Die X-15 startklar

My theory was that during the space race boom, NASA commissioned a popularization film that would justify the giant investment in starflight to the common working folk through a reminiscent melodrama about the brave men behind the stick and their terrified wives waiting patiently at the stove. I was therefore quite surprised to learn that in fact the subject matter had been there first, and that the documentary form of the film was in fact because producer Bob Hope had secured the support of the Pentagon for it, and through them NASA and the USAAF, who supplied a lot of actual footage of test launches and flights, around which the rest of the original film's plot was then simply wrapped. The result is appropriately bizarre, with long technical scenes of dramatically measuring cabin pressure and switching between communication channels interspersed with theatrical kisses, fatherly monologues, or the angry smashing of a telescope by a child who no longer wants to be an astronaut. It doesn't hold together one bit, but for aviation buffs of a certain era, this may be quite the rarity porn. (10.01.2021)