Krafft Ehricke's Space Craft

Ships for Exit and Return & Vehicles for Outer Space
from LIFE magazine
January 6, 1958

A Spacey Christmas to All

the holiday issue of Popular Electronics, 1958

The Day Hollywood Stood Still

Baseball, Apple Pie, originally uploaded by Kiel Bryant.

Who couldn't delve into the subject of the Flying Saucer phenomenon in the Atomic Age without referring to the iconic contributions made by Hollywood? And so, here it is . . .


The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
My all, all-time fave. I can still remember being huddling in front of our tiny black and white set as a wee youngster, staring wide eyed as Gort makes his appearance down the ramp. Brimming over with one memorable scene after the other.

Stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Billy Gray and Lock Martin as Gort.

	Day The Earth Stood Still-Bernard Herrmann - Gort - The Visor - The Telescope .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Also see:

• Gort! - Be a Friend of Gort
• hulu.com/the-day-the-earth-stood-still - Movie clips
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film) @ Internet Movie Database
  
• Site Guide - The Day the Earth Stood Still
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still - Radio Broadcast
• TCM - The Day the Earth Stood Still
  
• Harry Bates-Farewell-to-the-Master - The original story that inspired the movie
• Fred Barton Productions, Inc. - Own your own Gort

War of the Worlds (1953) - Most memorable moment is Anne's encounter, with the creature's hand on her shoulder. Also quite arguably the best saucer design ever seen on celluloid.
War of the Worlds (1953) Trailer


Invasion of the Saucer-Men (1957)
Humorously played with a short appearance by Frank Gorshin. And who can resist the iconic bug-eyed men in this one.
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) movie trailer


Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)
Hugh Marlowe as a hero scientist. But this movie is flooded with saucer imagery. Most memorable scene(s) is the saucer crashing into the Washington D.C. memorial of your choice.
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) Trailer


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1957)
Pods from space take over an unsuspecting town's populace. Not a saucer movie, but definitely an otherworldly invasion flick.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1957) Trailer


It Came From Outer Space (1953)
Another hero scientist to the rescue tries to make peace with a stranded menace from outer space. I like the ending when one of the bug-eyed creatures disguised as the lead love interest shoots deadly sparks from her wand.
It Came From Outer Space


Invaders From Mars (1953)
I don't know... it seems like the movie runs on about 30 minutes longer than it really needs to be, but it's considered a classic, plus an original storyline told from a child's perspective.


The Blob (1958)
Steve McQueen, an infectious title tune, and a big gob of man-eating space goo.
The Blob (1958) - Theatrical Trailer


This Island Earth (1955)
Not exactly an invasion storyline, but it does go in to quite a bit of detail into the sad story of Exeter and his dying other-worldly race. And there's saucers, the "interocitor", the "mu-tants" and a hero scientist.
This Island Earth (1955) - Theatrical Trailer

The THING (from Another World) (1951)
A giant carrot-man (played by James Arness) from space terrorizes a polar research outpost. My favorite scene is the beginning when the search-party forms a wide circle around an object they find under the ice, then realize they've found a crashed saucer.
The Thing (1951) movie clip

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This Flying Saucer featurette is also published on the blog Atomic Living

Space Travel

illustration by John Polgreen
from Adventure in Space: Space Travel
by Willy Ley, 1957

The XSL-01 Assembly Sheet

Assembly instruction diagram for the Revell 1/96th scale model kit of thier XSL-01, dated 1958.

The XSL-01 spaceship was designed by rocket scientist Ellwyn E. Angle of Systems Laboratories Inc. The design has a detailed manned top stage with full interior with a removable top, main and booster stages (dertachable to recreate all phases of the flight from Earth takeoff, lunar landing and the return to Earth), flight and ground crew and fully detailed launch gantry. The kit includes the "XSL-01 Operations Manual" instructing each phase of piloting this spaceship in spaceflight.

The X-15 Rollout

The first X-15 (56-6670) rocket powered research aircraft is rolled out in 1958. At this time, the XLR-99 rocket engine is not ready, so to make the low-speed flights (below Mach 3), the X-15 team will fit a pair of XLR-11 engines into the modified rear fuselage. These were basically the same engines used in the X-1 aircraft.

The X-15 is a product of the accumulated knowledge of manned rocket craft, the first true spacecraft, with hope to make our first flight to the edge of space.