In the 60s, both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. installed playgrounds with equipment meant to “foster children’s curiosity and excitement about the Space Race.” Here’s me at the top of a rocket slide in Northeast Philadelphia, 1982.
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If your child can survive a soviet playground, they will succeed in life
We had the same one where I grew up, Sedgwick county Park, I loved that rocket.
And that slide was about 165 degrees of leg scorching fun!
I lived in L.A. and I remember playing on those at the park all the time.
Hmmm, where the old spinning wheel platform with handrails (aka the merry-go-round of certain impending broken limbs) also designed by Soviets?
Rocket ship park.
80s playgrounds, where safety was optional.
I lived in Texas and they had one of these by where I lived, every time I got to go to it I’d just hangout at the top
Woah! That brings back memories from elementary school in Huntington Beach California back in the early 1970’s! I loved this thing…
My favorite playground in sysosset ny
As a kid in the 90s they were just starting to take these down as I got older, maybe early 00s. The fake wood and yellow plastic jungle gyms replaced most of them. The local park had a huge rocket tower that always smelled like urine at the bottom.
In Boulder we grew up with Scott Carpenter park. Had a sweet rocket.
Astronaut Scott Carpenter’s house is about 7 mins away.
This post hits every nostalgia nerve in my rotten GenX soul thank you. I mean, “whatever.”
Was this by the Northeast Regional Airport and the Pepsi plant?
I’m a 90s kid but my local playground had one of these! It was really cool! The only thing that sucked was that the slide would get extremely hot the touch during summer. Lol
My town’s main big park is known to all the kids as “Rocketship Park” 🙂
Omg I think that was my playground too around that time. Mayfair?
We had the same slide at my local playground in NY.
We still have one in Minneapolis. Cool as f.
Crestview, FL 1970s
https://preview.redd.it/nf4clsxj5pba1.jpeg?width=761&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=53de6fa556dd56aed282ebc1d18794150288694c
I was gonna say these things are *all over* Philly, but then I looked it up and, according to Wikipedia:
“By 1963, Philadelphia had installed 160 space-aged playgrounds, which featured satellites, rockets, and submarines”
Like, I knew there were a lot, but damn, Philly.
Fell off the top of one of those in the mid ’70s. First time I experienced having the wind knocked out of me. Was terrifying.
We have one in Melbourne Australia. They recently redid the whole playground and wanted to tear down the rocket ship as it no longer met safety standards. There was such an uproar about it that they left it there and just added a few upgrades instead. Everyone loves the rocket!
I lost count of the number of nights teenage me smoked bongs in one of those with my mates in new zealand and australia
_grew up on the “Space Coast” in Florida, right down the road from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station/Kennedy Space Center, and these kinds of playgrounds were everywhere!_
https://preview.redd.it/wltuwsd2lpba1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6514699ff44fa89c9c5cd7f8cea0a6a602219874
Here is one I climbed 40 years ago. My kids are at the bottom. This was just 3 months ago.
Piccorello?
That looks cool
https://preview.redd.it/hvayyve9qpba1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=15a59635300584da8e2b273d7202e6f4921fd559
The rocket slide of my childhood at Burns Park in Arkansas. They tore it down to rebuild a new one, it’s still a rocket slide, just not as cool.
Is that Liberty Bell playground. I also grew up in Northeast Philly…Byrne Road. I played their often, would have been in 8th grade…Saint Martha’s.
I still have the same on my playground in Kharkiv, Ukraine. I was born in 1996 and I used it in my childhood. Still have cool memories about it.
https://preview.redd.it/igub1tsy5qba1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=fcb9c0a0a0f3eb03e04f52a43d7ff0d59c6a8bba
Used to climb this one in Minneapolis as a kid. Can no longer climb it but they have it displayed at the entrance to the park now.
Those were dangerous AF. Also fun AF.
We had almost the exact same equipment in my small hometown (Keokuk IA) it recently taken down and replaced with a newer one. It was the sent to the guys at American restoration and even was featured on their tv show! Once the tow of Keokuk got it back they put it in a new location.
https://preview.redd.it/o73q21b7qqba1.jpeg?width=183&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e5cf5ad095bf400c47cf26f3e926c843470e05fd
Broad Ripple Park in Indianapolis, IN
https://preview.redd.it/aor6f8gp8rba1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=f17b51cf936417195181bd9e6f364efd0f53fcb7
https://preview.redd.it/o2hqawi2wrba1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=d91a7d77be8823e3dbadd617b800861328facc88
Springfield Ohio