Spacemens Luck

 

Where Tom Corbett, Captain Video, CMDR Corry and Other Spacemen Still Live

In Part 1 of The Giants of Mercury the Cadets were en route to Astro’s home world of Venus for some well deserved shore leave when Lieutenant Commander Burke of the Solar Guard’s Venus Port orders the cadets shore leave cancelled and diverts them to a Mercury Base to investigate a possible outbreak of Zero “A” Fever.

After Commander Burke back on Venus receives the Cadets request for additional forces, Burke didn’t believe them and instead of sending reinforcements and weapons he sends medics including a Dr. Ashton and Nurse Leslie Everett to Mercury in an unarmed Space Freighter because he didn’t believe their story of a giant man believing they have gone Zero “A.”

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While en route to Astro’s home world of Venus, and some well deserved shore leave, Lieutenant Commander Burke of the Solar Guard’s Venus Port orders the cadets shore leave canceled and diverts them to the Mercury Base to investigate a possible outbreak of Zero “A” Fever.

The Cadets learn that there are two teams of government scientist who have been operating diggers on Mercury’s hot side on a Top Secret mission. The teams twilight zone base operator had been keeping constant contact with the Solar Guard but during his last transmission it ended abruptly and all contact has been lost.

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Space Travel Hero Role: Television and Radio series “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” 1950 – 1955. Fifty years after the series ended, he was still making personal appearances as a result of that role.

What They Are Doing Today: Tom passed away on May 11, 2006 at age 85 only a few weeks before he was to appear as a special guest at the 2006 Worldcon in Los Angeles (LA Con IV).

Biography
Frankie Thomas began acting on Broadway in the early 1930′s and soon went to Hollywood, where he appeared in films including Tim Tyler’s Luck (1937 serial), Boys Town (1938), the Dead End Kids at Military School (1939), Flying Cadets (1941) and The Major and the Minor (1942) as well as four Nancy Drew movies.

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From Part 1 we learned that Dr. Dale and Roger Manning have disappeared while investigating a rare ore from Asteroid 2049 which was a Polaris Unit class room labortory assignment. During the experiment an accidental mixing of elements caused an explosion proving the ore to be a new source of fuel.

Roger and Dr. Dale are sent to Asteroid 2049 to conduct experiments but disappear and can not be reached. Captain Strong, Tom and Astro depart for Asteroid 2049 investigate. They find Rocket Scout 9J and board the Rocket Scout but there is no one aboard. We last heard that Tom and Astro are trapped aboard Rocket Scout 9J and manage to escape before it blows up.

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Have you ever wondered “Whatever Became of…” someone who years ago was famous and you haven’t heard of them in years? Here at Spacemen’s Luck I have wondered “Whatever Became of…” the many personalities who played Classic Space Travel characters that helped form my vision of Space Travel in the 1950′s and 1960′s.

Not being someone who is willing to wait for someone else to do it for me and after a search around the internet I found no single source discussing “Whatever Became of…” those Classic Space Travelers.

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The Polaris Unit are attending a Space Academy lecture by Dr Dale on astrophysics. As part of this class they are assigned a laboratory experiment on a newly discovered ore. This rare ore is from Asteroid 2049 and has only been found one other place in the solar system and that is Asteroid 2046. During the experiment an accidental mixing of elements caused an explostion proving the rare ore to be a new source of enery, in other words fuel.

Roger feels responible for the accident and admits his quilt to Dr. Dale who doesn’t know whether to dock him with demerits or reward him. She decides to have him be her Astrogator on a mission to Asteroid 2049 to see how the mining of the ore is proceeding and to conduct experiments but disappear and can not be reached.

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Astro’s Trial in Space continues. After 4 hours of shore leave at Mars Port, Captain Strong and the Cadets blastoff from Mars for their return trip to the Academy. Cadet Astro is still listed as a passenger aboard the Polaris for observation to see if he does in fact have space fever. Cadet Harvey is filling in for Astro’s Power Deck duties and this has Astro a little on edge and he tells Captain Strong that he is going to resign from the Academy as soon as they return.

Once in outer space Cadet Roger Manning detects a huge sun spot forming on the sun. It is the largest any of them have ever seen at over 300,000 miles in diameter. The Polaris crew knows that this will send out a solar storm and that they need to head back to Mars as quick as possible.

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Also known as “Astro gets Space Fever.” Returning from a routine training mission, Cadet Astro looses consciousness and Cadet Tom Corbett has to take over the Power Deck and Cadet Roger Manning man’s the Command Deck for landing. After the landing Astro blames fatigue, and doesn’t believe he is sick until he drops some deadly acids while conducting a lab experiment. Tom manges to save. Dr Dale, who is the lab instructor for their lab experiments, fears Astro may have “Space Fever” which would give Astro a medical discharge from the Academy.

Dr Dale orders Astro to Sick Bay where he under goes several tests. The tests turn out to not be conclusive as to whether Astro has Space Fever or not. Meanwhile the Polaris is ordered on another training mission and Cadet George Harvey takes Astro’s place on a trip to Mars. At the last minute, before lift off, Astro comes aboard as a passenger/patient to test his reaction in Space.

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The crew of the Polaris are on another training mission with Major “Blastoff” Connell and are looking for caves on Pluto that will be large enough for setting up future colonies. While Tom and Major Connel look around the area around the Cruiser Polaris, Astro and Roger disobey orders and take the jet boat for a test ride. When Tom and Major Connel come back to the ship they find Astro and Roger gone. Finally Roger checks in by radio telling the Major that they have crashed.

Major Connell is so mad at the two cadets that he awards them 99 demerits each (100 gets you expelled). Roger tries to weasel out by telling the Major that they have found just the cave they came to Pluto for. Despite the seemingly good news Major Connell orders them to stay put and out of trouble.

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This the fifteenth episode in the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet radio show series is a lost episode. The title is known because Episode 16 is titled “Astro Lost in Ice Cave Part 2″. Following the show format and schedule of twice weekly broadcasts (part one on Tuesday and part two on Thursday) This episode is believed to have been broadcast on Tuesday 19 February 1952. It is one of the tragedies of collecting old time radio (OTR) that many of these old gems are lost forever and only occasionally does one of these lost shows turn up from a previously unknown source.

Broadcast Date: 52-02-19

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