has a mental breakdown, declaring humanity to be doomed and killing himself with Pam's rifle. Cyril, startled by the sudden gunfire, opens fire himself, killing three people (one of whom was the only capable pilot of the shuttle other than Drake). To worsen the situation, Barry Dylan (Dave Willis) challenges Archer to fight him in space. Despite the rigorous taunting and demeaning from Barry, Archer ultimately declines his offer. After Archer makes an act of humility, Cyril aims the launches at Barry's jet, subsequently stranding him on Horizon. As the group nears the airstrip, Archer, who wishes to take credit for the landing, messes with the steering shift, causing the spacecraft to crash. Afterwards, every ISIS agent except for Archer is shown to be injured as a result, especially Ray, who is now paralyzed from the waist down (which he ironically had pretended to be earlier in the season). Production "Space Race" was written and directed by Archer creator Adam Reed. American actor Bryan Cranston guest starred in "Space Race" as Commander Drake, an industrious and fastidious astronaut whose main objective is to fight in order to "quell a mutiny on the space platform". Cranston's appearance was formally announced by series creator Adam Reed in January 2012, while being interviewed by The Huffington Post. While Reed didn't reveal much on the background of the installment, he teased: "I love it when everybody gets to go [on a mission], so a lot more people than you would think get to go to outer space." "Space Race" is imbued with various references relating to music, cinema, media, and other popular culture entities. The episode title gives homage to the synonymously named era of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which coincided during the Cold War. The episode plot gives homage to the James Bond film Moonraker (1979). In preparation for the mission, the field agents at ISIS undergo an extensive training regimen similar to the exercise in The Right Stuff (1983). In addition, the episode's narrative is evocative to that of the aforementioned film, as well as the British horror film 28 Days Later (2002). To Jesse Carp of Cinema Blend, the characters "drops weird name references" to figures such as American eugenist Charles Davenport and Grace O'Malley. After main character Sterling Archer is sent into the space brig, he crafts an ode to The Great Escape (1963).