Riders to the Stars (1954)

Directed by Richard Carlson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

At a remote desert laboratory scientists are attempting to win the space race. They need human volunteers to capture an asteroid, seeking to discover why they don't completely burn up in the atmosphere. Then, they can use its mysterious properties to prevent rockets from doing the same. A huge gap in logic here...since they don't yet have the technology, they are going to send up not one, but four rockets, all doomed to burn up on re-entry?! Anyway, much time is spent on the training of the astronauts, the most interesting part being the 12g tests in a spinning centrifuge. Finally, they are off to space to scoop up some asteroids. One rocket is destroyed by an asteroid that is too big. Another astronaut cracks up and goes off course. His mummified face is glimpsed in a space suit. A third succeeds in grabbing an asteroid, but he spends most of his fuel in the process. Will he get back to Earth? And what about that fourth rocket??