The Astronauts (film)


The Astronauts is a television film, or rather a live television play, which aired in Australia during 1960 on ABC. Broadcast originally in Melbourne on 18 May 1960, a kinescope recording was made of the broadcast and shown in Sydney on 27 July 1960. 'Filmink magazine said it may be the only Australian drama about the space race.

Plot

Four men are training in Australia to become astronauts, and are preparing for the first manned space launch, for which only one of the men will be selected.
Medical officers think the men are mentally and physically perfect. However one of them has a physical defect.

Cast

Don Houghton was prompted to write the drama after the announcement of the Mercury Seven. Houghton said "For the sake of the play I hope any attempt to put a man in space will not be made before May 18," when the show was being broadcast.
Houghton said the drama was not science fiction, but rather highlighted the short step ahead of what was actually happening with space exploration. The play posed the question, "what sort of man is an astronaut?"