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A period of history · Age · Technology · about Science and Technology · Part of the Cold War

Films & Shows Set during the Space Race

Runs from1955197520 years wide

Shelfmark Liber LXX

Contemporary Era

4
titles
4 films
3.8/5
average rating
across 4 rated titles
16%
of the span is tagged
4 of 25 titles set inside it

See the Space Race on the timelineEvery year from 1955 to 1975 the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of the Space Race in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through the Space Race, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 1877–1965
    Jim Crow LawsSocial
  2. 1958–1963
    Project MercuryExploration

    The first crewed spaceflight program of the United States.

  3. 1961–1966
    Project GeminiExploration
  4. 1961–1972
    Apollo ProgramExploration

    The successor to Projects Mercury and Gemini that began the United States' development of human spaceflight at the dawn of the Cold War, the Apollo Program represented a…

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during the Space Race, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
The Right Stuff1983
Most recent
First Man2018

FilmsSerieseach bar is the titles released that decade

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

Project Mercurypull it on the timeline

Project

The first crewed spaceflight program of the United States. With the Soviet Union already ahead in the Space Race with the deployment of Sputnik 1 as the world's first artificial satellite, Project Mercury's goal was to successfully perform a crewed orbit of the Earth before the Soviets. However, this record would also go to the Soviets with the flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

2 titles set here · filed under 1958

Also runs throughAmerican Civil Rights MovementCold War

Apollo Programpull it on the timeline

Project

The successor to Projects Mercury and Gemini that began the United States' development of human spaceflight at the dawn of the Cold War, the Apollo Program represented a high-water mark of the Space Race with the first humans successfully setting foot on the Moon in 1969 as part of Apollo 11.

2 titles set here · filed under 1969

Places Connected to this Period

Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

16%4 of the 25 titles the archive sets between 1955 and 1975 carry the Space Race tag.

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 19550 of 3
  2. 19560 of 3
  3. 19571 of 2
  4. 1958nothing set here
  5. 19591 of 2
  6. 19601 of 2
  7. 19613 of 3
  8. 19622 of 3
  9. 19631 of 1
  10. 19640 of 1
  11. 19651 of 3
  12. 19660 of 1
  13. 19671 of 3
  14. 19680 of 2
  15. 19691 of 4
  16. 19701 of 3
  17. 19710 of 1
  18. 19720 of 1
  19. 19730 of 3
  20. 19740 of 1
  21. 19750 of 1

21 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries, 1 of them with nothing set there yet. The filled part of each bar is the share carrying this period.

Share of the 8 genre taggings across 4 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Credits

Directors

1Damien Chazelle1 title3.7/5unsalted2Philip Kaufman1 title4.0/5unsalted3Ron Howard1 title3.8/5unsalted4Theodore Melfi1 title3.8/5unsalted

Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Also on the Timeline

Part of and part of it are declared by the archive: one period counted as belonging to another, whatever their dates. Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
Part ofCold War1946–19911955–1975Project Mercury32
BeforeFrench Indochina War1946–19541 year earliernone shared2
ConcurrentAlgerian War1954–19621955–1962none shared2
ConcurrentAmerican Civil Rights Movement1954–19681955–1968Jim Crow LawsProject Mercury3
ConcurrentApartheid1948–19941955–1975none shared1
ConcurrentInformation Age1947–present1955–1975none shared1
ConcurrentVietnam War1955–19751955–1975none shared6
ConcurrentYears of Lead1968–19741968–1974none shared1
ConcurrentColombian Drug War1970–19931970–1975none shared1
ConcurrentAbertura1974–19851974–1975none shared1
AfterIran-Iraq War1980–19885 years laternone shared1