Men into Space
| Men Into Space | |
|---|---|
William Lundigan as Edward McCauley.
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| Also known as | 'Space Challenge' |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Created by | Lewis J. Rachmil |
| Written by |
Jerome Bixby Stuart J. Byrne James Clavell Meyer Dolinsky David Duncan Sidney Kalcheim Robert Warnes Leach Ib Melchior Marianne Mosner Michael Plant Francis Rosenwald William Templeton Arthur Weiss |
| Directed by |
William Conrad Alan Crosland, Jr. Walter Doniger Alvin Ganzer Jack Herzberg Herman Hoffman Nathan H. Juran Otto Lang Lee Sholem Herbert L. Strock |
| Starring |
William Lundigan Tyler McVey |
| Theme music composer | David Rose |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 38 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Maurice Ziv |
| Producer(s) | Sol Dolgin Lewis J. Rachmil |
| Cinematography | Edward Cronjager William P. Whitley |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ziv Television Programs |
| Distributor |
MGM Television Peter Rodgers Organization |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 30, 1959 – September 7, 1960 |
Men Into Space is an American black-and-white science fiction television series, produced by Ziv Television Programs, Inc., that was broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS. The syndicated series depicts future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The series' star, William Lundigan, played Col. Edward McCauley.
Men Into Space was not set in a specified era, but clues dropped in the scripts indicated that it took place between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, with the first Moon landing happening somewhere around 1975. Props were occasionally futuristic (such as a forerunner of today's real-life LCD TVs), but the show's Earthly clothing and environs, including automobiles, telephones, and other machines, were decidedly 1950s. The program aired in the year just prior to the beginning of manned spaceflight, with Vostok I and the Mercury program launching manned spacecraft in 1961.
Men Into Space was somewhat unusual for a TV action series in that it had numerous recurring characters, but only one protagonist, Col. Edward McCauley (William Lundigan), who was in all of the 38 series' episodes. Tyler McVey appeared in seven episodes as Major General Norgath. Ron Foster appeared five times as Lieutenant Neil Templeton. Joyce Taylor had a recurring role in eight episodes as Col. McCauley's wife, Mary McCauley.
McCauley was a sort of "everyman" character who was viewed in the show as the most experienced and illustrious astronaut. As depicted in the scripts, the low-key but decisive McCauley was ubiquitous, assigned to every important space mission over at least a decade, including the earliest manned flights, the first flight to the Moon, many additional lunar landings and Moon base construction missions, construction of a space station, and two flights to Mars (neither succeeded, and folklore has it that plans for a never-aired second season would have focused on further missions to Mars and beyond).
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