During a recent trip to a parallel universe, where the rocket ships and space stations envisioned in the 1950s were actually funded, built and launched, I managed to obtain a promotional trailer for a documentary, commissioned in 1969 by the United States National Council of Astronautics, celebrating America's incredible space achievements like the manned lunar landing in 1963 and the manned Martian landing in 1968.

Enjoy.

Man Conquers Space (1969) - 3.4Mb

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It is the year 1969...

After a decade and a half of successful space initiatives, the United States National Council of Astronautics (made successor to the NACA in 1958) has commissioned a film to document the overwhelming success of America's domination of space exploration.

In this film, footage of Man's first historic landing on the Moon in 1963, accompanied by the awesome spectacle of the first mission to Mars in 1968 is presented in a startling 27-minute celebration of achievement.

The story follows the development of the astounding hardware that empowers Man to dominate the heavens.

The first step is the Saturn Shuttle. With its sleek, towering, nickel-gray conical fuselage, and vast wings designed for gliding recovery for the manned, third stage, the Saturn thunders off the pad to the roar of a cheering crowd.

After discarding its spent, reusable first and second stages, the orbital passenger and equipment-carrying stage (S-III) of the Saturn performs rendezvous and docking maneuvers with the Space Station. This enormous wheel spins to provide its many occupants with artificial gravity. Small space taxis ferry men and equipment between the Saturn and the Space Station, docking with the relatively stationary center, or "hub" of the wheel. The wheel exists primarily as an orbital military installation, providing its inhabitants the best view of the surface of the Earth. Its polar orbit means it passes over almost every part of the Earth's surface.

Also in the process of rendezvous is the giant Lunar Lander fleet. Constructed in orbit, these craft are designed to carry crews to the surface of the Moon, and return them safely to Earth. We witness their intrepid voyage to our closest celestial neighbor, and watch as the gangly craft gently lower themselves to the lifeless and barren lunar surface on pillars of flame. We then follow the astronaut teams as they range over the craggy peaks and vast lunar mare to arrive at the giant crater Copernicus.

Next, we join the Mars fleet: huge vessels based on the Lunar Landers, carrying crews, supplies, and the graceful winged ships designed to glide through Mars' thin atmosphere for a safe conventional aircraft-style landing. Later, when it is time to leave Mars, the wings are dismantled, the fuselage is hoisted onto its tail, and each lander becomes a vertical take-off rocket, designed to rendezvous with the huge mother ship fleet that has remained in Martian orbit.

The crews range over the Martian terrain, exploring the various geological and meteorological features of this unique world, encountering some of the largest landforms in the solar system.

The film concludes with photos taken by unmanned probes of the next great frontier: Jupiter and her enigmatic Galilean Moons, and onwards, to the mysterious and beautiful ringed world of Saturn.

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Let me guess - someone posted this about six months ago. Watching this fictitious trailer makes want to change my handle to Tears In My Eyes. :_(