Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

My memory of the show is too vague to offer specific comment, but I recall watching and liking it at ages 3-4. Albert Aley, who wrote a number of episodes, was a distant cousin, and arranged for my family and I to attend the filming of an episode. I was 4 at the time, so it would have been 1955. The cast were all very nice to us. Astro in particular, horsing around (post shoot) with my brother and I, and letting me sit and climb on some of the props.

Of course, at that age I remember the occasion a lot better than the show itself. And, by reading this imdb description of the show, I just learned that Frank Sutton, Sgt. Carter from Gomer Pyle, was one of the space cadets. An unexpected connection from the earliest days of TV. Live and learn!

I do recall that the cadets were all straight arrow, level headed types which was standard for 50's television heroes. Pretty ironic that the term "space cadet" has come to mean a drug addled or simply absentminded person.