A staple feature of growing up in the sixties, were the educational magazines available at newsagents, such as Treasure, Look and Learn and World of Wonder. I recently came across one I had been previously unaware of, which was published the same year I was born, in 1962 , on a weekly basis. It appears to have been quite successful and I picked up the first two volumes of ten issues each online. The main reason for buying them, was the glorious painted artwork on the covers, which turned out to be by an artist called Angus McBride.
McBride's covers are bright and exciting, with an almost photographic detail. the interior illustrations are by a variety of artists, mostly of a high standard and a mixture of colour and monochrome.
Most of the 20 issues have a small section called 'Secrets of Space', which in the main are devoted to astronomy and cover the planets, stars and comets and similar subjects. Issue 18 includes a full page of colour illustrations about Satellites and the front cover shows a model of the British
Ariel satellite, which was launched in 1962, making Britain the third country to place a satellite in orbit.
The satellite was a joint British and American project and was put into orbit by an american Thor-Delta rocket. Unfortunately, the american high altitude nuclear test, Starfish Prime damaged the satellite with its burst of radiation, deactivating the timer on board. The satellite eventually burned up in re-entry in 1976.
Some contemporary news articles from 1962 - note the mis-spelling of 'aerial' on the central article. the satellite was named after the Shakespearean character from 'The Tempest'.
A 2009 infographic from The Times newspaper, showing the state of the British Space industry to date.
'Finding Out' magazine's other space related covers, a bleak martian landscape and a moon map indicate the content featured inside.
