The Spacesuit Film

Filmmakers employ a number of images to suggest the strangeness of space, but spacesuits most comprehensively and powerfully communicate the danger of space and the frailty and weakness of humans beyond the cradle of Earth. Many films set in space, however, forgo spacesuits altogether, reluctant to [...]
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Filmmakers employ a number of images to suggest the strangeness of space, but spacesuits most comprehensively and powerfully communicate the danger of space and the frailty and weakness of humans beyond the cradle of Earth. Many films set in space, however, forgo spacesuits altogether, reluctant to hide famous faces behind bulky helmets and ill-fitting jumpsuits. This critical study examines science fiction films that portray space travel realistically by having characters wear spacesuits. Beginning with the pioneering Woman on the Moon (1929), it discusses other classics in this tradition, including Destination Moon (1950) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); films which gesture toward realism but betray that goal, such as Rocketship X-M (1950); the spacesuit comedies that emerged in the 1960s, like The Reluctant Astronaut (1965); and films about actual space flights, including Apollo 13 (1993).