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
In July 1969, history was made as 600 million people watched Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind on the surface of the moon. But behind these iconic images is an untold story. Now, 50 years later, Discovery and Science Channel celebrate the Apollo 11 moon landing with a two-hour television event, APOLLO: THE FORGOTTEN FILMS, that tells the complete story of this most audacious of missions. Featuring forgotten and never-before-seen footage from events surrounding the landmark mission, the documentary by Duncan Copp traces the decade's worth of effort involving half a million scientists that was required to enable that "one giant leap for mankind". The archives reveal the incredible lengths an army of engineers, scientists and astronauts went to, to achieve America's greatest technological feat.
2019 • Astronomy
To coincide with the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator complex, Professor Jim Al Khalili from the University of Surrey delves into over 50 years of the BBC science archive to tell the story behind the emergence of one of the greatest theories of modern science, the Big Bang. The remarkable idea that our universe simply began from nothing has not always been accepted with the conviction it is today and, from fiercely disputed leftfield beginnings, took the best part of the 20th century to emerge as the triumphant explanation of how the universe began. Using curious horn-shaped antennas, U-2 spy planes, satellites and particle accelerators, scientists have slowly pieced together the cosmological jigsaw, and this documentary charts the overwhelming evidence for a universe created by a Big Bang. Professor Al-Khalili comments: "This one-off documentary was made by the BBC Horizon team and was great fun to be involved with. The archive footage is fantastic too."
Black holes are the least understood places in the universe, where the rules of physics collapse. We go inside the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way to uncover terrifying secrets about parallel universes, wormholes, and space-time.
S4E3 • How the Universe Works • 2015 • Astronomy
Astronauts have detected a mysterious region of space that's dangerous for reasons they have yet to understand, and scientists believe the long-term effects of this danger zone may have implications for the future of humanity both in space and on Earth.
S8E4 • Space's Deepest Secrets • 2021 • Astronomy
The Apollo space program embraces tragic setbacks and historic success; the last stage includes the Apollo 11 space flight which landed the first two people on the Moon.
2/2 • Apollo Back to the Moon • 2019 • Astronomy
Mars Perseverance Rover is in its final cruise stages preparing for its historic Feb 18 landing on the red planet. We take you inside the harrowing landing, the science mission, and cutting edge technology, including the first-ever Martian helicopter.
Breakthrough • 2021 • Astronomy
