL ARTILLERY MISSILE
(1953)

Hawk
1:48

Picture
CHRYSLER
PGM-11 REDSTONE SHORT-RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILE
(1953)

Revell
1:110

Picture
CHANCE VOUGHT SSM-N-9 REGULUS II CRUISE MISSILE (1956)
Revell
1:68

Picture
CHRYSLER JUPITER-C MISSILE w/EXPLORER 1 SATELLITE
(1958)

Revell
1:110

Picture
CHRYSLER JUPITER-C MISSILE w/EXPLORER 1 SATELLITE
(1958)
Hawk
1:48

Picture
EXPLORER 1 SATELLITE
(1958)
ITC Model Craft
1:6

Picture
PROJECT VANGUARD SATELLITE
(1958)

Hawk
1:5

Picture
MIM-14
NIKE HERCULES ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE
(1958)

Revell
1:40

Picture
BOEING X-20 
DYNA-SOAR
(1959)

Collect-Aire
1:48

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