Bookmark and Share
 
Space Zippos                                                                                                      [1] [2]


America's space exploration is a popular theme with many Zippo collectors.
 

In October 1967 Russia launched the first satellite into space. The United States was shocked, fearing the Russians have jumped way ahead in the conquest of space.  Senator Lyndon Johnson expressed the fears at the time: "Soon, they will be dropping bombs on us from space like kids dropping rocks onto cars from freeway overpasses!"  General Electric was a pioneer in the design and construction of re-entry vehicles, and the slim Zippo is dated 1958, the year NASA and the Mercury project were created.
In 1962 Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation received a contract to
design and build the
lunar module which
was ultimately used in
the 1969 moon landing. 
The slim Zippo is dated 1966
In 1961 NASA announced a
plan to extend the existing manned space flight program
by development of a two-man spacecraft. The program was officially designated Gemini, named after the third constellation of the zodiac, featuring the twin stars
Castor and Pollux. The
Gemini program ended after twelve missions in 1966, the
year this slim Zippo with the
Gemini logo was produced.
     
         


On July 20, 1969 the Apollo 11 astronauts the first manned flight to the moon touched down.  The popular Town & Country process "Moonlanding" Zippo from 1969 celebrates this historic event.  The Zippo on the right with Armstrong's famous quote "That's One Small Step for a Man and One Giant Leap for Mankind  10:56 PM EDT" is unusual as is the tape measure.
 
      
                            1969                      1984

The 1969.Town & Country Zippo with the colorful images of
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin is the
rarest of Apollo 11 commemorative Zippos.  The image of the
three astronauts in black paint on the 1969 Zippo to the right
was replicated in color in 1984
 
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first human spaceflight mission managed jointly
by two nations, the US and the Soviet Union.  In 1975 it achieved its goal of rendezvous
and docking of human spacecraft. 
The slim Zippo is from 1974.		 The Apollo program began in 1963 and
ended in 1972 after landing six missions
on the moon.  The Zippo with the Apollo
logo is from 1976
   
This odd contraption on slim Zippo from 1978 has nothing to do with space at all but is reportedly a field transportable Air Traffic Control radar dome or radome antenna array on an hydraulic support mast. NASA wanted a more portable camera for
its space missions, it selected Nikon as a special manufacturer. This two-sided
Zippo is from 1980.