Note to readers – Sauk Valley Media will share editorials from the past as a regular Monday feature. The following editorial appeared in the Daily Gazette on Dec. 7, 1962.

Next year, according to the schedule, two men will circle the earth in the Gemini capsule. After that, three men will travel to the moon. After that ...

It is not unlikely that before this century is out, large ships with large crews will be making journeys of several years to the nearer planets, and that the 21st century will see astronauts exploring our entire solar system – as close to the sun as tiny Mercury and as far out as remote Pluto, 2.6 billion miles from earth at its nearest.