But when various snags delayed the release date, Lippert Pictures saw an opportunity to steal its thunder, and landed Rocketship X-M in theaters 75 years ago today. The ill-fated Rocketship X-M crew. Although Rocketship X-M was undoubtedly anti-atomic warfare, it was firmly pro-space exploration. “Tomorrow we start construction of R-X-M 2.” It feels like a sneak preview of the real Space Race persisting amid real fatalities. Rocketship X-M might have needed stock footage and a script hastily doctored by then-blacklisted Dalton Trumbo to pull off its mission impossible.