When did Superman first fly in space?

[yet another]

When Superman debuted in the 30s he only jumped (tall buildings!), so no space flights for him then.

Superman actually flying was a later addition. Don't remember quite when.

What I'd like to know is when he first started flying in and to space. Maybe sometime during the space race with the Soviet Union?

[Last Son]

From what I could find out, it was in 1943 that he first flew in the comics. I'm assuming he was probably flying in space soon after, probably years before the space race began.

[Rikdad]

Technically, the first time he flew in space was in Action #1, in the rocket that brought him to Earth.

I just scanned the Superman issues in the archives…*I'm not sure about Action, World's Finest, etc., but most of his stories were in the Superman title.

He had two unrelated adventures in space in Superman issues #18 and #19, but neither time did he fly from Earth to space under his own power.

He flew from Earth up to spaceships of unstated distances, but no further than the Sun, in Superman #34 (1945) and #48.

He flew a thousand light years from Earth in Superman #57 (1949). One issue later, he moved a planet (discussed in the link below).

So, depending on your sense of which counts, either 1945 or 1949 was when we first saw him show the ability to fly, unaided, into space.

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2009/04/h...-superman.html

[yet another]

Thanks!

I was interested to see if this was treated as a big step forward regarding what Superman could do at the time (as I think it should have been).

Seems not though, but considering the style of Superman comics back then, not so surprising I guess.

[Rikdad]

It would be interesting to trace this in more detail. By the Bronze Age, Superman was portrayed as being famous on every planet across the Universe, like the Frank Sinatra of the Universe. That transition happened, generally, between 1949 and 1962, but I have only a vague sense of how it took place. It might be a nice collection to show the stories where this all unfolded. The 1958 story that introduced Brainiac and Kandor was undoubtedly an important landmark along these lines.