"Man in Space" is an episode of the American television series ''

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

'' which originally aired March 9, 1955 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It was directed by Disney animator

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honor ...

. This ''Disneyland'' episode (set in

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world * Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium * ''Tom ...

), was narrated partly by Kimball and also by such scientists

Willy Ley Willy Otto Oskar Ley (October 2, 1906 – June 24, 1969) was a German and American science writer and proponent of space exploration and cryptozoology. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor. Early life and Berlin y ...

Heinz Haber Heinz Haber (May 15, 1913 in Mannheim – February 13, 1990 in Hamburg) was a German physicist and science writer who primarily became known for his TV programs and books about physics and environmental subjects. His lucid style of explainin ...

, and

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

, as well as

Dick Tufeld Richard Norton Tufeld (December 11, 1926 – January 22, 2012) was an American actor, announcer, narrator, and voice actor from the late 1940s until the early 21st century. He worked constantly and continuously throughout this lengthy car ...

of ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

'' fame. The show begins with a brief, lighthearted history of rockets, then presents discussions of satellites, a practical look (through humorous animation) at what humans will have to face in space (both physically and psychologically, such as momentum, weightlessness, radiation, even space sickness) and an imaginary view of a rocket's takeoff into space. The next episodes in this series were " Man and the Moon" and "

Mars and Beyond "Mars and Beyond" is an episode of ''Disneyland'' which aired on December 4, 1957. It was directed by Ward Kimball and narrated by Paul Frees. This episode discusses the possibility of life on other planets, especially Mars. The show was also r ...

", airing in seasons 2 and 4, respectively.

Reuse

"Man in Space" was edited into a featurette to play in theaters, accompanying "

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates ''Davy Crockett and the River Pirates'' is a 1956 American Western film produced by Walt Disney Productions. A prequel to '' Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier'', it was thought of as a means to salvage revenue from the blunder of Disney ...

". An adaptation of the episode was published (under the title "Walt Disney's Man in Space: A Science Feature from Tomorrowland") by

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

as "

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', is an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

" #716 in 1956, scripted by Don R. Christensen with art by Tony Sgroi. It was a "

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

" in comic book form of two Walt Disney television programs, "Man in Space" (1955) and "Man and the Moon" (1955). Also found as a 1956 UK reprint as ''A World Distributors Movie Classic'' (#45) and a 1959 combined reprint with the other two Dell Comics adaptations of "Man in Space" films as ''Walt Disney's Man in Space'' (''Dell Comics Giant'' #27).

Educational use

Part of this episode was excerpted and released in 1964 as ''All About Weightlessness''. It was also made into a "Tomorrowland adventure" book for classroom use in 1959 as ''Man in Space: A Tomorrowland Adventure''. Walt Disney Productions. Adapted for school use by Willy Ley, Illustrated by Carbe, Nino. Syracuse, NY: LW Singer Co. Inc. (48 p.) 21 cm. Softcover.

Critical reception

About 40 million people watched the episode. It was nominated for Best Documentary Short.

Government interest

A copy of the show was requested by United States President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

to show to the Pentagon rocket experts. The chair of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

commission for spaceflight, Leonid I. Sedov, also requested a copy. The show also contributed, greatly, to public knowledge and interest in the possibility of human-space flight and in some ways led directly to public demand for a three-stage rocket (as was described by

in "Man in Space") that would eventually be developed into the

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

Rocket of the

Apollo Program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

Home media

The episode was released on May 18, 2004, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrow Land''. The episode, along with "

", was added to

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

in June 2020.

References

External links

* * {{Ward Kimball 1955 American television episodes American documentary television films Television episodes directed by Ward Kimball Walt Disney anthology television series episodes Wernher von Braun