Sputnik Mania premiers at Dallas’ Frontiers of Flight Museum

by John P. Meyer

Astronaut Walt Cunningham stands in front of the command module of Apollo 7, in which he flew. (My advice: don't ask him about having a cold in space.)

Thursday (Oct. 4) marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, which most folks consider the start of the space age. (Others might consider the actual Big Bang to be the start of the space age in a more universal sense, but who's counting?)

To celebrate the big event (I mean, the more recent one), the Frontiers of Flight Museum hosted the North Texas premier of David Hoffman's compelling documentary Sputnik Mania. The event was extremely well-attended, thanks in part to the participation of area high schoolers including a big contingent from Lake Highlands High School, whose distinguished alumnus Jim Reilly (shuttle astronaut) made a presentation to the museum of a flag he flew on shuttle mission STS 117 earlier this year.

Those who arrived early caught Apollo 7 astronaut (and member of the museum's advisory board) Walt Cunningham dedicating the Sputnik model the museum added to its display collection. Following the film, attendees scarfed up cake and Starbucks coffee provided gratis by the Super Target at Skillman and Abrams.

Astronaut Jim Reilly at Frontiers of Flight Museum

Movie producer David Hoffman and his lovely wife were in attendance; the audience gave his film a standing o following its 96-minute run. We'll post a review of Sputnik Mania in the near future - for now let me say it is fascinating history for anyone too young to have been around in the days of the cold war, bomb shelters and the early days of the space race when survival seemed to be as much at stake as bragging rights to the lunar surface.