THE WORLD IS ROUND

Year Published: 1940s

Format: 16mm

Description: Produced by Paul Thoma, this fragmentary short "The World is Round" is hosted by Ralph Berton and dates to the late 1940s. It features early footage of the upper atmosphere and space shot using a camera mounted in a rocket. The rocket used was probably a modified German V-2 that was part of "Project Blossom", a post-war U.S. effort to test and expand the capabilities of the German rockets. Blossom took place at White Sands under direction of the Air Material Command starting in 1947. At (1:05) footage is shown from the tail of the rocket during the flight, that shows the curvature of the Earth.

Complete Record:

Transcription

foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] all right [Music] melt butter in a frying pan destination Faith or something Mighty close to it here's a takeoff as viewed from the tail of the rocket and the time has taken me to tell you this we climbed about seven miles running at up to 60 miles and you'll be able to see Mexico the Mississippi and the Gulf of California All in One Sweep of the camera covering an area of about 800 000 square miles now we're 20 miles above the Earth and going 3600 miles per hour and that's all we're out of gas from this moment on the coast upwork [Music] [Music] without the blast of the exhaust to keep us on an even seal the rocket now starts to spin and Tumble take a good look now you are looking at a stretch of the Horizon 700 miles from the camera there's Mexico and our bear the Blue Pacific North to Wyoming barrels to Mexico East to the Mississippi look at the curve of that Horizon what wouldn't Columbus have given to see this shot that's it we're coming down [Music] thank you [Music] well now you can tell all your friends you'll know your world is wrong [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]


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