About this product: Since the dawn of mankind, we have stared up at the lights in the sky and wondered... Now join the heroic men and women who have dared the impossible on some of the greatest adventures ever undertaken - the quest to reach out beyond Earth and into the great unknown of space! To celebrate 50 years of incredible achievements, the Discovery Channel has partnered with NASA to reveal the epic struggles, tragedies and triumphs in a bold chapter of human history. Along with the candid interviews of the people who made it happen, hundreds of hours of never-before-seen film footage from the NASA archives - including sequences on board the actual spacecraft in flight - have been carefully restored, edited and compiled for this landmark collection.
*Packaged in spectacular, limited-edition tin. *Original NASA footage digitally remastered in high-definition featuring exclusive ''never before seen'' footage *4 hours of bonus footage not seen in TV broadcast.
About this product: Since the dawn of mankind, we have stared up at the lights in the sky and wondered... Now join the heroic men and women who have dared the impossible on some of the greatest adventures ever undertaken - the quest to reach out beyond Earth and into the great unknown of space! To celebrate 50 years of incredible achievements, the Discovery Channel has partnered with NASA to reveal the epic struggles, tragedies and triumphs in a bold chapter of human history. Along with the candid interviews of the people who made it happen, hundreds of hours of never-before-seen film footage from the NASA archives - including sequences on board the actual spacecraft in flight - have been carefully restored, edited and compiled for this landmark collection.
*Original NASA footage digitally remastered in high-definition featuring exclusive;''never before seen''; footage *4 hours of bonus footage not seen in TV broadcast.
About this product: Kudos to St Clair Vision for collecting and preserving these original NASA documentaries. This set weighs in at a generous 11 hours, 22 minutes on three DVDs. Here's what you get:
Disc 1 - First Years of Exploration
* Freedom 7 (first Mercury flight)
* The Voyage of Friendship 7 (first American orbital flight)
* The World Was There (Project Mercury overview with focus on press coverage)
* The Four Days of Gemini IV (first American spacewalk)
* This Is Houston, The Flight of Gemini VIII (first docking)
* The Legacy of Gemini (Project Gemini overview)
* Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed
* Research Project X-15
Bonus Feature: Earth from Space (10 minutes)
Disc 2 - Deep Space Discovery
* The Moon, Old and New (lunar science)
* Houston, We've Got a Problem (Apollo 13)
* Apollo 15: In the Mountains of the Moon
* Apollo 16: Nothing So Hidden
* On the Shoulders of Giants (Apollo 17)
* Skylab: The First 40 Days
* Skylab: The Second Manned Mission
* Images of the Universe (The box lists something called 'Aeronautical Oddities' here, but I was happy to find this 15 minute description of the science to be explored by the Hubble Space Telescope instead!)
Bonus Feature: NASA Launches (10 minutes)
Disc 3 - Advancing the Dream
* Four Rooms, Earth View (Skylab overview)
* The Mission of Apollo Soyuz
* The Time of Apollo (Project Apollo overview)
* Houston, I Think We've Got a Satellite (This was a surprise. It covers the 1992 shuttle mission STS-49, the 47th shuttle flight overall and the first for Endeavour, featuring its dramatic capture and re-launch of a satellite. This film would have fit better on St Clair Vision's The NASA Collection, Vol. 2, which has lots of space shuttle information.)
* The John Glenn Story (1962, 1 hour 20 minutes. This film should logically be on Disc 1. Personally, I could have done without this exercise in Cold War propaganda and hero worship. Watch the introduction by President Kennedy, ponder Glenn's future political career, and wonder why other astronauts didn't get such star treatment.)
Bonus Feature: Planetary Snapshots (3 minutes)
I am enjoying this collection immensely! There are gaps, of course. I missed seeing films of the other Apollo missions; 8, 12 and 14 in particular. But for the price this is a wonderful piece of history. In many cases science has moved on, but if you're like me you'll be engrossed by the flavor of the times in which these documentaries were made. Everything from the music and graphics to the clothing, cars and computers takes you back.
About this product: IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON is an intimate epic, which vividly communicates the daring and the danger, the pride and the passion, of this extraordinary era in American history. Between 1968 and 1972, the world watched in awe each time an American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon. Only 12 American men walked upon its surface and they remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. Now for the first, and very possibly the last, time, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON combines archival material from the original NASA film footage, much of it never before seen, with interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 and 13), Dave Scott (Apollo 9 and 15), John Young (Apollo 10 and 16), Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and 17), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). The astronauts emerge as eloquent, witty, emotional and very human.
About this product: Originally broadcast in April and May of 1998, the epic miniseries From the Earth to the Moon was HBO's most expensive production to date, with a budget of $68 million. Hosted by executive producer Tom Hanks, the miniseries tackles the daunting challenge of chronicling the entire history of NASA's Apollo space program from 1961 to 1972. For the most part, it's a rousing success. Some passages are flatly chronological, awkwardly wedging an abundance of factual detail into a routine dramatic structure. But each episode is devoted to a crucial aspect of the Apollo program. The cumulative effect is a deep and thorough appreciation of NASA's monumental achievement. With the help of a superlative cast, consistent writing, and a stable of talented directors, Hanks has shared his infectious enthusiasm for space exploration and the inspiring power of conquering the final frontier.
NASA's complete participation in the production lends to its total authenticity, right down to the use of NASA equipment, launch locations, and even spacecraft. The re-creation of the lunar landscape is almost as impressive as the real thing and is further enhanced by the use of helium balloons to lighten the actors playing moon-walking astronauts. (These and other backstage details are revealed in the "making of" featurette, along with a wealth of supplemental materials, on a bonus disc in the miniseries' DVD package.) With a fictional, Walter Cronkite-like TV reporter (Lane Smith) serving as the dramatic link for all 12 episodes, this ambitious production may not be a great work of art. But as a generous and definitive example of nonfiction drama, it's full of the same kind of awe, inspiration, and humanity that led to "one giant leap" in the all-too-short history of 20th-century space exploration. --Jeff Shannon
About this product: St Clair Vision returns with another collection of original NASA documentaries. This three DVD set delivers 12 films covering the space shuttle era and NASA's early unmanned planetary probes. Here's what you get:
Disc 1
* Jupiter Odyssey (28 minutes, 1975)
Discoveries about the Jovian system from the Pioneer 10 mission.
* Mercury: Exploration of a Planet (31 minutes)
The Mariner 10 probe delivers our first close-up glimpse of the planet Mercury. This film is the second episode of a 13 part series entitled "NASA at Work: Journey Through the Solar System." One has to wonder whether St Clair Vision will release the rest of the episodes someday. Although this film discusses the 1975 Mariner 10 mission, the opening credits feature film of the space shuttle, so the film itself probably dates from the 80`s. Don't miss the animated mnemonic song. This was intended to help school kids remember the names of the planets in order, but it's an amazing unintentional self-parody. Like Sesame Street with a hangover!
* The Universe (27 minutes, 1976)
Cosmology 101. Animation is used to explain concepts like black holes. Everything is covered, from brown dwarfs to red giants. Tron would feel right at home.
* New Look / Old Moon (28 minutes, 1979)
The state of lunar science a decade after the first landing.
* Bonus Feature: NASA Mission Patches
Disc 2
* Planet Mars (28 minutes, 1979)
Our first glimpse of the red planet is delivered by Mariner 9 and the Viking landers.
* Opening New Frontiers (28 minutes, 1982)
The first four flight of Shuttle Columbia comprised the orbital test flight phase of the program.
* Space Shuttle - A Remarkable Flying Machine (30 minutes, 1982)
This film provides a detailed look at the shuttle program's first orbital flight. (It should have been placed before the previous film on the disc.)
* We Deliver (28 minutes, 1983)
The second quartet of shuttle missions got right down to business. Columbia flies again in STS-5 providing the first satellite launch from a shuttle. Challenger gets the next three flights: on STS-6 we get to see the first payload-bay spacewalk and on STS-8 a beautiful night-time launch and landing.
* Bonus Feature: Space Stamps
Disc 3
* NASA: The 25th Year (50 minutes, 1983)
An interesting retrospective, this film that gives equal weight to NASA's work with communication satellites, unmanned probes and aeronautical research, but suffers from a heavy-handed musical score.
* Launch and Retrieval of Satellites (19 minutes, 1984)
Chronicles the 14th shuttle flight, STS 51-A, in which the Discovery Crew uses the manned maneuvering unit to capture a damaged satellite. Good stuff!
* Space Shuttle Challenger Accident Investigation (45 minutes, 1986)
Very technically detailed, and appropriately sober. It still hurts.
* Toys in Space (25 minutes, 1986)
Toys were just a small part of Shuttle Discovery's mission 51-D. This film has everything we love about the shuttle program: spacewalks, launching and retrieving satellites, use of the robot arm, and even Astronaut-Senator Barfin' Jake Garn!
Bonus Feature: Earth from Space Gallery
Although the planetary science featured here has been eclipsed by subsequent missions, it's fun to see the excitement of these early discoveries. Space Shuttle fans will find much to love here, and should be sure not to miss Nasa Collection-Volume 1, which has a film about the 47th shuttle flight, Endeavour STS-49.
This three DVD set suffers a bit in the shadow of its predecessor, Nasa Collection-Volume 1, which has the romantic early space flight missions and is also considerably longer, over 11 hours. This Volume 2 box only delivers six hours, and could probably have fit on two DVDs. Even so, it's a bargain at the price.
Please note: I cannot be sure, but based on the description I think the contents of both NASA Collection volumes can be purchased at one time as NASA: Ultimate Collection From Orbit to Beyond.
Could St Clair Vision send us Volume 3? There should be more material available. Some of the Mercury and Gemini flights have not been covered, nor have Apollo mission 8, 9, 10, 12 and 14. There should also be many Space Shuttle missions left to choose from, as well. Here's hoping!
About this product: Prepare for lift-off with this landmark six-part series celebrating mankind's greatest space missions!
Commemorate NASA's 50th anniversary with this epic series chronicling the inside story of the space agency's epic endeavors - from the early Mercury program and historic moon landings to the first untethered space walk...and beyond.
This vivid series captures the incredible story of humankind's greatest adventures, as it happened, and is told by the people who were there.
Episodes Include:
Ordinary Supermen
Friends and Rivals
Landing the Eagle
The Explorers
The Shuttle
A Home In Space This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
About this product: And you thought Titanic was pricey--this dazzling documentary comes courtesy of the hundreds of millions of dollars NASA spent on moon shots, ethereally gorgeous footage that had never been seen until journalist Al Reinert, who had covered NASA for magazines prior to this film, got his hands on it. (Reinert subsequently coscripted Ron Howard's acclaimed Apollo 13.)
Reinert sifted through 6 million feet of film footage and 80 hours of interviews with astronauts, which serve as humble voice-overs for the lyrical imagery, and he assembled all this into a unique experience which was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar. Brian Eno's lovely, atmospheric score evokes the sense of peace the astronauts say they felt while floating through space; the film's spiritual quality is as affecting as its breathtaking visuals. "There was a great deal of difficulty paying attention to what our job was," admits one astronaut, and you can see why.
A major caveat--while this is mind-blowing on the big screen, it may be less impressive on your TV. Or, you can simply sit up real close. Who would've guessed that NASA was also a training ground for cinematographers? --David Kronke
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