America's Secret Space Heroes
We all know Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Sally Ride, and other icons of America's space program. But behind the scenes, engineers have been the secret heroes, building the spacecraft and instruments that have helped man leave Earth and explore the stars. We reveal the inside stories of how these brilliant minds created such superior machines as the Saturn V moon rocket, the Space Shuttle, and the Hubble Space Telescope, often against incredible odds.
- 2017-2017
- 1 season
- Documentary
- TV-PG
We all know Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Sally Ride, and other icons of America's space program. But behind the scenes, engineers have been the secret heroes, building the spacecraft and instruments that have helped man leave Earth and explore the stars. We reveal the inside stories of how these brilliant minds created such superior machines as the Saturn V moon rocket, the Space Shuttle, and the Hubble Space Telescope, often against incredible odds.
Season 1 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 2017
Episode 1
Saturn V
In 1961, the USSR dominates the space race. President Kennedy challenged his space agency, Nasa, to land a man on the moon. Led by the designer of the Nazi's V2 rocket, Wernher von Braun, by then an American rocket scientist, engineers across America worked together to build a rocket that would get them to a seemingly impossible destination.
Episode 2
Lunar Module
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot upon the moon. This is the story of the unsung heroes who built the unconventional flying machine that carried them there and made the dream of a generation come true.
Episode 3
Space Shuttle
Early space pioneers dreamt of a reusable spacecraft, but it was not until 1981 that the idea became a reality, when the first space shuttle went into orbit. This documentary tells of the people who designed, built and flew the Space Shuttle Colombia.
Episode 4
Space Station
First launched in 1998, as Earth's first habitable satellite, the International Space Station has become a symbol of international space co-operation. See how NASA engineers triumphed over decades of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to develop Skylab, Space Station Freedom, and finally, the International Space Station.
Episode 5
Hubble Telescope
When it was launched in April 1990, they called it the most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo in 1610. But building this orbiting observatory would prove to be a rollercoaster ride for all involved, requiring engineers, scientists, and astronauts to venture into uncharted territory.
Episode 6
Viking Mars Mission
Getting to Mars has been the dream of science fiction writers since the genre began. In 1975, NASA realised that ambition when it put the first spacecraft on the surface of Mars and got pictures back. Witness the overwhelming challenges engineers and scientists faced, not only to reach the Red Planet, but to land their spacecraft and deploy computer-operated experiments.