Alien Planets • 2020 • episode "1/2" • Space Phenomena

51:07

Born of the Cold War, NASA moves stridently from disastrous rocket tests to the glorious conclusion of the Gemini Program. We experience the massive challenges of sending a man into space and how, despite many setbacks, the astronauts proved that the key element to exploration would be human resourcefulness, in space as well as on the ground. NASA veterans describe these early missions as the hardest of all - the first, uncertain steps towards a new frontier. Building on the success of the pioneering Mercury program, Project Gemini gives NASA the experience and confidence to take the next giant leap - to land men on the Moon.

1/4 • The Space Age: NASA's Story • 2009 • Astronomy

43:43

We think of comets as beautiful glowing balls of light streaking across our skies with their long sweeping tails, yet comets are so much more than just a cosmic firework display. Comets have a uniquely important place in modern science. As time machines from the early universe, they could hold the key to unlock the secrets of the cosmos. Comets could even be the origin of life itself. We follow the incredible odyssey of a comet as it sails through the solar system, watching it's every move as it evolves from a dormant chunk of ice and rock into a tumbling, violently active nucleus engulfed in a gaseous haze. What we learn is a revelation; comets are even more mysterious and fascinating than we had ever imagined.

S2E6 • How the Universe Works • 2012 • Astronomy

44:27

On Earth and in the Universe, size matters, but it matters in different ways. In Space, bigger is not necessarily better.

Astronomy

12:12

Twenty years after its launch, we bid farewell to the Cassini spacecraft as it plunges into Saturn’s atmosphere in a planned death spiral. Productive right to the end, Cassini has rewritten the textbook on not only Saturn and its moons, but our whole solar system as well.

1 • Science Breakthroughs • 2017 • Astronomy

48:50

After a decade on Mars, scientists await the arrival of miners from a for-profit corporation, causing tensions to rise between science and industry.

S2E1 • MARS • 2018 • Astronomy

75:30

In February 2019, after hurtling 300 million kilometers from Earth, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 landed on the asteroid Ryugu. We follow the team behind the mission, as they sample parts of the asteroid and return it to our planet.

2020 • Astronomy