"Explorer 1" is the second episode of "Beginnings Of The Space Age". The 60-minute documentary reveals how JPL and the U.S. Army could have been the first to place a satellite into Earth orbit, had they only been given the chance. That opportunity was lost when the Eisenhower administration, unsure of what the Soviet reaction would be to a satellite launched (in part) by the U.S. Army military, hesitated and assigned the project to a civilian-led program called Vanguard. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik in October 1957, shocking the world and creating the "Race for Space" in the midst of the Cold War. Only after the Vanguard rocket exploded on the launch pad were JPL and the U.S. Army given its chance. The result was Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite, which also achieved the first space science results.

Travel alongside the astronauts as they deploy and repair the Hubble Space Telescope, soar above Ven...

This film shows how far we have come since the cold-war days of the 50s and 60s. Back then the Russi...

In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space....

From the unique vantage point of 200 miles above Earth's surface, we see how natural forces - volcan...

July 1969. America made history and sent the first humans to the moon. High-quality NASA footage and...

In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the univ...

In the year 1957 the cold war expands to space. The Soviet-Union sends Sputnik as the first manmade ...

Sally Ride's groundbreaking journey as the first American woman in space concealed a deeply personal...

The film features amazing scenes of places never before seen gathered by key space missions that cul...

It was November 12, 2014, at 5:03pm. Humanity had just accomplished a feat that will forever mark it...

This feature-length documentary is a portrait of eclipse chasers, people for whom solar eclipses - a...

Moonscape is a free and freely downloadable high-definition documentary about the first manned Moon ...

The 1960s was an extraordinary time for the United States. Unburdened by post-war reparations, Ameri...

Social isolation affects millions of people, even Mars-bound astronauts. A savvy NASA psychologist i...

Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and...

All of the necessary technologies required to reach the Moon was first tested during Project Gemini,...

How an electric lineman's tool manufacturer in Centralia, Missouri, helped save the first American s...

The Space Race comes alive through the eyes of the ultimate insider - retired NASA Mission Control F...

Explores achievements of Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft, paving t...