Cold War rivalry and the acceleration of space exploration; preparations for Hubble's final servicing mission; launch and the difficult path to rendezvous; monitoring orbital debris.
The start of NASA & America's first manned space program; the European Space Agency's Mars Satellite; the gradual evolution of Russia's Soyuz launcher.
America's first manned space program finally puts a man in orbit; the array of special cameras that follow a spacecraft at launch; the building and operation of the orbiting laboratory.
The Gemini gives the US a lead in the space race; the last days of ESA's Venus probe; NASA's Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit; ESA's worldwide network of giant dishes.
NASA refines the techniques needed for rendezvous; in the Cassini probe's final years of activity, its handlers are asking it to do more complex and risky assignments.
NASA struggles with docking and spacewalks in the final phase of the Gemini project; changing how people think about the red planet; examining Earth's magnetic field.
Evan Clark
Director
