I was really impressed with this series. It is a very extensive look at America's space program, from it's infancy to the present. It is amazing the breadth of cooperation they received from the many people giving interviews, to the behind scene footages. I have been a long time follower of NASA and I learned a great deal from this program.
Some of the more touching segments dealt with the Challenger and Columbia disasters. I think they handled covering these tragedies well - giving all the facts and not trying to gloss over the gross negligence involved, especially with the O-ring failure in Challenger. Even NASA employees gave scathing testimony concerning this.
Gary Sinise does a great job narrating. He is perhaps best known from "Forest Gump' as Lt. Dan, and from CSI:NY. It is also interesting to note that he played Astonaut Ken Mattingly in "Apollo 13".
The HD filming is breathtaking on the more modern film footage. Obviously, film taken from the 60's is not going to look great. But the recent footage from the shuttle flights is amazing, especially when Bruce McCandless flies in space with the jet back-pack, completely untethered from the spaceship... All I can say is WOW!
It is great that the program not only highlights the great successes, but doesn't shrink away from showing the failures as well. I think it one of the more balanced programs I have seen regarding this. Often times, these programs can seem like propaganda pieces, but I didn't feel that here. Very well done!
Some of the more touching segments dealt with the Challenger and Columbia disasters. I think they handled covering these tragedies well - giving all the facts and not trying to gloss over the gross negligence involved, especially with the O-ring failure in Challenger. Even NASA employees gave scathing testimony concerning this.
Gary Sinise does a great job narrating. He is perhaps best known from "Forest Gump' as Lt. Dan, and from CSI:NY. It is also interesting to note that he played Astonaut Ken Mattingly in "Apollo 13".
The HD filming is breathtaking on the more modern film footage. Obviously, film taken from the 60's is not going to look great. But the recent footage from the shuttle flights is amazing, especially when Bruce McCandless flies in space with the jet back-pack, completely untethered from the spaceship... All I can say is WOW!
It is great that the program not only highlights the great successes, but doesn't shrink away from showing the failures as well. I think it one of the more balanced programs I have seen regarding this. Often times, these programs can seem like propaganda pieces, but I didn't feel that here. Very well done!