Men into Space

1959
Men into Space

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 Moon Probe Sep 30, 1959

His family watching from mission control, Col. Edward McCauley who is commanding the first rocket into outer space must make a desperate gamble when the second stage of his rocket fails to jettison.

EP2 Moon Landing Oct 07, 1959

Senator Jim Sloane questions the need for and cost of a mission to the moon after McCauley's first effort to the moon fails and his second effort leaves a crewman seriously injured during takeoff.

EP3 Building a Space Station Oct 21, 1959

McCauley races against time in order to save an astronaut who is trapped when assembling the prefabricated units of a space station. The astronaut is the son of a air force general and trapped when his sleeve catches between sections of the space station.

EP4 Water Tank Rescue Oct 28, 1959

When an astronaut is stricken by a heart attack on the Moon, McCauley must find a way to get him back to Earth.

EP5 Lost Missile Nov 04, 1959

When an experimental nuclear-powered missile goes out of control, its creator insists on accompanying McCauley into space to try and disarm it before it can strike the moon and wipe out a twelve-man expedition.

EP6 Moonquake Nov 11, 1959

Trailblazer I is on route to the Moon when one of the crew gets word his wife has been hurt in a car wreck. Although distracted, the crewman needs to focus all his skills and abilities to overcome a major accident.

EP7 Space Trap Nov 18, 1959

Returning from the Moon with valuable spore samples the crew of MR7 are rendered unconscious. Earth sends a rescue mission but a decision has to be made that could put everyone's life at risk.

EP8 Asteroid Nov 25, 1959

An asteroid straying close to Earth becomes the subject of an experiment. It is decided to scout the asteroid with a view of turning it into a mobile space station. If not the rock must be destroyed.

EP9 Edge of Eternity Dec 02, 1959

Shortly after leaving the Moon a spacecraft is hit by an asteroid destroying their oxygen supply. The three man crew now become engaged in a life and death battle to extend their oxygen supply long enough to make it home.

EP10 Burnout Dec 09, 1959

Test continue on a new alloy for re-entry. On one test the ship acts erratically and although the crew is saved the ship is lost. A second mission is launched to try and understand what went wrong.

EP11 First Woman on the Moon Dec 16, 1959

Plot of this episode is not specified yet.
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EP12 Christmas on the Moon Dec 23, 1959

McCauley and two astronomers are on the Moon on Christmas day, and one of them is stricken with appendicitis.

EP13 Quarantine Dec 30, 1959

Two scientists who can't get along are assigned to the same space station, and McCauley has to keep the peace.

EP14 Tankers in Space Jan 06, 1960

It is decided to attempt fuel transfers between space craft while flying in orbit. The requirement for precision control of two spacecraft is met by using a pair of specially trained twins. Safety is the primary concern, but ensuring this, they overlook one potential fatal flaw in the mission

EP15 Sea of Stars Jan 13, 1960

Col. McCauley is training a young cadet who wants to be an astronaut, and pushes the young man almost to his limit. When an onboard accident knocks out McCauley, the nervous young cadet has to bring the craft back to Earth on his own.

EP16 A Handful of Hours Jan 20, 1960

Four men a stranded after their spacecraft crash lands on the Moon. Their only hope of survival is to walk to Moonbase. All goes well till they realize the oxygen tank they are carrying to resupply themselves has a faulty valve. There is a way around the problem, but the cost may be too high for the team to accept

EP17 Earthbound Jan 27, 1960

An eager, space-enthusiast technician (played by Robert Reed of The Brady Bunch) installs a smaller Guidance Control System he designed into the rocket ship. There is now room in the equipment bay for him to stow away on the next flight. But during the 12G takeoff his improvised couch crushes the equipment rack, causing the ship to lose all power before reaching orbit. The uncontrollable ship will quickly re-enter and burn unless repairs can be completed.

EP18 Caves of the Moon Feb 03, 1960

A mission is sent to explore a cave system on the Moon in the hope of finding ice. Having a source of water available would enable the colonization of the Moon.

EP19 Dateline: Moon Feb 10, 1960

A maverick journalist wins an opportunity to visit the Moon base. An opportunist he will look for anyway to manufacture a story, and his gambling habits put him at odds with the base commander.

EP20 Moon Cloud Feb 17, 1960

A scientist's wife warns McCauley that her husband Perry's's co-worker Hal Carter is jealous of his success. McCauley doesn't believe her, but when Perry's theory about radioactive gas on the moon prove correct, Hal plots to kill Perry.

EP21 Contraband Mar 02, 1960

McCauley must take four scientists back to the moon to find a deposit of a valuable mineral that one of them stole, so that he can trick the thief into revealing himself.

EP22 Dark of the Sun Mar 09, 1960

Tensions mount as final crew selections go forward for a special observation flight of the sun. At the core of the conflict is the potential for one of the crew to be a woman. The other candidates fail to treat her as a highly trained crew person and only see her as a vulnerable woman. Ultimately she uses her gender to solve the problem

EP23 Verdict in Orbit Mar 16, 1960

Col McCauley, while serving on the space station gets word his son has been seriously injured in a hit and run accident near the rocket base. Tension mounts as word comes through the driver of the car has been identified, and appears to be on duty on board the space station. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide on the station, how will this terrible emotional conundrum be resolved?

EP24 Is There Another Civilization? Mar 23, 1960

While on a routine flight one of the rockets is hit by a meteor fragment. On Earth they run tests to discover the meteor is not only made of metal, but appears to have been artificially created. A second flight is launched immediately to retrieve more samples. What they discover may solve one of the greatest mysteries known to man.

EP25 Shadows of the Moon Mar 30, 1960

A Moon survey mission finds a curiously-shaped rock formation. A month later, members of the return mission encounter other mysterious events and suspect that they are not alone.

EP26 Flash in the Sky Apr 06, 1960

A ship tasked with retrieving a malfunctioning Venus probe runs into issues when the scientist in charge, a friend of McCauley's insists on going despite previously disobeying McCauley's orders.

EP27 Lunar Secret Apr 13, 1960

A series of photographs taken by an expedition on the Moon shows some sort of artificial object moving up on a ridge. Two men are sent to investigate; what they find amazes them. Then an accident leaves them in deadly danger.

EP28 Voice of Infinity Apr 20, 1960

Space station Astra is chosen for a medical experiment to measure men's reactions to stress and fatigue. The medical director is convinced he can quantify a person's reactions to strain and so prevent accidents. Then a life-threatening problem on the space station requires men to perform well beyond their limits. An inner "voice of infinity" is what they heard, enabling them to save the situation.

EP29 From Another World Apr 27, 1960

Colonel McCauley returns from Asteroid 78-1. The mission was cut short by the failure of his suit oxygen supply. He is insistent that just before he passed out he saw fossil evidence of life on the asteroid. Unconnected with this, Air Force medical staff have recommended his prolonged series of missions requires a 60-day 'grounding' to recover from stress. Will McCauley be able to lead the return mission to the asteroid if its unpredictable orbit permits another rendezvous?

EP30 Emergency Mission May 04, 1960

A miss-fire of the MR28 sees the craft miss the Moon and head for deep space. The only chance of rescue is a new MX experimental rocket. In theory, the new ship should have the range. In practice, no one really knows.

EP31 Beyond the Stars May 11, 1960

A 3-man team visit the Lunar Observatory, isolated from all Earth signals on the Moon's far side, for routine Radio Telescope work. They pass the time during a long sky-mapping session by taping "A glimpse of lunar life" sound-broadcast. An power fault interrupts and requires a Moon walk to the Radio Telescope. One man is badly injured while returning. Unconscious for days, he responds to the tape-recording and deliriously asks to hear the "sound from the stars." His colleagues comply and make an interesting discovery.

EP32 Mission to Mars May 25, 1960

On the Moon the US and Soviets are in an informal race to be the first to Mars. Both sides play down the need to rush with concerns about safety. Ultimately both missions launch within minutes of each other, but a terrible accident completely changes the game and the ultimate fate of both crews.

EP33 Moon Trap Jun 01, 1960

Ship MR34 loses Auto-Control during landing and crashes 200 miles from Moon Base. Two of the crew survive and make for a nearby fuel-cache. Can they use the liquid oxygen there to improvise a survival igloo?

EP34 Flare Up Aug 17, 1960

A Soviet Major is the sole survivor of a crash landing near a US advance moon station. Determined to appear blameless, he reports Americans sabotaged the landing and then takes drastic action to destroy all evidence.

EP35 Into the Sun Aug 24, 1960

A new project involves launching capsules of atomic waste into orbit and then assembling them with an atomic rocket motor. The unit is then accelerated for disposal into the Sun. The civilian Project Engineer, who will attach the a-rocket in space, is a former astronaut who resigned after a re-entry accident. He now lacks confidence in himself and is convinced that no-one else trusts him.

EP36 The Sun Never Sets Aug 31, 1960

McCauley visits England and advises the British space program. He objects to the design of a second stage rocket. The British launch the spacecraft anyway and the second stage malfunctions hurling the craft into a tumbling orbit around the earth. With the help of a new British astronaut, McCauley pursues the crippled ship and succeeds in rescuing the crew.

EP37 Mystery Satellite Sep 07, 1960

The crew of MR37 encounter a strange object that they first believe is a meteor till it starts changing direction to match their ship. Whatever the object was it is confirmed it could not have come from Earth. When MR30 also encounters the object, a desperate chase begins to try and identify it.

EP38 Flight to the Red Planet Sep 14, 1960

The first mission to Mars is nearing the red planet when a series of accidents and break downs put the mission in doubt. The crew must balance the need for caution and safety against the massive amount of scientific data that could be gained on such an expedition.
7.8| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 30 September 1959 Ended
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Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Men Into Space is an American science-fiction television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col. Edward McCauley.

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Ben Burgraff (cariart) "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.
gmr-4 I was fourteen when MEN INTO SPACE aired, and missed very few episodes. In those days I had the pathetic notion that I would be involved with space engineering or sciences, a star that was already setting as I augered in at school. MEN INTO SPACE, however, kept the vicarious juices going, and it fuelled my passion for the embryonic space programme. In a way it was so good for television of the late '50s, one could almost consider an instrument of propaganda.I recall that it a good show, which as per others, did try to be realistic. There was an episode of a runaway thruster on the space station -- a proper Ley wheel, not the contemporary lash-up of ash cans. Another episode treated the ejection of nuclear waste into orbit or the Sun. As some of my juniors have commented, the situations and projects depicted in that humble half-hour show are yet to-day only contemplated, so perhaps MEN INTO SPACE was more science fiction than future faits accompli that my young hopes embraced.It was too early, and certainly too "technical" for television then and possibly now. Whereas TWILIGHT ZONE and ONE STEP BEYOND (both of 1959 et seq.) could count on pure fancifulness to secure loyal audiences, MEN INTO SPACE was "hard" S.F. There were just not that many people out there then to sustain a series, and it went the way of its distant cousin THE MAN AND THE CHALLENGE, also from 1959. Having no cable, and not attending science fiction conventions, I have not seen MEN INTO SPACE since the summer re-runs of 1960, which is . . . FORTY years! I am glad, however, it made an important impression on so many young kids, and their comments are actually moving.
XPDay 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.
Ed Uthman As with other reviewers, my impression of this never-syndicated, never-published-on-video series rests on childhood memories, in my case from age 7. However, at the time I had read a lot of popular books on the prospect of manned space flight, and "Men Into Space" resonated perfectly with the best that scientist-author Willy Ley and colleagues had to offer a 50's audience. As the episodes progressed, we witnessed man's first space flight, EVA, moon landing, and moon base operation. Space was depicted as silent (no "whooshing" spacecraft); multistage rockets were used; and full pressure suits were de rigueur. I suppose this series stood on the broad shoulders of the Heinlein-penned film DESTINATION MOON (1950), but you have to credit the TV show's producers with a level of scientific integrity not seen in in network sci-fi before or since.