1963 Chocolat Jacques : L'Astronautique: A l'assaut des étoiles!

L'Astronautique: A l'assaut des étoiles! (Stormloop naar de sterren! / Rush to the stars!) was published in 1963 by Chocolat Jacques of Belgium. The 144-card base series showcases the history of space exploration from Sputnik 1 to Mercury-Atlas 8. Each base card measures approximately 4.8 x 7 cm. The collection includes 13 additional oversized panels, each measuring 8.5 x 12.5 cm.

The base cards were included with bars of Jacques Superchocolat. The oversized cards were included with 200g and 400g chocolate products. A 36-page L'Astronautique collector album was sold separately. The card text and album descriptions are printed in French and Belgian Dutch.

The base collection features Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov, Andriyan Nikolayev, and Pavel Popovich. The Mercury astronauts featured are Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Wally Schirra. The oversized set includes portraits of Wernher von Braun, Yuri Gargarin, Valentina Tereshkova, John Glenn, and a diagram of Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight.

The series includes an image of X-15 pilot Joseph A. Walker, the first human to enter the mesosphere and the first person to fly an airplane above the Kármán line of 62 miles (100 km). The original NASA photograph was taken in Rogers Dry Lake on August 22, 1963. The card is erroneously credited as X-15 pilot Scott Crossfield.

During X-15 Flight 35 on March 30, 1961, Walker reached an altitude of 32.12 miles (51.7 km), entering the mesosphere less than two weeks before Yuri Gagarin. In 1963, Walker completed three flights over the U.S. recognized space boundary of 50 miles, with two flights surpassing the Kármán line. Walker was posthumously awarded the United States Astronaut Badge on August 23, 2005.

Also included are space animals Belka and Enos. Belka (Белка) and Strelka (Стрелка) were the first mammals to be successfully recovered from orbit. Korabl-Sputnik 2, also known as Sputnik 5, launched on August 19, 1960, and completed 17 orbits before returning to Earth the next day.

Enos was the third hominid and the only chimpanzee to orbit the Earth. Enos completed two orbits aboard Mercury-Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961.

The checklist not a direct translation of the card text. Identifications and corrections are included.