A Parallel Universe

Been researching a lot of different cards and sets for my Astronauts / Space collection lately.  Got on an eBay binge last week and have received several purchases.  These two were small additions, but interesting.  And they weren't quite even conventional non-sports products.  I found them on this checklist site.  They've got all kinds of stuff listed there.

Purchased from separate sellers, these are two versions of playing cards from Kennedy Space Center.  Apparently sold at the Visitor's Complex, I'm guessing these were made in different years.

Each boxed deck has 54 cards, each with a different photo of some aspect of the Space Program and a description.  There are also two Jokers and two cards that are information about the KSC itself.

The decks are similar in that I think all of the photos are in both decks.  But they don't necessarily match as far as the four suits.  There are batches of the same cards, but then some differ.  Certain groups of photos switch suits between the decks.

The Spades have two different sets of images altogether.

The Hearts start out the same but switch a few around mid stream.

Then they end up the same.  You can tell the difference in the printing of the photos too.

There's a big difference in the shades of blue.

The card backs have spectacular images of Shuttle launches.  Some of my favorite images.

I'll probably add both sets to the Astronaut binder.  Will have to flatten the boxes, I guess.  These will look nice in pages.  Guess I could double bag them since they're all the same and are so much thinner than normal cards. Can just leave one page or so to show the backs.

I figure these qualify since they have eductational information on each card, and there have been sports cards that are also playing cards too.  Hero Decks, and those US Playing card sets from the 90's. 

 

Hey, I actually need this one!