Antonin Chistyakov, A. Khmylev

First and only edition of this kids' story celebrating space exploration, printed just over a month before Yuri Gagarin would become the first person to journey into outer space.

• Antonin Chistyakov (Russian).
• Illustrated by A. Khmylev (Russian).
• Kalinin: Kalininskoe kniznoe izdatel'stvo, 1961.
• [12] pages.
• Bound in original side-stitched color pictorial wrappers.

The little boy Vova builds his own spaceship from a barrel and a tricycle so he can take his sister and their dog to the moon. Each page is lavishly illustrated, with realistic depictions of the kids' real lives facing the fantasy version of what they see in their imagination as they play at going into space. By March 1961, when this was printed, two dogs had returned safely from space (Dec. 1960), and Yuri Gagarin was preparing to launch into space via the Vostok 1 on April 12. Provincially printed and scarce, with OCLC listing no copies in US institutions. An exuberant, optimistic item, reflecting Soviet pride in its innovative space program.