In 1950, the Museum's Hayden Planetarium in New York City began accepting reservations for the first trip into space as part of a publicity campaign to promote its new exhibit on space exploration "Conquest of Space".

Over the next few years, hundreds of letters from would-be space travellers of all ages poured in in from around the world with requests to book trips to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and beyond, capturing the public's passion and curiosity for space exploration.

Check out the official selection: from a man who helpfully offered the planetarium his own, home-brew rocket schematics; to a man with the nickname "Stardust" who told the planetarium they could cancel his reservation if he was able to hitch a ride on a flying saucer sooner; to Barbara, a 16-year-old who informed the Planetarium that she "won't be content" until she was on a rocket headed to far-off space.

It's just beautiful!

Source: Hayden Planetarium website