This episode, The Case of the Misguided Missile (1961), aired just one day after Alan Shepard became the first American astronaut to fly into space. His flight aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft had been delayed at least five times before finally succeeding on May 5, 1961.
The Air Force artwork seen around Vandenberg AFB (and on "Perry and Paul's" Air Force passenger plane) was the emblem for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) painted primarily on SAC bombers and tankers in the 1950s and 1960s. Close up, the viewer can see that an "iron fist" is clutching both lightning bolts and an olive branch ("Peace Through Strength," as was often said of SAC).
The last of the two appearances by Simon Oakland in the series. Like James Coburn, Oakland was the murder victim in both of his appearances, and like Coburn in The Case of the Angry Astronaut (1962) he's an Air Force officer who has a contentious relationship with someone in the space program project he's been sent to straighten out.
Med Flory, who plays US Air Force Capt. McVey, plays police Sgt. McVey in The Case of the Crying Comedian (1961) only five months later.