This color film produced by NASA, an Aeronautics and Space Report has five segments. The first is 3 Man Apollo (:29). The Apollo mission is to get man to the moon and back safely. The early Mercury and Gemini missions have advanced to the first 3-man crew (:32-:47). Shown are the Apollo 1 astronauts: command pilot Virgil Grissom, senior pilot Edward White, and Roger Chaffee board, ready to do final testing (:48-1:45). [A cabin fire during this launch rehearsal test on January 27, 1967 will kill all three.] The second segment is Zero “G” (1:45). Weightlessness is tested in various ways (1:46-2:08). The Zero-G facility is located at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland (2:09-2:29). A vacuum chamber extending 510 feet below ground allows objects to be hurled up and fall back down, creating 10 seconds of weightlessness (2:30-2:54). Cameras record testing various liquids at 0-G (2:57-3:06). Segment three is Biosatellite (3:14). Biosatellites test how 0-G weightlessness affects biology, including cell division, plant growth, and radiation exposure. (3:15-3:37). NASA wanted these small biosatellite capsules to study such things as sleep, blood circulation, and brain activity. It included cells, eggs, plants, and a primate named Bonnie (3:39-4:20). [While three biosatellites were launched between 1966 and 1969, the limited results resulted in the other planned missions to be cancelled.] Segment four is Switchboard in the Sky (5:02). The first Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) was launched December 7, 1966. Its three-year purpose was to test experimental systems for improving weather forecasts and radio and television communications (5:04-5:18). The spacecraft was launched by an Atlas-Agena rocket (5:20-5:32). It took an entire day’s changing cloud patterns; giving weathermen the first continuous view of developing storms (5:31-5:45). A new system of communicating with aircraft was showcased at a press conference at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (5:46-7:00). They also showed how ATS can also be used to relay color TV (7:01-7:22) and serve as an international telephone switchboard (7:23-7:50. [The ATS-1 sent useful data for six years. Five more were launched from 1967-1974]. Segment 5 is Spacecraft Research for the Future (7:52). NASA test pilot Bruce Peterson (inspiration for the TV show The Six-Million Dollar Man) emerges after the first successful flight of the HL-10 lifting body aircraft [later known as a VTOL] on December 22, 1966 (7:53-8:08). The HL-10 was dropped from a B-52 at 45,000 feet (8:10-8:35). Rocket engines will give it more power in the future (8:36-8:52).

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