NASA, Space, and Popular Culture

NASA’s Golden Age of Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo inspired television programmers and producers to use space as a theme in the 1960s. I Dream of Jeannie starred Larry Hagman as Tony Nelson, an astronaut living in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  Nelson lives in a...

“Lost in Space” (Part 3 of 3)

Ib Melchior’s special effects expert, David Hewitt, wrote a script entitled The Wizard of Mars.  At the suggestion of his financial backers, he met with Felix Feist, a television director.  Feist worked with Irwin Allen on the television series Voyage to the...

“Lost in Space” (Part 2 of 3)

Lost in Space aired soon after the Space Family Robinson comic book’s debut, leading one to conclude that the theme of Space Family Robinson and the usage of the Lost in Space indicates a nexus between the comic book and the television show.  Such is not the...

“Lost in Space” (Part 1 of 3)

In 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) evolved from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).  NASA’s mission consisted of beating the Russians in the Space Race.  No easy task, this.  The year prior to NASA’s...