What These Sources Show

Whose Final Frontier Is It? Adults and Children’s Views of Children as Space Explorers during America’s Space Craze.

            For two years during the late 1960s, American households were greeted during Friday night television by Captain James T. Kirk’s famous phrase, “space the final frontier.”[1] But who was meant to explore this frontier? While it is evident that American society in the 1960s accepted the image of a male, all-American military astronaut, they were not the only ones who hoped to explore space.[2] Children’s letters, toys, games, and other sources reveal that middle-class children growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s expressed a desire to venture into the cosmos. Mass media of the era suggests that parents and most adults viewed space exploration as full of dangers and risks. But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of kids in middle childhood (ages of eight to fourteen) whose types of play and written expressions demonstrated a great interest in the idea that children could explore space too.

            There is little doubt that middle-class adults in the era of the Space Craze would have opposed children exploring space. Television shows of this era, in their nightly programs, reflected glorified images of the well-trained, professional astronaut and the perceived dangers of space travel.[3] In the 1959 Twilight Zone episode “And the Sky Was Opened,” space explorers fit the typical profile of the astronaut. In this episode, the three astronauts reflected the same qualities as those selected for the Gemini mission: patriotic, military officers, all males, and rigorously trained.[4]  Space exploration, in this episode, was also portrayed as full of dangers. The biggest danger depicted in this episode was the possibility of the ship malfunctioning, crash landing, and leading to physical injury.[5] Psychological harm, as a result of space exploration, was represented in one of the main character from this episode, Major Gart, when he could not remember being apart of a three man crew of astronauts, only recalling being one pilot of a two man mission after he had regained consciousness from blacking out.[6]  “And the Sky Was Opened” was not the only portrayal of space exploration as dangerous and meant for the stereotypical. As America’s space program became more successful, the dangers and risks portrayed on television became more reflective of those faced by astronauts in reality, such as a psychological battle with loneliness and the possibility of being stranded in space with out any rescue.[7] Since the mass media of the 1960s has been shown to reflect the beliefs many individuals held, it is highly unlikely many adults would have been willing to send a child into space because of its perceived dangers and America’s view of the astronaut.[8] However, this would not hinder children from perusing their dream.

            While their parents may have viewed space explorations as dangerous and only for the most qualified adult males, middle class children ages in elementary and middle school still had high hopes of exploring space personally. In a letter from an eleven-year-old boy to astronaut John Glenn after the astronaut’s successful orbit around the Earth in Friendship 7, the younger writer revealed an intense admiration and jealousy of Glenn’s accomplishment. The boy wrote, “I admire and envy you very much and wish I could have made the trip [into space] with you.”[9] The boy further suggested he would have forgone all the glory as long as he could have gone up into space with Glenn.[10] Other children reflected the same desire in their letters to John Glenn.[11] Not only would children express this desire in written letters, it would also come out in their play and toys. Costumes like an astronaut uniform in the 1969 Sears Christmas Book and toys such as General Electric’s realistic cardboard space capsule, PowerMite II, encouraged children to play as if they were exploring space and provided them with the tools necessary for it to seem as life-like as possible.[12] Likewise, a Listen and Learn record, Let’s Play Astronaut, encouraged children to imagine themselves as an astronaut on a recue mission to save another space explorer stranded and guided by a fully audio immersive experience of space flight.[13] While children never physically explored space, as one can see, at least some children expressed a desire to explore space at their current age and experienced it in a purely imaginative way aided by toys and activities that enhanced its realistic feel.

            During the space craze of the late 1950s through out the 1960s in America, white, middle class, adults would have been opposed to a child exploring space, even as their children deeply desired and dreamed of this opportunity. Adult mass media forms of the space craze reflected the adult population’s view through its characterization of astronauts and depiction of space as full of risks. While children during the space craze in reality never physically explored space, they did so in their imagination with the help of several space age toys and forms of play. Space, inevitably, turned out to be “the final frontier” meant for adults to explore, but society encouraged children to explore space on Earth with their imagination. Toy companies, play ground equipment manufactures, and record labels produced the means for children to explore space on Earth. With these tools, it was up to the children to use their imagination. With the aide of society, children were able to explore space and be apart of “the final frontier” without ever physically going up in a rocket.