Riders To The Stars - Plot

Plot

A group of single, highly qualified men, including Dr. Richard Stanton (William Lundigan) and Dr. Jerry Lockwood (Richard Carlson), are recruited for a secret project. They undergo a series of rigorous physical and psychological tests, during which Stanton becomes attracted to the beautiful Dr. Jane Flynn (Martha Hyer), one of the testers. Finally, the four remaining candidates are told about the purpose of the project.

It turns out that Stanton's father, Dr. Donald Stanton (Herbert Marshall), is the man in charge. He and his colleagues are working on manned space travel. However, they have found that even the best quality steel turns brittle in outer space. Since meteorites are not subject to the same problem, the scientists want to recover some meteors before they enter the atmosphere, to find out how the "outer shell" protects them. To accomplish this, they need to send astronauts into space—something that has never been done before. Stanton, Lockwood, and Walter Gordon (Robert Karnes) accept the dangerous assignment, while the fourth man quits in disgust.

Three one-man rockets are sent a couple of hundred miles up into space to intercept a meteor swarm. Gordon attempts to capture a meteor that is too large, and his ship is destroyed in a collision. Lockwood suffers a mental breakdown when he sees Gordon's body hit his viewscreen. Delusional, he fires his engines and zooms away from the Earth. Stanton misses the main swarm, but a stray crosses his path. He decides to capture it despite warnings from those monitoring from the ground that he will use up too much fuel and risk burning up upon re-entry. He manages to survive a crash landing with the meteor intact, and is rewarded with a kiss by Dr. Flynn.