Fireball XL-5, Back In The Day

I was six years old in the summer of 1963, and felt like I was playing catch-up. I had only recently become interested in the space program and felt starved for information. I had watched on TV the launch of astronaut Gordon Cooper in May, but his was the last of the Mercury flights and it would be a long, long while before the Gemini flights commenced. Where could a young boy turn for assistance? 

Fireball XL-5 was the Saturday morning show for me! At last, I felt I was getting useful data. I would soon be disappointed - the British show lasted only one season - but at least I finally felt a connection to the Dawn of the Space Age!

   

 Jamie O. mentions "Thunderbirds" too, which was apparently the follow-on series I never saw:

   

 And "UFO" too, which I never saw: