User Reviews

Although portions of "Man in Space" are quite dry, this is a pretty amazing installment of Disney's "Wonderful World of Color"...one that actually holds up very well today. And, it was just places on Disney+ today...and it's waiting to be discovered.

The film is not one that really would appeal to many kids...but is more for adults. You would NOT expect this for this show...but there it is. The Disney folks attempt to explain all the requirements needed for manned missions to space as well as what to expect when these would soon occur. What is shocking is how accurate this early look at space was...filled with lots of facts and presenting it in a semi-interesting way. To do this, they use some excellent animations, interviews (one with a war criminal, Wernher von Braun*) and more. Well worth seeing...particularly by students in a physics or astrophysics class.

*Von Braun was the head of the Nazi rocketry program. To build his base in northern Germany, 20,000 slave laborers were killed...either worked to death, starved or worked to death. But, because von Braun't work was so important, folks just casually forgave him for this! Yikes. And, because of this, the Disney film's biggest weakness is the way they gloss over Germany's V-program.

Oh, where are you going, my little one, little one...

Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four...

I remember these shows when they were first broadcast on Disneyland. I remember sitting there, electrified by Werner Van Braune's explanations of rocket science. I watched as history, science and humor were all interwoven in an engrossing story of possibilities.

That was fifty years ago. And the shows are back in the Disney Treasures series, and what a treasure they are. I watched them last night and tonight with my 8 year old daughter, who at first would not even come in the room, but later changed her mind when she saw they were partly animated. As she watched I watched her, and by the end she was nearly as engrossed as I had been.

Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own...

Sure, some of the predictions about reaching the moon were wrong. But there is a lot of information that is still quite accurate, and the overall presentation is still impressive. I found myself thinking my daughter's teacher might want to show them to her class, not only as a 50 year old artifact, but also as fun and easy to understand lessons in history.

Turn around, turn around, turn around and again...you're wondering how much has really changed in 50 years.

This documentary was nominated for an Oscar and it's easy to see why. Even 45 years later, it is quite an impressive piece of work. Why it isn't in-print is a mystery that only Disney can explain. Good use of live footage and animation in tandem. This used to run as part of "Vault Disney" every few months or so, but I haven't seen it listed in quite a while. *sigh* Most recommended.

This is an excellent introduction to basic space physics and history. It is brought to you by the Disney folks and the future leaders of what a few years later would become NASA. Most of the information is still valid and useful. As a bonus, you get an up-close look at the nascent US space program and its Germanic roots. Legendary announcer Dick Tufeld ("Lost in Space") narrates in suitably dramatic fashion.

Perhaps the show's greatest accomplishment is how simple some complex concepts are made. Orbital velocity and booster rocket design are explained in particularly comprehensible ways. The brains behind the space program speak here in their own voices, and quite accurately predict numerous details of space flight years before anyone got anywhere near going into orbit: weightless food preparation, psychological testing, cosmic radiation shielding, space medicine, computer control. Some of the early testing methods shown, where volunteers were subjected to up to 35G's of force and violent air pressure changes, are fascinating and show the bravery of those involved. Disney animation is used throughout and is quite unobtrusive, aimed at an adult level. This was serious stuff, not prepared just for kids.

But "Man in Space" is terrific viewing today even if you already know all that. Some of the giants of rocket development - Willy Ley, Wernher von Braun - explain and propose ideas that in 1955 must have seemed far-fetched. Von Braun boldly predicts that a passenger vehicle could be developed within ten years, or by 1965 (actually, it happened a few years before that). This was when they were barely past the V2 stage! Sounds awfully similar to something President John F. Kennedy later said about the Moon....

Of course, some of the ideas were later dropped due to practical necessity. Von Braun's large model rocket, for example, while looking eerily similar to current designs of the 21st Century, was far too ambitious for the technology of the day, and liquid fuel ultimately was replaced by solid fuel. However, one understands the precise logic off of which these pioneers were building. If anything, the "mistakes" show just how far in the future these guys were reaching. At that level, science begins to depend on imagination and theories as much as facts and experience. If you listen closely enough to von Braun, you can see in your mind the blueprint unfold for what actually happened over the next fifteen years. He, of course, was behind it all.

I can't watch this, though, without feeling kind of sad. Back then, they knew how to make hard science exciting and appealing. Manned space flight was not considered a luxury, but an imperative. This type of wonky documentary could appear in prime time on a popular program, and made cutting edge science accessible to everyone. Compare that to today, when popular science has turned inward, focusing on software designed to make people feel better, economic panaceas and unmanned probes at the expense of grand adventures such as "the conquest of space." It would be so nice to get some of that buccaneering spirit back.

This film, along with the other two Disney-von Braun collaborations, was extremely important in creating public support for the U. S. Space program. These films are so important to today's society that they should be brought out of moratorium and be re-released on film, TV, VHS, and DVD.

Wernher von Braun, through the artistry and marketing of Walt Disney ("Man in Space", etc.), was primarily responsible for opening the door to space travel. Wernher von Braun knew the importance of space travel.

Most people have questioned our space program and why we are "wasting" money on space when we can more usefully spend it here on earth building hospitals, roads, etc.

If man is to survive as a species, he must travel into space and inhabit other places. Barring huge catastrophes (disease, war, "culling the human herd", etc.), brought on by man, himself; or even more cruelly, by nature; Earth will not support the increased population of the next millennium, and more than likely, not even the next century. Humans, here on Earth, are like a bacterial colony on a petri dish. Our population is now doubling every few years. At the same time, fuel, food, and other resources are running out; and, pollution will soon reach intolerable levels. It does not take a rocket scientist to DO THE MATH and conclude that the window of opportunity, time-wise, is closing.

Wernher von Braun was correct in his assessment that man should "travel to the stars." It is our destiny if we are to survive as a species. Disney studios would do well to re-release such educational films and videos as: "Man in Space", "Man and the Moon:" and "Mars and Beyond." Disney studios should, once again, be exploring new frontiers, not just for the economic gain, but also for what they can do for humanity. Disney studios would do well to create new educational films and videos, in the spirit of the Disney-von Braun collaboration, to vigorously promote space travel.

Looking back on this, 65 years after it was made, it's fascinating to look at just how the world looked at "outer space" in the mid 1950s. Don't be misled by the "Disney" banner - this is still a vaguely scientific enterprise that though introduced by him, is left very much in the hands of narrator Dick Tufeld. He takes us on an interesting journey using animation and actuality to describe the evolution of space travel from the very elementary Chinese rockets through to the envisaged pre-curser of what would eventually turn out to be the NASA shuttle programme. Using some quite creative and amusing animation, Tufeld guides us through the plausible and the fantastic and oddly enough, at times it is really quite visionary and accurate - so far, anyway. It's just shy of an hour, and if you are remotely interested in the history of powered things that fly, and/or of animation - then check this out. Its quite entertaining, speculative and informative.

This movie does a great job of explaining the problems that we faced and the fears that we had before we put man into space. As a history of space flight, it is still used today in classrooms that can get one of the rare prints of it. Disney has shown it on "Vault Disney" and I wish they would do so again.

I have not seen this movie! At least not in its entirety. I have seen a few haunting clips which have left me gagging to see it all. One sequence remains in my memory to this day. A (very convincing looking) spacecraft is orbiting the dark side of the moon. The pilot releases a flash device in order to photograph the hidden surface below him. The moon flashes into visability . . . . and for a few seconds there it is. Parallel lines, squares, Could it be .. then the light fades and the brief glimse of ...what... has gone and it is time for the spacecraft to return to Earth. Wonderful. I have seen some other clips too but would LOVE to obtain the full movie.