Children's Books discussion

When I was in 1st or 2nd grade in 1969/1970 my elementary school had an alternative to the usual Dick and Jane basal reader series that had a realistic space theme and was based on a conjectured manned space program. I've been unable to come up with the name of the book. I know in retrospect that the story depicted in the reader was a very simplified version of the technology presented in Wernher von Braun's 1953 book, The Mars Project and the artwork in the reader was loosely based on the Chesley Bonestell illustrations of von Braun's Mars book. I can't recall if the astronauts in the reader were trying to reach the moon or Mars, however. Does any of this ring a bell for anyone? I'd love to find out what the name of the school reader was.