When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
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| When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions | |
|---|---|
 DVD/Blu-ray case |
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| Genre | Documentary, science, space exploration, historical |
| Starring | John Glenn Scott Carpenter Neil Armstrong Buzz Aldrin Jim Lovell Fred Haise Charlie Duke Chris Kraft Glynn Lunney Gene Kranz Gene Cernan John Young Bob Crippen Scott Altman Michael Lopez-Alegria Jay Barbree |
| Narrated by | Gary Sinise |
| Slogan | This is the story of our greatest adventure |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 2 hours (2 hour-long episodes) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original airing | 8 June 2008 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions is a Discovery Channel HD documentary miniseries consisting of six episodes documenting human space exploration of the past 50 years, spanning from the first Mercury flights through the Gemini program to the Apollo moon landings, the Space Shuttle, and the construction of the International Space Station. It was created in association with NASA to commemorate the agency's fiftieth anniversary in 2008. It is scheduled to air weekly on Sundays beginning June 8, 2008, continuing through June 15, and concluding on June 22. Each airing will consist of two hour-long episodes.
The miniseries is expected to be released on DVD on July 10, 2008, and on Blu-ray disc on July 24.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The miniseries features interviews from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle astronauts including John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, as well as NASA officials including flight directors Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, and Glynn Lunney, and long-time NBC space reporter Jay Barbree.
The miniseries is narrated by actor Gary Sinise, who played astronaut Ken Mattingly in the 1995 film Apollo 13.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Part 1: Ordinary Supermen
The first episode of the series documents the start of the Space Race and the flights of the Mercury program, including John Glenn's historic flight Friendship 7 and the potentially-fatal problem with the heatshield that occurred during the second orbit.
[edit] Part 2: Friends and Rivals
The second episode is centered around Project Gemini, the United States's second human spaceflight program. It features the first American extra-vehicular activity (spacewalk) by Gemini 4 astronaut Ed White.
[edit] Part 3: Landing the Eagle
The third episode details the beginning of the Apollo program, including the tense descent of Apollo 11, and the first humans footsteps on the lunar surface. Both Buzz Aldrin, and somewhat-reclusive Neil Armstrong, appear in the episode, as well as capsule communicator Charlie Duke, and flight director Gene Kranz.
[edit] Part 4: The Explorers
The fourth episode features the five other successful moon landings - Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17, as well as the "successful failure" of Apollo 13. The episode features interviews from Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander, and Fred Haise, Apollo 13 Lunar Module pilot.
[edit] Part 5: The Shuttle
The penultimate episode focuses on the flights of the Space Shuttle, beginning with Space Shuttle Columbia's maiden voyage on April 12, 1981 (the twentieth anniversary of the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1). The STS-1 crew, commander John Young, and pilot Bob Crippen, are interviewed. Bruce McCandless's untethered spacewalk - the first in history - is shown digitally remastered in high-definition. The episode also documents the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that occurred 73 seconds after lift-off on mission STS-51-L, on January 28, 1986, and the subsequent halt of the Space Shuttle program.
[edit] Part 6: Home in Space
The series' final episode centers around the launch, assembly, and construction of the International Space Station. Shuttle astronauts Scott Altman and Michael Lopez-Alegria (the US record holder for number and duration of spacewalks), are featured in the episode. The episode also recalls the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that occurred during re-entry, 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center, on mission STS-107, on February 1, 2003.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Discovery Channel website
- When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions at the Internet Movie Database
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