The Fountain in the Park song in a medley on his album "101 Gang Songs" (1961) A few bars of "The Fountain in the Park" were sung on the Moon by NASA Astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission. Schmitt started by singing "I was strolling on the Moon one day..." when Cernan joined in. Cernan kept with the original "merry month of May", however, while Schmitt sang "December", which was the actual date at the time. After a brief debate, Schmitt resumed, singing "When much to my surprise, a pair of bonny eyes..." until he could no longer remember the
The Reluctant Astronaut 1998 autobiography, the infamous "Apollo 1" fire led to Universal Pictures being skeptical about releasing a comedy on space travel so soon after the tragedy. Not as popular as his first film ventures, "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" (1964) and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966), due to its connection to the Apollo program, "The Reluctant Astronaut" still was a popular children's film and was frequently shown on weekend afternoons. Knotts was nominated for the 1967 Golden Laurel Male Comedy Performance Award for his role in "The Reluctant Astronaut". For the benefits in publicity for their programs, NASA also named Knotts,