9 Days in July

Apollo 11 rides a fireball back through Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Why, after forever changing the course of human history, did we stop going to the Moon, and what, 50 years later, is NASA and the private sector planning for humanity’s next giant leap?

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The crew of Apollo 11 are nearly home. As they spend their last full day in space, we jump into the future to see how Neil, Buzz, and Michael’s experience on the Moon irrevocably changes their lives. For one crew-member, in particular, walking on the Moon very nearly destroyed him.

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As Apollo 11 races back home, we give you a front row seat to an epic showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union, as they use the Space Race to wage the Cold War. One thing will become abundantly clear—America wouldn’t have beaten the Russians without a lot of help from the Nazis.

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The Lunar Module is crippled, and its ability to get off the Moon is in doubt. We also examine how the Moon has captured the human imagination from the beginning of time, first as a source of spiritual influence and veneration, and later as an object of profound scientific curiosity.

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Today is the day humans attempt to change history by stepping foot on another world. However, a series of cascading crises during the lunar descent very nearly force the crew of Apollo 11 to abort the mission and return home.

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As Apollo 11 undertakes a series of intricate maneuvers to get into orbit around the Moon, we look at how the Apollo astronauts and the flight controllers in Mission Control trained for the Moon, and the painful toll their jobs—and the withering media spotlight—took on their families.

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The Apollo Program was the result of hundreds of companies, tens of thousands of workers, and billions of dollars. On Apollo 11’s last day in space before reaching the Moon, we look at how America built Apollo, and why, believe it or not, most Americans did not want us to go to the Moon.

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During the crew’s first full day in space, we jump back in time to learn who Neil, Buzz, and Michael are, and exactly what happened in their lives to put them in the Moon’s crosshairs. It’s not nearly as straightforward as you might think.

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You think you know this story, but you don’t. As Apollo 11 prepares to launch into the history books, we wake with the astronauts and won’t leave their side until their course is set for the Moon. Take a ride with us on the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever created—the Saturn V.

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Episode 1 available now.

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