# Space-race era pro-NASA propaganda aimed at HS kids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500 "2011-02-24T20:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/1 "2011-02-24T20:50:57Z")
About ten years ago, I caught some programs on late-late night TV that looked to be '50s or '60s-era propaganda pieces extolling the space-race. I think that they were probably put out by NASA. They seemed to be directed towards high-school aged kids, because they devoted some segments to kids who showed promise as scientists or engineers. But mostly, they consisted of segments describing what kinds of missions NASA had planned, with animations depicting how the spacecraft would separate and land, so forth. I’d like to find these again. Does my description ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/2 "2011-02-24T21:03:52Z")
It doesn’t sound like your description, but Disney made a series of programs for their _Disneyland_ series in the 1950s. They made these in color, although they were originally broadcast in black and white (some segments were later broadcast in color on _Disney’s Wonderful World of Color_ and elsewhere). They depicted recreations of future missions, using animation and live-action sections with life-size mockups. There were interviews with Willy Ley and Werner von Braun and others, but nothing with school-age kids. the entire series is available as one of those tin-canned “Disney’s Treasures” DVD sets: > **[Amazon.com: Walt Disney Treasures - Tomorrow Land: Disney in Space and Beyond :...](https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Treasures-Tomorrow-Beyond/dp/B0000BWVAI)** > > Product Description Walt Disney was a true visionary, and his most far-reaching vision examined the future. During the 1950s, his investigation into space exploration and the wondrous opportunities and challenges of space travel not only... ---
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/3 "2011-02-24T21:21:31Z")
I just watched some of those on YouTube. They are fun, but they aren’t what I remember. Much of the programs were a lot like this: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/4 "2011-02-25T01:18:51Z")
NASA put out a ton of industrials for the project as a whole and for each mission. I have some. I’ll post titles when I get home. One of these is a DVD set with some of this film and also chunks of the CBS coverage of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/5 "2011-02-25T01:30:41Z")
Yeah, the NASA PR department was great for giving stuff out. I got a whole set of (for lack of a better term) “astronaut headshots” back in the mid-60s. They would send out promo packets for the Gemini missions, nice little pamphlets, all kinds of stuff, just for the price of a fan letter. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-race-era-pro-nasa-propaganda-aimed-at-hs-kids/572500/6 "2011-02-25T03:36:01Z")
Yes, OP I remember those! The English-language station here used to put them on as “educational” filler quite frequently. Darn, if I only could recall the actual title!