"Explorer 1" is the second episode of "Beginnings Of The Space Age". The 60-minute documentary reveals how JPL and the U.S. Army could have been the first to place a satellite into Earth orbit, had they only been given the chance. That opportunity was lost when the Eisenhower administration, unsure of what the Soviet reaction would be to a satellite launched (in part) by the U.S. Army military, hesitated and assigned the project to a civilian-led program called Vanguard. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik in October 1957, shocking the world and creating the "Race for Space" in the midst of the Cold War. Only after the Vanguard rocket exploded on the launch pad were JPL and the U.S. Army given its chance. The result was Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite, which also achieved the first space science results.
08 Jun 2008
Commemorating the space agency's 50th anniversary, follow John Glenn's Mercury mission to orbit the earth, Neil Armstrong's first historic steps on the moon, unprecedented spacewalks to repair the Hubble stories, and more!
10 Jan 2012
Blue Peter presenters Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood want to learn more about the solar system so they challenge scientists Helen Czerski and Jem Stansfield to find out more. They look at how to make telescopes and rockets, and use a toilet roll to measure the distances between planets.
09 Mar 2024
A GCSE short film project studying depictions of outer space in movies.
01 Jan 1990
From the unique vantage point of 200 miles above Earth's surface, we see how natural forces - volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes - affect our world, and how a powerful new force - humankind - has begun to alter the face of the planet. From Amazon rain forests to Serengeti grasslands, Blue Planet inspires a new appreciation of life on Earth, our only home.
16 Apr 2023
As modern societies rely more on high-speed Internet via satellites, a new space race is reshaping global geopolitics. Elon Musk's Starlink, with over 3,000 satellites, aims to deliver Internet worldwide, sparking concerns about private control. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, China, and the EU's Iris project join the competition.
01 Jan 2007
The Wonder of it All focuses on the human side of the men behind the Apollo missions through candid interviews with seven of the Apollo astronauts: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Edgar Mitchell, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. They all reflect on the training, the tragedies, the camaraderie, and the effect that their space travel has had on their families.
04 Jul 2020
No overview found
17 Jan 2018
An immersive journey through the cosmos, its origins and its songs.
13 Nov 2005
William Shatner presents a light-hearted look at how the "Star Trek" TV series have influenced and inspired today's technologies, including: cell phones, medical imaging, computers and software, SETI, MP3 players and iPods, virtual reality, and spaceship propulsion.
21 Jun 2009
Top Gear presenter James May presents this informative program that examines the historic moon missions. Traveling to America, May meets three of the men who walked on the surface of the moon, learning how it felt and how the now antiquated technology was used to achieve such an historic feat.
20 Nov 2020
The story of America's first astronauts, known as the Mercury 7, told through archival news & radio reports, newly transferred & previously unheard NASA mission audio recordings, and more rare & unseen material.
27 Oct 1998
John Glenn goes on another journey into outer space for tests on how old age is affected there. His whole life is chronicled in this informative documentary, from his first mission above to his experience as a senator and finally, his blast into space at age 77.
01 Jan 2021
The alarming surge of UFO sightings, alien encounters and military disclosures over the last decade have established a foreboding reality - that in our very near future the human race will be confronted with the presence of a superior Extraterrestrial race. Powerless to resist or combat these beings, we as the human race will be sentenced to our inescapable fate. Will they consider us sentient beings and foster our growth and evolution, or will they have more nefarious intentions?
12 Jul 2019
Dramatic, moving and deeply human, ARMSTRONG offers the definitive life story of Neil Armstrong: from his childhood in Ohio to his first steps on the Moon, and beyond.
12 Jun 2023
Uncover the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden among many others.
09 Aug 1996
The Academy Award® nominee Cosmic Voyage combines live action with state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery to pinpoint where humans fit in our ever-expanding universe. Highlighting this journey is a "cosmic zoom" based on the powers of 10, extending from the Earth to the largest observable structures in the universe, and then back to the subnuclear realm.
11 Apr 1969
Thirty distinguished astronomers are visited at their observatories throughout the world in this comprehensive report of astronomical theories, research, and discoveries.
19 Jan 2007
Archival material from the original NASA film footage – much of it seen for the first time – plus interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell, Dave Scott, John Young, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Edgar Mitchell, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt.
28 Feb 2022
It’s October 10 2020 and Kim Jong-un presents the largest mobile rocket on Earth. Jippe Liefbroer, Interaction Design student, sees the rocket and thinks: it can be bigger. For his graduation project he built 'Kimmi's worst nightmare', a 31 meter long rocket. That is 1 meter longer than Kim Jung-un's.
06 Dec 2008
In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond.