Odyssey, “The Young People’s Magazine of Astronomy and Outer Space,” ran from 1975 through 1991. Originally published by AstroMedia Corp., the magazine was sold to Kalmback publishing in 1985. I don’t have any issues from the later period, but I’ve seen some for sale, and it looks like the format changed slightly. I bought a good run from ’81 and ’82 and plan to post selections from each issue.
Kids used to be excited about space travel and the stars. Consequently, they were excited about science. Funny how that works. The magazine is excellent quality, even if some of the science is outdated. Above you’ll find an article on Voyager’s Golden Records, and instructions on how to build a Jupiter Theater (if anyone gets it done, send me some pics and I’ll show them off.)
A number of regular features are below. The first two feature Odyssey‘s robot mascot, Ulysses. The third is even better: kid art depicting space themes. The theme for this issue is “Future in Space.” Along with the letters printed at the beginning of the issue, the drawings were sent to President Reagan, who was threatening to cut NASA’s budget at the time.
The blurbs accompanying the art are brilliant. Talk to me, Christina Chin: “I would like to see the United States launch a shuttle to other worlds and galaxies and find beings that live there.”
Amen.
Or how about John-Charles Panosh’s “Norris 3,” an asteroid colony orbiting Jupiter? Pretty cool. Do you think it’s named after Chuck Norris?
The back cover is a surreal ad for TSR’s Escape from New York board game. In fact, every issue of my run has a TSR ad on the back cover.
2 Warps to Neptune 