Narrated by award-winning actor Gary Sinise, When We Left Earth is the incredible story of humankind's greatest adventure, as it happened, told by the people who were there. From the early quest of the Mercury program to put a man in space, to the historic moon landings, through the Soyuz link-up and the first un-tethered space walk by Bruce McCandless, this is how the space age came of age. The vivid HD series features vintage rushes and all the key onboards filmed by the astronauts themselves. The sequences are captured by cameras onboard the spaceships, enabling the series to tell the stories in a depth never seen before.
NASA selects seven men to become the first astronauts and fly the Mercury capsule. They're all test pilots, prepared to risk their lives. No one has ever survived a vertical launch on top of a rocket, but it's the only way they know to put an astronaut into earth orbit. NASA and America's first astronauts, the Mercury Seven, are on a journey into the unknown. Six of the men ride into space, each launch taking NASA further forward in their quest to conquer space.
Nine new astronauts arrive at NASA - their mission, to test all the procedures required to land men on the moon and bring them safely back to earth. Each Gemini mission launches two men into space, leading to some of NASA's greatest moments - Ed White's spacewalk, the first orbital rendezvous of Gemini 6 and 7, and Neil Armstrong's first space docking.
The Apollo program is set to achieve the ultimate prize of the Space Race, landing men on the moon. But a fire breaks out in the pressurized capsule of Apollo 1, resulting in the deaths of three beloved astronauts. However, NASA rebounds, launching men into deep space and landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
Apollo 13 puts the astronauts to the ultimate test, returning a damaged spacecraft back safely to earth. A new lunar rover enables moonwalkers to explore further than ever. Apollo 17 sends man for the longest mission yet to the surface of the moon, but it's the last lunar mission for generations. Now, it's time for a new phase in the program. Converting an unused Saturn V rocket, NASA launches Skylab, America's first space station, letting astronauts live in space.
For its first 20 years, NASA launches capsules carrying a maximum of three people. But new requirements for a bigger cargo bay prompt a breakthrough in spacecraft design. The development of the re-usable shuttle leads to a revolutionary approach to space travel, and a Gemini astronaut is the first to fly it. Tragedy again strikes NASA when the Challenger explodes. Meanwhile, the pioneers of NASA's manned programs lead the way into the modern era of the space-age.
One of the most complex instruments ever built, the Hubble Space Telescope, is expected to transform our understanding of the Universe. But once it is in orbit, NASA discovers a serious problem, a defective primary mirror. NASA sends a team of astronauts to fix the problem in its most important and highest-profile mission since the Apollo era. It gives NASA the confidence to begin construction on the International Space Station, paving the way back to the Moon and onto Mars.
Complete episode guide for When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
This episode guide is organized by seasons, making it easy to track your viewing progress or find specific episodes. Use the episode information to plan your binge-watching sessions or catch up on missed episodes.