Beginnings of the Space Age: The American Rocketeer

The Pathfinders(en)

It started with an order to land something on Mars - cheaply. In NASA's new era of "faster, better, cheaper," this mission had to create a radically different way of building a spacecraft. "The Pathfinders" tells the story of a small group of JPL'ers who dismissed warnings that a cut-rate mission to Earth's distant neighbor would cut short their careers. With a Martian parachute that could not be tested in Earth's atmosphere, and the last-minute addition of a remote controlled vehicle that would not look out of place in a toy store, the Pathfinder mission was a doubter's dream. Vet the future prospects of JPL and of a Mars program in its infancy, depended on bouncing successfully onto the rocky Red Planet and releasing a curious six-wheeled wanderer, in hopes of starting a revolution in space exploration.

The World's Most Powerful Telescopes(en)

"The World's Most Powerful Telescopes" is a research expedition across the southern firmament. The science documentary shows the powerful telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in action and gives insight into the discoveries they make. The world's most powerful telescopes can be found atop the highest peaks of northern Chile, amidst the exotic flora and fauna of one of the driest regions on the planet: the Atacama Desert. This is the starting point for a journey to the outer edges of our universe.

The Year of Pluto(en)

New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners.

How to See a Black Hole: The Universe's Greatest Mystery(en)

Documentary following researchers as they try to take the first-ever picture of a black hole. They must travel the globe to build a revolutionary telescope that spans planet Earth.

The Mars Generation(en)

Aspiring teenage astronauts reveal that a journey to Mars is closer than you think.

The Farthest(en)

The captivating tales of the people and events behind one of humanity's greatest achievements in exploration: NASA's Voyager mission.

Outlier: the story of Katherine Johnson(en)

Documentary about an African-American girl who grows up to help NASA put astronauts into space and bring them home safely. She was one of the main characters in the movie, "Hidden Figures." Includes interview with Johnson.

Architecture of Infinity(de)

How can structures, which take up defined, rigid portions of space, make us feel transcendence? How can chapels turn into places of introspection? How can walls grant boundless freedom? Driven by intense childhood impressions, director Christoph Schaub visits extraordinary churches, both ancient and futuristic, and discovers works of art that take him up to the skies and all the way down to the bottom of the ocean. With the help of architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Álvaro Siza Vieira, artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias, and drummer Sergé “Jojo” Mayer, he tries to make sense of the world and decipher our spiritual experiences using the seemingly abstract concepts of light, time, rhythm, sound, and shape. The superb cinematography turns this contemplative search into a multi-sensory experience.

Secrets of the Sun(en)

It contains 99.9 percent of all the matter in our solar system and sheds hot plasma at nearly a million miles an hour. The temperature at its core is a staggering 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. It convulses, it blazes, it sings. You know it as the sun. Scientists know it as one of the most amazing physics laboratories in the universe.

A Life's Work(en)

What’s it like to dedicate your life to work that won’t be completed in your lifetime? Fifteen years ago, filmmaker David Licata focused on four projects and the people behind them in an effort to answer this universal question.

The Flight of Apollo 7(en)

Apollo 7 was designated to make the essential test of the Apollo spacecraft before the ambitious lunar-orbital mission could be attempted. All systems respond perfectly.

Planet Mars(en)

Searching for Skylab, America's Forgotten Triumph(en)

The first American space station Skylab is found in pieces scattered in Western Australia. Putting these pieces back together and re-tracing the Skylab program back to its very conception reveals the cornerstone of human space exploration.

Apollo 17, on the Shoulders of Giants(en)

A documentary about the Apollo 17 mission to the Taurus-Littrow on the moon, the final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program, December 1972. Produced by A-V Corporation for NASA. The film was distributed both as an ephemeral film (shown to an audience via a 16mm film projector), and was also shown on TV (and was shown on both public and commercial stations per a search of vintage newspapers).

Black Hole Hunters(en)

A team of international scientists attempt to document the first-ever image of a black hole.

Comet Collision(en)

Comets pose one of the greatest threats to life on Earth - a threat that can only be countered if we find out more about them. In 2005, in an audacious bid to do just that, NASA scientists launched a space probe to collide with a comet in the emptiness of deep space. This film follows the amazing story of mission Deep Impact, from its inception through to the final nail-biting moments when the probe and comet Tempel 1 met head-on.

Apollo 11 : Retour vers la lune(fr)

Homo Spatius(fr)

Can Homo sapiens evolve into Homo spatius? For over 50 years now, we have been testing our human nature in our effort to conquer outer space, and still 30 years away from a possible human exploration of Mars, a question remains: Can our body take such travels? Will it ever adapt? Combining human adventure and the exploration of the human body, this film offers unique insights into the physical and psychological effects of space travel on the Astronauts and measures the impact on medical sciences.

ORBIT: A Journey Around Earth in Real Time(en)

A real-time reconstruction of time-lapse photographs taken on board the International Space Station by NASA’s Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit. The film is scored with musical selections from three albums by Phaeleh (producer Matt Preston): Lost Time, Illusion of the Tale, and Somnus. The music directly influenced the choice of material used in the film. The film's duration is approximately the length of time it takes ISS to orbit the Earth once: 92 minutes and 39 seconds. Meditate on the beauty of our planet.

FAST à l'écoute de l'univers(fr)