It started with an order to land something on Mars - cheaply. In NASA's new era of "faster, better, cheaper," this mission had to create a radically different way of building a spacecraft. "The Pathfinders" tells the story of a small group of JPL'ers who dismissed warnings that a cut-rate mission to Earth's distant neighbor would cut short their careers. With a Martian parachute that could not be tested in Earth's atmosphere, and the last-minute addition of a remote controlled vehicle that would not look out of place in a toy store, the Pathfinder mission was a doubter's dream. Vet the future prospects of JPL and of a Mars program in its infancy, depended on bouncing successfully onto the rocky Red Planet and releasing a curious six-wheeled wanderer, in hopes of starting a revolution in space exploration.
New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Princip...
It contains 99.9 percent of all the matter in our solar system and sheds hot plasma at nearly a mill...
The 1960s was an extraordinary time for the United States. Unburdened by post-war reparations, Ameri...
Can Homo sapiens evolve into Homo spatius? For over 50 years now, we have been testing our human nat...
All of the necessary technologies required to reach the Moon was first tested during Project Gemini,...
Who were the men and women of Project Apollo? Where are they today? What do they think of the extrao...
Twelve men who belong to one of the world's most exclusive fraternities -- people who've walked on t...
Aspiring teenage astronauts reveal that a journey to Mars is closer than you think.
Archival material from the original NASA film footage – much of it seen for the first time – plus in...
The captivating tales of the people and events behind one of humanity's greatest achievements in exp...
Some 220 miles above Earth lies the International Space Station, a one-of-a-kind outer space laborat...
Join the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity for an awe-inspiring journey to the surface of the myste...
The inspirational true story of Opportunity, a rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ...
From the unique vantage point of 200 miles above Earth's surface, we see how natural forces - volcan...
From 1957 —the year in which the Soviets put the Sputnik 1 satellite into orbit— to 1969 —when Ameri...
Documentary about an African-American girl who grows up to help NASA put astronauts into space and b...
National Geographic's riveting effort recounts all 12 crewed missions using only archival footage, p...