A Rocketeer from the Past

By Robert Gounley

70 years ago, a little kid sent me a message. I found it in my backyard.

More recently, only five days earlier, Burt Rutan's rocketplane, SpaceShip One, flew into space and won his company a big prize. It also changed expectations. In 40+ years of human spaceflight, only hundreds had ever made the journey. Soon, thousands may do the same, if only briefly. All you'll need is good health and the price of a ticket. The line is forming now.

For me, the following weekend was reserved for much more mundane endeavors. My home and garage were built in 1927 and previous owners appear to have dropped about one nail a month onto the backyard. In places, you couldn't push a spade into the soil without hitting one. The time for yard cleaning had come. I rented a metal detector and began excavating.

To my surprise, the first artifact uncovered was not a nail, but a rusty crescent wrench looking like it had last been used to dismount the engine of a Model A Ford. My metal detector kept pinging even after the tool had been removed. I dug some more in search of treasure.

The excavation was in front of a shed built onto the back of the garage. It was about as old as the rest of the garage and made a handy place for garden tools. Something, I don't recall what, told me this was once used for a children's playhouse. Perhaps it was the youthful penmanship of faded markings left inside the shed. More likely it was the height of the doorway on which I regularly hit my head.

Pushing aside the dirt, I uncovered a small figurine -- almost certainly a child's toy. It stood about 8 cm tall and depicted woman in an unhelmetted spacesuit. Her hair is bobbed in a style typical of the early 1930s. She's running with her head and upper torso twisted to her right with her right arm outstretched as though firing a weapon. Her hand's broken off, but everything else suggests that it once held a raygun. (I pity the squad of evildoers incinerated while taking that gun away.)

Both legs had broken off, but were recovered near the rest of the figure. She's wearing moon boots supple enough for her to run with soles bent at the ball of the foot. (Nice trick!) On her right is a gun holster and on her back is rocket pack. Unlike the straight cylindrical rockets that have been the norm since the 1950s, this rocket is bulbous - more like a jet-propelled turnip.

It's all made from a hard, black plastic that's been hand-painted. The suit is dark blue with a bright yellow collar. Her face is Caucasian flesh tone with bright red lipstick. Her hair is dull beige or gray with a few flecks suggesting it may once have been black before down to the primer. Her eyes are black spots accented with arched eyebrows. Her right thigh displays "HONG KONG" in raised letters.

My fondest hope is that I've uncovered a 1930s relic showing Dale Arden from the Flash Gordon comic strip and movie serial. More likely it's an inexpensive replica made in the 1950s. No matter - this is now a personal treasure.

I wonder about the toy's original owner. It probably belonged to a young boy - back then, girls weren't often allowed "boys toys". Did he read science fiction? Did he look up at the night sky and dream of interplanetary journeys? Did he promise to become a doctor or a lawyer while daydreaming about building rockets? He can't tell me. My imagination fills the void.

If this aspiring rocket scientist could look through a time portal and see me digging up his toy, what would he react? It's the 21^st century. The man holding the shovel works with spacecraft exploring the solar system. That week, rocket barnstormers crossed into space, won a prize, and promised to sell tickets.

I'll let others give pronouncements on the future of space tourism and overcoming launch costs. My spirit is with the little kid looking from one century into the next century and able to utter only a single word.

"Wow!"