Space Disasters

Each new era of space exploration is built on the courage of those who came before. And as today’s visionaries set their sights on trips to Mars and colonies on the moon, we must pay a debt to the trailblazing pilots and engineers who risked it all to reach for the stars. Join us as we examine the heart-pounding missions and gut-wrenching catastrophes of NASA’s first decade of space flight, from the very first space plane—the X-15—to the lunar landing program, including the Apollo 1 tragedy, which nearly ended the dream of reaching the moon.

In the high-stakes arena of outer space, the smallest human error can have huge consequences, and as NASA has discovered over the decades, nobody—no matter how well they’re trained—is perfect. When mistakes happen, it’s up to the astronauts and the ground teams at Mission Control to prevent the mishaps from turning into deadly disasters. Witness some of space exploration’s most costly miscalculations and narrow escapes, involving a stripped screw, a distracted spacecraft pilot, a botched re-entry, and a malfunctioning $19 million toilet.

Sending spacecraft into orbit is an unforgiving business. Every launch is a long, controlled explosion that can turn into a fiery spectacle at the smallest error. Join us as we examine space exploration’s most disastrous liftoffs, from America’s “risky rockets” (the Vanguard, Atlas, and Titan II) to the Nedelin catastrophe, a massive explosion that Russia kept secret for decades. Then see how lessons learned from early failures led to soaring triumphs, including the most famous and powerful rocket the world has ever launched: the Saturn V.