Moonscape

An average student in average small-town America, inspired by the astronauts she saw on TV, Eileen Collins nurtured a secret dream to fly to space herself. In the 1970's the US military selected women pilots for the first time, and Eileen became one of those daredevil test pilots. Proving herself in this man's world, she then inspired thousands of others when she became NASA's first female pilot of a space shuttle. SPACEWOMAN will show Eileen's experience of the epic violence of a space shuttle launch, a historic docking with a Russian space station, and follow the dramatic tale of one of the most perilous and important missions in the history of space travel. It also tells the very human story of a family, examining the tough background that made Eileen a woman who could manage fear and take command, and as a mother, guide the journey of her own family alongside her extraordinary and risky endeavors.

Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes follows the story of the Space Shuttle Challenger and its crew, specifically Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian to be launched into space. The events of the days leading up to the disaster are detailed in this unique film, which uses no narration and no interviews. Instead the story is told solely with reports of journalists covering the story, extensive recordings from the NASA team, and interviews with McAuliffe and others who were part of this one-of-a-kind mission. Using rarely seen images and audio recordings, this show takes viewers behind the scenes of this compelling and historic story in a way never before seen.

A French documentary or, one might say more accurately, a mockumentary, by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick.

The spectacular moon landing in 1969 was also a success of more than 100 technicians and engineers from Germany, some of whom had already revolutionized weapons technology and built rockets in Hitler's service during World War II. The documentary analyzes the entanglements of German NASA employees with the Third Reich.

July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 lands on the surface of the Moon. Such a feat was apparently performed to the greater glory of all mankind, but actually it marked the end of the space race disputed by the two great superpowers of the time in their eagerness to arrive before and the beginning of the spread of the Cold War into space. Nowadays, the struggle continues, but the main competitors and their purposes are others.

50 years on from the moon landings, researchers worldwide are working towards an ambitious goal: a permanent research station on the moon. This documentary gives an overview of the most recent progress in lunar research. Could man survive on the moon?

A few years before the first manned flight to the moon, Pan Am began selling tickets there. 100,000 people joined the club of the first space travelers. Why did they want to leave Earth and what did they hope to find on the moon?

When the world was in turmoil, three men went faster and farther than anyone thought possible. This is the story of the first people to leave the Earth and travel to the Moon — this is Apollo 8. Through restored archival films and audio, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders tell you in their own words how their three different stories got them into the same tiny capsule pointed at the Moon — and what happened next.

Designed for class instruction and career education, and to prove that space exploration isn’t just for the boys. The film interviews women employed in the space transportation programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and shows the variety of positions that they hold as electrical engineers, aerial photography analysts, safety specialists and astronaut mission specialists. It notes how the women obtained their training and qualified for their positions. Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher, Dr. Patricia Cowings, Shirley Chevalier, Sue Norman, Sharon Orkansky, Brenda Willis, and Astronaut Catherine Sullivan are profiled. Narrated by Ricardo Montalban. Winner of NAACP Image Award For Picture Of The Year

Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and the struggle to bring its astronauts safely home.

From the unique vantage point of 200 miles above Earth's surface, we see how natural forces - volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes - affect our world, and how a powerful new force - humankind - has begun to alter the face of the planet. From Amazon rain forests to Serengeti grasslands, Blue Planet inspires a new appreciation of life on Earth, our only home.