Bridge to Space

Apollo 13: Home Safe(en)

"Houston, we've had a problem." Apollo 13 has become known as “a successful failure” that saw a safe return of the crew in spite of a catastrophic explosion in the middle of their lunar journey. This 30-minute documentary features interviews with Apollo 13 Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, as well as Flight Directors Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney, with engineer Hank Rotter. Parts of their interviews take place in the restored Apollo mission control room. This documentary also features original NASA footage and newly synchronized audio from Mission Control. Thanks to Stephen Slater and Ben Feist/Apollo in Real-Time (apolloinrealtime.org/13) for providing additional footage and audio.

Coming Home from Space: The Challenge of Re-Entry(en)

The complex engineering challenges that make re-entry into the earth's atmosphere so dangerous. Scientists have labored for years to bring a crew safely home in what is essentially a meteorite, wrapped in a cocoon of fire, hurtling towards earth six times faster than the fastest bullet. Scientific experts from NASA explain the significance of Columbia's events as they unfolded, offer insights into what may have caused them and how those key events contributed to the shuttle’s ultimate destruction.

Curiosity: Life of A Mars Rover(en)

Apollo 11: The Untold Story(en)

Nearly forty years after the moon landing the men on the mission reveal what really happened. On how close the mission came to disaster.

Moonwalk One(en)

This documentary by Theo Kamecke from 1970 gives an in-depth and profound look at the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. NASA footage is interspersed with reactions to the mission around the world as the film captures the intensity as well of the philosophical significance of the event. Won special award at Cannes.

Apollo XI : L'Aventure en direct(fr)

Kubrick's Odyssey: Secrets Hidden in the Films of Stanley Kubrick; Part One: Kubrick and Apollo(en)

This provocative and insightful film is the first in a series of documentaries that will reveal the secret knowledge embedded in the work of the greatest filmmaker of all time: Stanley Kubrick. This famed movie director who made films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut, placed symbols and hidden anecdotes into his films that tell a far different story than the films appeared to be saying. In Kubrick's Odyssey, Part I, Kubrick and Apollo, author and filmmaker, Jay Weidner presents compelling evidence of how Stanley Kubrick directed the Apollo moon landings.

Mercury 13(en)

After rigorous testing in 1961, a small group of skilled female pilots are asked to step aside when only men are selected for spaceflight.

Project Apollo: Manned Flight to the Moon(en)

Shows the principal steps taken by NASA to place men on the moon and get them back safely within this decade.

CARA-B(ca)

A desktop documentary that focuses on the Golden Record that NASA sent into space in the late 1970s. The piece reflects on issues such as the power of scientific discourse to produce revisions of the world, the evolution of the concept of the archive and the resignification of borders in the rhetoric of space colonialism.

The Space Movie(en)

1969's Apollo 11 mission to the moon is highlighted in this tribute to the history of the United States' space program.

Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine(en)

The James Webb Telescope stirs imaginations with vivid photos of distant galaxies. This documentary tracks its historic journey from inception to launch.

Moon Shot(en)

The inside story of America's race to the moon.

It’s Quieter in the Twilight(en)

In an unremarkable office space, a select group of aging engineers find themselves at the leading edge of discovery. Fighting outdated technology and time, Voyager’s flight-team pursues humankind’s greatest exploration.

Space Shuttle: Return to Flight(en)

February 1, 2003. A nation wakes to images of the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrating into a shower of hot metal in the skies over Texas. All seven on board are lost. With the future of human space exploration uncertain, the NASA family vows to find the cause of the accidents, fix it, and return safely to flight. Return To Flight follows intensely human stories of triumph and failure as experienced by those who have undertaken to make things right. The two-year journey from the Columbia accident to the launch of the space shuttle Discovery in the summer of 2005 unfolds through the extraordinary day-to-day struggles of NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts from whom failure is not an option.

NASA: 25 Years(en)

A collection of NASA films, from Project Mercury to the Space Shuttle.

13 Factors That Saved Apollo 13(en)

April 13th, 1970, 180,000 miles from Earth, a devastating malfunction leaves Apollo 13 leaking previous oxygen and its crew of three astronauts facing a life and death crisis. If Mission Control cannot find a way to bring Apollo 13 home, the astronauts will be stranded 200,000 miles from Earth in their dying ship. Now with limited power and supplies on board the spacecraft, the ground teams work around the clocking, engineering creative solutions to overcome carbon dioxide poisoning, dehydration and the freezing temperatures of deep space, to ensure the crew's survival. Using spectacular NASA footage, exclusive interviews with Apollo space scientists and stunning visual effects; this film explores the thirteen remarkable factors that brought the crew safely home, and the full story of the courage and ingenuity that cemented Apollo 13 as NASA's finest hour.

Space Launch LIVE: America Returns To Space(en)

Beginnings of the Space Age: Destination Moon(en)

"Destination Moon" is the third in the trio of documentaries about the beginnings of the space age. It documents JPL's ambitious plan to beat the Soviet Union in robotic space exploration by reaching not only for the moon, but also the inner planets. But as the hour-long episode documents, JPL would be humbled by a series of failures in attempting to merely hit the moon, let alone visit the other planets. "We didn't know what we were doing," one veteran JPL engineer confides, "and there was no one around to tell us." This film shows how JPL did learn to go to the moon and to the planet Venus, giving the United States its first "First in Space."

Beginnings of the Space Age: The American Rocketeer(en)

"The American Rocketeer" tells the controversial story of aviation engineer Frank Malina, whose fundamental role in the evolution of American rocketry is largely forgotten. Malina, along with a motley crew of amateur rocket enthusiasts and fellow California Institute of Technology students, conducted the first stand-up rocket engine test on Halloween in 1936 in the Pasadena Arroyo. On this 75th anniversary of those tests, this 90-minute, intensely personal documentary explores the complexities of Malina's life and the profound ramifications his work had on Caltech and the nation. "Though there are many fascinating characters in the American Rocketeer, at its core, this film is a personal story of one man's dreams," noted producer Blaine Baggett, "and how his ideas and idealism put him on a collision course with the world."