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The Mike Mars Children's Series

The year is 1961.  Young boys across the world are looking into the night sky with awe, for the Russians and the Americans are preparing to launch a man into space. The Project Mercury astronauts and the Russian cosmonauts are the new heroes of this young generation.

In response, noted science fiction author Donald A. Wollheim writes a series of 8 fiction books loosely based on the Project Mercury astronauts, with illustrations by Albert Orbaan. These are the stories of the real astronauts--the Project Qucksilver men--for while the public is told of Project Mercury, the unsung Quicksilver astronauts secretly fly space missions, paving the way. In every case, the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts followed but got all the glory!

The Quicksilver astronauts are all young and single, less experienced, but "at the peak of their young powers". The risks are simply to great to risk the life of a man with family. Recurring Cold War themes include conflict with the Russians and home side sabotage of the space program.

The books are reasonably faithful technically to the original space programs with Vandenburg, Cocoa Beach, White Sands, Wendover, Utah, and other space locations appearing prominently in the series. Some are relatively easy to find, others are considerably more difficult.

So, for your sheer enjoyment or for further study of American cultural history during the Space Race, here is Mike Mars.

Search for Mike Mars books in stock

Hardbound Editions		Softbound Editions
	Mike Mars Astronaut (1961) We learn about a young man named Mike Alfred Robert Samson--Mike Mars, who is a crack young fighter pilot selected along with six others to join Project Quicksilver. Check availability
	Mike Mars Flies the X-15 (1961) The X-15 has been released to the Air Force following its testing and Mike is selected as the first to push the hypersonic rocket plane to its limits. But trouble arises with the possibility of the plane being sabotaged. Check availability
	Mike Mars at Cape Canaveral (1961) Preparations begin for the first manned suborbital flight aboard a Redstone rocket. Mike meets noted rocket scientist, Dr. Van Ness--and his daughter! Will Mike be the first man in space? Just before his flight a Redstone test ends abruptly with an explosion. Check availability
	Mike Mars in Orbit (1961) Mike is selected to be the first man in orbit--Gagarin, Titov and Glenn look out! He'll ride the Atlas rocket into orbit, unless a mysterious man is successful with a threat to Mike's life or the press find out about Project Quicksilver. Check availability
	Mike Mars Flies the Dyna-Soar (1962) Johnny Bluehawk faces trouble landing his Quicksilver capsule in the midst of a hurricane and Mike is successful in taking the Dyna-Soar into orbit on a Titan I despite the best efforts of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara! OK, McNamara's not the saboteur, but... Check availability
	Mike Mars South Pole Spaceman (1962) Mike launches a Blue Scout rocket into orbit from the belly of his X-15. Unfortunately, his landing site at the South Pole is "whited out" and he must make an emergency landing. Why the South Pole? Why Mike of course is looking for a hole in the Van Allen radiations belts there. Check availability
	Mike Mars and the Mystery Satellite (1963) Mike and Native American astronaut Johnny Bluehawk take a Gemini spacecraft into orbit to track down a mysterious satellite that has fired at an American Echo satellite. Are the Russians trying to cause trouble again? Check availability
	Mike Mars Around the Moon (1964) Mike and fellow astronauts Johnny Bluehawk and Jack Lanigan prepare for an Apollo flight to the Moon. In order to beat the Russians, there's no plan for a simple Earth orbiting flight, they've got to go all the way. The only rocket that can make it is Van Ness' Advanced Saturn. But the Russians have a plan to stop them. Check availability

Those with more interest in Mike Mars should read Keith Scala's article, "Mike Mars, Man or Myth?" in Quest; The History of Spaceflight Quarterly, Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 1998.