1957 Topps Space trading cards use the early days of exploration as a launching point into something much more fantastical. Starting with a bit of science, it very quickly shifts to a possible future that we’re still waiting on decades later.
1957 Topps Space Checklist Details
In 1957, the push for space exploration and travel hit a turning point. In the fall, the USSR successfully launched Sputnik I, the world’s first satellite. And with that, the race was on, culminating in Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969.
1957 Topps Space trading cards start with Sputnik and look ahead to one day when people would be on the moon. But it doesn’t stop there. By the end of the 88-card checklist, cards imagined civilization on other planets and humanity going to the outer reaches of the solar system. It’s imaginative but posed as something that was possible.
The painted fronts are colorful and add to the fantastical realism the product goes with. On the surface, the images are in a similar style as 1950s ads for everything from vacuum cleaners to automobiles.
The blue backs are decorated with stars, planets and a rocket shooting past it all. The card number sits inside a satellite icon with a write-up in a white hole in the middle. While the set’s story is somewhat hypothetical speculative fiction, there is some science in there as well to help make sense of the many What Ifs? that were in peoples’ minds at the time.
1957 Topps Space is a classic set of trading cards that remains popular still today. In addition to the cards, some of the original art has been sold. For example, the painting for #51 Eclipse of the Earth sold in 2018 through Robert Edward Auctions’ for $1,920, almost four times its original estimate.
With the Space Race continuing to capture peoples’ imaginations, the set as reissued in 1958 under the banner Target: Moon with minimal changes.
1957 Topps Space Checklist
Click on the links to shop for cards on eBay or to check current market values.
Set size: 88 cards
Cards per pack: 1-Cent – ?, 5-Cent – ?
Packs per box: 1-Cent – ?, 5-Cent – 36
Shop for 1957 Topps Space boxes and packs on eBay.
Base Set Checklist
88 cards.
Buy on eBay:
1 Sputnik 1
2 Dog in Sputnik II
3 Launching U.S. Satellites
4 Recovering The Rocket
5 Sputnik Descending
6 Three Stage Rocket
7 Target: Moon
8 Robot Nears Moon
9 Radio Telescope
10 Space Flight Headquarters
11 Testing A Space Pilot
12 Briefing For Spaceflight
13 Space Suit
14 Preparing For Flight
15 Zero Hour
16 Strapped Down For Takeoff
17 Rocket Blastoff
18 Heading For Outer Space
19 Diagram Of Spaceship
20 No Gravity
21 Space Checker Game
22 Space’s Practical Jokes
23 Meteor Peril
24 If Meteors Hit New York
25 Space Acrobat
26 Flying Practice
27 Fixing Meteor Damage
28 Sunset On Earth
29 50 Miles To The Moon
30 Preparing To Land
31 Moon Landing
32 Rocket Jet Heat
33 First Men On The Moon
34 Moon Expedition
35 Lunar Scouting Patrol
36 Conquest Of The Moon
37 High Jumping On The Moon
38 It’s Easy – On The Moon
39 Trapped In Meteor Shower
40 Lunar Crater
41 Famed Copernicus Crater
42 Moon Huts
43 Moon Surveying Squad
44 Moon Mountain Climbing
45 Photographing Moon Craters
46 Collecting Mineral On Moon
47 Lunar Mists
48 Lunar Explosions
49 Palomar Observatory
50 Enjoying Earthshine
51 Eclipse Of The Earth
52 Working In Space
53 Space Supply Depot
54 Assembling Supply Ship
55 Supplies For Moon Pioneers
56 Solar Generators
57 Lunar Airplant
58 Lunar City
59 Gymnastics On The Moon
60 Lunar Lookout Post
61 Farming On The Moon
62 Moon Trains
63 Space Message Center
64 Lunar Space Port
65 Chasing Comets
66 Heading Home
67 Return To Earth
68 Outer Space Station
69 Takeoff For Other Planets
70 Refueling Interplanet Ship
71 Venus Dust Storms
72 Mysterious Mars
73 Martian Landscape
74 Martian Dust Storms
75 Martian Air Base
76 Visit To Mercury
77 Mercury’s Amazing Climate
78 Studying The Sun’s Surface
79 Melting In The Sun’s Heat
80 Exploring Jupiter
81 Jupiter’s Terrain
82 Hurricane On Jupiter
83 View Of Saturn
84 Spectacular Saturn
85 Saturn’s Rings
86 Pluto – The Coldest Planet
87 Discovering A New Sun
88 Life On Other Planets?
Wow, plants which thrive on carbon dioxide! Space in indeed a very strange place! hehe