The desire to travel into space is as old as mankind itself. But it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the idea became anything more than fiction. Although hot air balloons large enough to carry a person lifted off the ground in the late 1700s, it was the invention of powered flight-the airplane-that gave man hope of controlling his ascent into the skies and beyond. Once man was headed up, he could never again be satisfied being tied down to the earth's surface. The space age gave man hopes and dreams of a future in the exploration of the universe. These dreams were translated into souvenirs, toys, games, entertainment, and every-day items with the space theme. They are the artifacts of the space age. Collecting the Space Race explores these artifacts, beginning with the start of the 20th century. Included are first man on the moon items, the original Mercury astronaut items, Sputniks and satellites, fantasy items (Buck Rogers, Captain Video, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, etc.), UFOs, Ray Guns, space-theme postage stamps, mission patches, autographs, and space toys and robots. This book will inspire and answer some of the questions about the items that have been saved or collected as it exposes a broad field of things to collect.