Sets in my Collection #35: 1969 Topps Man on the Moon

50 years ago today- right this very minute, thanks to the Blogger scheduling function- man landed on the Moon for the very first time. To me, this is probably THE crowning achievement in human history. It's just so amazing to contemplate, and I really hope to see more moon missions occur during my lifetime. I was promised a moon base by 1999, and I'm highly disappointed that didn't come to pass. But with all the advances in modern technology, I figure it's only a matter of time. Consider, when  I was a kid, getting an answering machine was a huge technology event. Now, I have a handheld computer that I can see and talk with people around the world at any time. Basically, the Jetsons without a flying car...and even that has been invented, it's just too cost prohibitive to actually produce and operate.

I am jumping ahead in the Sets in My Collection project for this very special anniversary. In 1969, after we had actually put a man onto the Moon, Topps released a set called, appropriately, Man on the Moon. The front design- and possibly some of the images themselves- come from the 1963 Topps Astronaut Pictures set, which chronicles the early days of NASA. Unfortunately, I don't have of them in my collection. The 1969 set has new photos- a mixture of actual photos and drawings- and the backs are puzzles. In the 1963 set, they were 3D drawings. The Man on the Moon set is 55 cards, and surprisingly enough, has no actual photos from the moon. It was created after the landing happened, because it talks about it in the captions, but no photos taken on the Moon. I do not know if the photos were classified or if they just tried to get it out as quickly as possible- it was 15 years before I was born- but it is a little disappointing.

Of the 55 cards, all of which carry either an A (#1-35) or B (36-55) suffix, for reasons I do not know, I have 30 of them, or 54.5%.

Here are some highlights:

#30A

#42B

#51B

#52B

#23A

Here is the back of #23A. All but two of my back scans were lost when my first remote hard drive died.

You can see all the scans I do have- and I have not scanned all of the cards in my collection yet- on my Cardboard History Gallery listing for it. 1969 Topps Man on the Moon

There's a lot of idiots who think this whole thing was fake...if you are one of them. please don't say anything, because I'll never be able to take you seriously again. Nor will I ever send you any cards again.