Timeline

One day, as I was cleaning out an old desk, I came across a yellowed copy of Life magazine stuck to the bottom of a drawer. I don’t know if it was kept intentionally or not, but it was easy to see why this particular issue might have been put away as a keepsake. On the cover was a picture of outer space and a headline asking what was necessary to get man to the Moon. The date? 1965. The articles inside were no less intriguing with drawings of proposed space vehicles and a chronological commentary of what had already been tried to put America ahead in the space race, what had failed, how miserably and why, and what advances would have to be made in technology, information, and expertise before we could reach that elusive goal of leaving terra firma and setting foot on alien soil. Sitting in an office chair at the beginning of the twenty-first century, perusing the old magazine felt like time travel. Here they were, discussing something from my ancient past in future tense. I wanted to call out to those writers and the scientists they interviewed and tell them they would make it, that they would figure it out, that history would change when one man took a small step representing a giant leap for all of us. In H.A. Rey’s Curious George Gets A Medal, it’s 1957 and our monkey friend becomes the first living being in space. It probably seemed possible then.

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-George-Gets-Medal-Rey/dp/0395169739

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._A._Rey