Riders to the Stars

Riders to the Stars is a 1954 independently made American color science fiction film produced by Ivan Tors Productions and released by United Artists. The film was directed by Richard Carlson who also stars and Herbert L. Strock uncredited and also stars William Lundigan, Martha Hyer, and Herbert Marshall.

Three oneman rockets are launched a couple of hundred miles into space in order to intercept an incoming meteor swarm. Gordon makes the first run to capture a meteor it turns out to be too large for his spaceships nose scoop, and the ship is destroyed in the collision that follows. Lockwood suffers a mental breakdown when his view screen shows Gordons still spacesuited but now skeletal and weightless body floating toward him. Panicked and delusional, he fires his rocket engines and blasts away from Earth, heading into deep space to his doom. Stanton then misses the main swarm, but a stray meteor crosses his orbital path. He decides to pursue it, despite a warning from ground control that he may use too much fuel in the attempt and burn up upon reentry. Stanton snags the meteor in time and manages to survive a crash landing with the now captured meteor safely intact. He is rewarded for his heroism with a kiss from Dr. Flynn.When the meteor is examined, it is discovered to have an outer coating of crystalline pure carbon. With this discovery, the U. S. can now build safer rockets and space stations for the inevitable conquest of space. ........

Source: Wikipedia