Destination Moon (film)

Destination Moon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Irving Pichel
Screenplay by	Rip Van Ronkel Robert A. Heinlein James O'Hanlon
Produced by	George Pal Walter Lantz (uncredited)
Starring	John Archer Warner Anderson Tom Powers Dick Wesson
Cinematography	Lionel Lindon
Edited by	Duke Goldstone
Music by	Leith Stevens
Animation by	Walter Lantz
Color process	Technicolor
Production companies	George Pal Productions Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Eagle-Lion Classics
Release date	June 27, 1950 (1950-06-27) (United States)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$592,000[1]
Box office	$5 million[2] or $1.3 million (US)[3]

Destination Moon (a.k.a. Operation Moon) is a 1950 American Technicolor science fiction film, independently produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel, that stars John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, and Dick Wesson. The film was distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom by Eagle-Lion Classics.

Destination Moon was the first major U.S. science fiction film to deal with the practical scientific and engineering challenges of space travel and to speculate on what a crewed expedition to the Moon would look like. Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein contributed to the screenplay.

The film's premise is that private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space. Different industrialists cooperate to support the private venture.

In the final scene, as the crew approaches the Earth, the traditional "The End" title card heralds the dawn of the coming Space Age: "This is THE END...of the Beginning".^{[4][page needed]}