Partial film commissioned by the United States-United Kingdom cooperative space programme, delivered by NASA and coordinated by the Royal Society. The production company was MPO Television Films, New York City. It includes footage of a BBC news reporter driving from his home to BBC Broadcasting House to announce the launch of the Ariel 1 in 1962, followed by similar international news reports. Goes on to cover the planning for Ariel 2, with footage of the Royal Society's apartments at Burlington House. Includes a speech from Sir Harrie Massey FRS, who was at the time chair of the British National Committee for Space Research, which explains the experiments on Ariel 1, after which the film cuts. The physical film reel was kept in the Royal Society archives (reference AV/3/18), likely to preserve the shoot in the RS and the interview of Massey, and was digitised by the Royal Society in 2026.
16mm film reversal
Colour and sound
Ektachrome. Film length: 800ft
7 mins.
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