Men Into Space

"Men Into Space" was one of two 1959 TV series created to 'cash in' on the burgeoning NASA space program, as the first astronauts were being selected, and this CBS production benefited from the participation of two space 'legends' in the production team; for technical advice, Willy Ley, America's best-known space 'expert', provided uncredited assistance, and Chesley Bonestell, the 'father' of space illustration, was listed as 'creator', and provided the remarkably accurate 'look' of the series. As the pair had also worked on George Pal's production of Robert Heinlein's DESTINATION MOON (1950), the series had a very similar 'feel', with aerodynamic multi-stage rockets with fins, a classic 'wheel-within-wheel' space station, correctly envisioned 'pressure-suit' inspired spacesuits, and a 'moon' that was composed of jagged peaks and sharply defined craters (a conception that would carry over to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and would only be modified when astronauts discovered the clinging dust that actually covers the lunar surface, and 'softens' the appearance).

With Ivan Tors as an executive producer, the stories were 'kid-friendly', with plots focusing on fundamental space issues (weightlessness, oxygen, navigation in space), although, with the Cold War raging, sabotage and politics were also touched on, if only lightly. Veteran actor William Lundigan starred, as 'no nonsense' commander Col. Edward McCauley, and while he seemed a bit old for hopping around space, he was an adequate 'father-figure' for the young cast assembled.

CBS expected the show to become a hit with kids, and marketed a variety of merchandise (including a 'lunch box' that I was a proud owner of!), but the special effects turned out to be cost-prohibitive, and the series was canceled after a single season, and never syndicated.

Considering the fanciful 'space opera' series ("Lost in Space", "Star Trek") that would dominate the airwaves within a few years, "Men Into Space", with it's realistic approach to space flight, was far ahead of it's time.

This show was another that vanished after one season but appealed to the imaginations of kids with unfamiliar concepts as weightlessness and a "hard vacuum". The show featured the McCauley character and crew blasting off on missions in a standardized multistage (?) vehicle, and doing space walks, rendezvous and powered landings. One episode had McCauley rescue a colleague on a very small asteroid doomed for destruction. As they departed the asteroid, the viewer sees petroglyphic markings on the space rock evidently left by an alien civilization (is this the episode titled "Is There Another Civilization?"). Shows of this genre inspired a generation of scientists and science buffs.

But it was as adult as could be expected. A fine depiction of men (and women? I forget) on the moon operating from space bases. Forty years later we STILL have no moon bases! I remember best the great fear they all had about their space suits being punctured (what WOULD happen, besides "instant death"?). A well done drama. Never rerun, unfortunately.

Like several of us whom have commented, I was about seven years old when this show aired and it made a large and lasting impression on me. I actually negotiated a special Wednesday night bedtime in order to be able to see it. I wanted the Col. McCaulley helmet, but alas, we were of modest means in my household. When the Mercury and Gemini projects were underway, I felt that we were right on track and my friends and I would be pursuing our careers in space. I even majored in aero & astronautical engineering - just when the whole thing succumbed to post-Apollo apathy and Watergate nonsense. Imagine my disappointment. As time went on, I found fewer contemporaries that even remembered 1950's space movie and TV sci-fi, so I largely forgot about it. Then about 4 years ago I came across a source of the entire series of episodes on videotape (for $160). Unbelievable! Some of the episodes are exactly as I remembered them. And unlike a lot of childhood memories, the show turns out to be actually pretty good: It is more technically accurate than anything shown on TV since. You can spot actors like Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Robert Reed (pre-Brady Bunch) and Angie Dickenson (as McCaully's wife in the pilot episode). One of the episodes was written by James Clavell (well before Shogun). For a while in the mid-1960's there was discussion of a sort-of sequel to be called "Beyond the Moon" that would feature 1970's missions envisioned by NASA with technical accuracy. TV Guide carried an article on it. But it never materialized and instead we got mindless stuff like "I Dream of Genie." Anyone interested in this should also look for "Riders to the Stars," "The Conquest of Space," and the recent "October Sky," all of which capture the time of Sputnik and big dreams. This is the way space (and sci-fi) should have been in our lifetime! I invite anyone interested in discussing this further to contact me.

I think it was on Wednesday nights. It was absolutely my favorite program at that time. I have never seen a single clip of this show since it went off the air. The only scene from an episode I can remember is the time Col. McCauley got separated from his space craft and started drifting away in space. All he did was repeat his name: "McCauley.....McCauley...." until he was located and rescued. Around 10 years later I remembered this scene while watching "2001: A Space Odyssey" when the astronaut, Dr. Frank Poole, was terminated by the HAL 9000 computer and was left to drift in space. I kept expecting to hear Poole repeat his name. But it was not to be. Poole was expendable. McCauley wasn't.