Just as Speed Carter had a "future history", so did the earlier Space Squadron...
...as this tale about the first manned space flight in 1953 (yes, 1953) demonstrates!
The writer and artist(s) of this tale from Space Squadron #1 (1951) are unknown.
The Famous Explorers of Space feature ran in all five issues of Space Squadron and the single issue of Space Worlds that used up material left homeless when Space Squadron was cancelled.
When Speed Carter: SpaceMan came along a couple of years later, writer Hank Chapman ignored everything done in Space Squadron, producing stories that often contradicted "history" established in the earlier series.
(Having one of the first space pioneers in Space Squadron named "Carter" could've provided a perfect "hook" to link the two, but Chapman made the wise choice to not do so!)
(Having one of the first space pioneers in Space Squadron named "Carter" could've provided a perfect "hook" to link the two, but Chapman made the wise choice to not do so!)
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