After the destruction of Shuttle Challenger, the US considered grounding its fleet for good. That is until the stunning discovery that the Soviets had built their own fleet using plans stolen from NASA.
The space shuttles were intended to be a safe and cost-effective way to get into space, yet ignorance and an impending shutdown threatened that. Follow the extraordinary history of the NASA space shuttles from the 1981 maiden space flight to the televised explosion of Challenger in 1986.
2018 • Astronomy
Our solar system is home to hundreds of strange, tiny worlds called dwarf planets, and new discoveries reveal the secrets of these mysterious places.
S6E8 • How the Universe Works • 2018 • Astronomy
Saturn is the crown jewel of the solar system, beautiful and fascinating. It is a gas giant, and has a broad set of rings made of ice particles. Moons create gaps in the rings via their gravity. Saturn has dozens of moons, including Titan, which is as big as Mercury and has a thick atmosphere and lakes of methane; and Enceladus which has an undersurface ocean and eruptions of water geysers. While we are still uncertain, it is entirely possible that either or both moons may support life.
18 • Crash Course Astronomy • Astronomy
The inner planets, Mercury and Venus, orbit closest to the Sun, making them literally an Inferno of heat. NASA and other space agencies have attempted to learn more about these rocky planets. Follow the plucky probes that attempted to decipher the secrets of the Solar System's inner circles of hell.
4/6 • Space Probes • 2016 • Astronomy
New discoveries are challenging everything we know about black holes -- astronomers are beginning to question if they even exist. The latest science tries to explain how they work & what they look like, despite the fact we've never actually seen one.
S6E1 • How the Universe Works • 2018 • Astronomy
Astronaut Chris Hadfield has seen the bullet holes left by asteroids on Earth's surface. Our planet is vulnerable. Could we ever survive elsewhere?
6/10 • One Strange Rock • 2018 • Astronomy
Quasars are the brightest and most powerful objects in our universe, and though they have shaped the cosmos, they might ultimately destroy everything that exists.
S6E7 • How the Universe Works • 2017 • Astronomy
