This charming early children’s book celebrates a voyage on a zeppelin, from the Old World to the New.

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On July 21, 1969, the Apollo XI Lunar Module Eagle landed in the southwest corner of the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the Moon. The crew consisted of Flight Commander Neil Armstrong, Col. Edwin Aldrin, and Lt. Col. Michael Collins, who later became the first director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. All members of the crew autographed this copy.

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In this fanciful speculation about traveling to the moon in a dirigible, the travelers show no ill effects from their exposure to the cold vacuum of space. In fact, they appear to be greatly enjoying their expedition.

The National Air and Space Library began as a collection of publications that accompanied aeronautical artifacts. Augmenting research on both early space flight and regular flight, the library also assists the work of cultural and military historians. Its Bella Landauer collection of aeronautical sheet music vividly conveys the general public’s great enthusiasm for manned flight and other scientific achievements.

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Children’s pop-up books are an old printer’s technique used to surprise and charm the reader by breaking the surface of the page. A number of pop-up books in the 1930s re-created popular fairy tales and comic strips. Just as in early printed books, monsters terrify travelers to new lands and bizarre creatures terrorize voyagers in outer space. In this episode from the beloved science-fiction comic strip Buck Rogers, Buck's friends Buddy and Allura battle insect-like space aliens.

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Many of Clyne’s colorful pop-up books center on the adventures of the Jump-Ups, a typical American family of the 1950s. In this book, one of a collection of nearly 600 pop-up and books with moveable parts donated to the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library in the 1980s, the Jolly Jump-Ups journey to Mars, where they encounter friendly aliens.

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Travelers sailed into the sky for the first time in hot-air balloons. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier -- brothers, papermakers, and early experimenters in balloon flight -- organized the first manned public ascension, piloted by Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes, in 1783. Faujas de Saint-Fond’s account and description of their exploits was reprinted often, and the work is still consulted in studying the advent of aeronautics. The Smithsonian Libraries has both volumes of the first edition in fine condition, a rare combination.

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Among the song’s predictions of things to come is routine air travel in hot air balloons. The traffic is terrible!

The National Air and Space Library began as a collection of publications that accompanied aeronautical artifacts. Augmenting research on both early space flight and regular flight, the library also assists the work of cultural and military historians. Its Bella Landauer collection of aeronautical sheet music vividly conveys the general public’s great enthusiasm for manned flight and other scientific achievements.

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This portfolio of hand-tinted lithographs purports to illustrate the "discovery of life on the moon." In 1836, Richard E. Locke, writing for the New York Sun, claimed that the noted British astronomer Sir William Herschel had discovered life on the moon. Flora and fauna included bat-men, moon maidens (with luna-moth wings), moon bison, and other extravagant life forms. Locke proposed an expedition to the moon using a ship supported by hydrogen balloons.

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Kelly wrote the only authorized biography of the Wright brothers. George C. Page, an aeronautical engineer, sent his copy to prominent figures, especially from early aviation and space flight, for their autographs, with the intention of donating the book to the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian. Among the signatures are those of Charles Lindbergh and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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The lyrics speculate about the possibility of powered, controlled flight in 1903, surprisingly the same year that the Wright brothers made their historic first flight.

The National Air and Space Library began as a collection of publications that accompanied aeronautical artifacts. Augmenting research on both early space flight and regular flight, the library also assists the work of cultural and military historians. Its Bella Landauer collection of aeronautical sheet music vividly conveys the general public’s great enthusiasm for manned flight and other scientific achievements.

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On May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop solo air crossing of the Atlantic, in 33 hours and 39 minutes. Lindbergh, who flew in a customized single-engine Ryan monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, signed this copy, one from an edition of a thousand.

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This song describes a young girl’s dream of a balloon journey into space.

The National Air and Space Library began as a collection of publications that accompanied aeronautical artifacts. Augmenting research on both early space flight and regular flight, the library also assists the work of cultural and military historians. Its Bella Landauer collection of aeronautical sheet music vividly conveys the general public’s great enthusiasm for manned flight and other scientific achievements.

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Long before men entered space, writers and artists imagined such expeditions. Jules Verne’s classic science-fiction work on space flight first appeared in English in 1874. His novel remains of interest not only to researchers studying the cultural history of space flight but also to bibliophiles comparing the various editions of Verne’s books.

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