NASA's Greatest Missions
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RRP £39.99
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Released:23/03/2009
More Details
Studio:Go Entertain
Tags
Exploration, Living World/Universe, Special Interest, Television & Documentary / Documentaries
Reviews
This is a great Discovery Channel documentary series from 2008 on the American space program.
With a running time of almost 9 hours, you get loads of footage and information about the main NASA missions from the last 50 years. Each disc contains two, one-hour long episodes covering a different set of missions and developments and some bonus footage.
Original footage from the space program is interlaced with present-day interviews from Astronauts including: Glenn, Young, Carpenter, Borman, Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, Cernan, Duke etc. In their absence, other Astronaut's achievements are discussed by their surviving colleagues and wives. Other key NASA personnel are also interviewed including legendary flight director Gene Kranz.
Aside from some understandably grainy archive footage of early mission control films, picture quality is very good and frequently excellent. For instance, the first spacewalk by Ed White which is astounding, or the first ever Gemini rendezvous which I'd never seen before.
I did read a critical review of the soundtrack and narration of the films, but I thought it was generally quite good. Narration is by American actor Gary Sinise and for the most part the orchestrated soundtrack helps the documentary move along building tension and drama.
It's worth considering this series if you're interested in the history of the space program and I found it vastly more entertaining than any recent release at the cinema; there are no actors or computer graphics in these films and the spaceships are real too...
Summary of Disc contents:
Disc One
Episode 1. Ordinary Supermen (the first seven)
Episode 2. Friends & Rivals (Mercury & Gemini missions)
Disc Two
Episode 3. Landing the Eagle (Apollo missions)
Episode 4. The Explorers (Apollo 13)
Disc Three
Episode 5. The Shuttle (development, testing, tragedies)
Episode 6. A Home in space (International Space Station & Hubble)
Disc Four Bonus Disc/Original NASA films.
Freedom 7
Friendship 7: John Glenn
Proud Conquest: Gemini 6 & 7
Apollo 8 Debrief
The Flight of Apollo 11
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This is the first DVD review I've submitted for Amazon and felt compelled to do so. The footage on this DVD is absolutely fascinating. From the opening moments I was glued to it. I'm in my mid 30s and have only recently become interested in space and the moon landings etc. I had a vague idea how the missions went (i.e. which were successful and which ended in tragedy) but even the ones where you know the outcome your heart is in your mouth. I've seen a fair amount of footage about the missions included here but most of this is new (even the stuff you've seen dozens of time before has new life breathed into it by the interviews with the key astronauts and Mission Control staff). The footage is truly breathtaking, each time I see the film of Ed White making the first space walk it's phenomenal.
Whilst the footage is amazing it's the interviews that really put the icing on an already flavour-filled cake. Virtually everyone comes across as really personable and humble, all seeming to acknowledge that whilst they may be the first to do XYZ it was a team effort with hundreds of people involved. I particularly warmed to Gene Krantz who was the Flight Director for many of the missions.
On a (very niggly) negative I was surprised the DVDs didn't include subtitles and would have preferred a plastic outer shell rather than the card based one. Also (and this is only a downside due to the immense quality of the earlier missions) the later Apollo missions do not have quite the same WOW factor as the ones up to and including the moon landing though when they start talking about the shuttle, hubble and the ISS this quickly picks up the pace.
I've based my 5 star review on the main films as I've not watched the bonus material yet but as the main feature is so strong I feel it fully deserves top marks. The bonus footage just adds to an incredible experience.
For under £15 all I can say is buy it. It'll be some of the most interesting TV you'll ever witness (shame I didn't see it in the 60s). Enjoy
This set is very well produced, the colours are good and the images are sharp. Even the NASA films of Freedom 7, Friendship 7 have been improved, both colorwise and in sharpness, compared with other versions (e.g. "The American Space Odyssey" and "NASA - 50 years of Space Exploration").
Disc 1 covers the early years from X-15 to Gemini 9. The other discs cover the remaining Space Programme (up to Hubble) by focussing on specific missions in depth, rather than covering every mission. Two notable omissions are the Apollo/Soyuz and Skylab missions (though in the bonus clips is a "roller-coaster" interior tour of Skylab). An interesting inclusion is the coverage of the Gemini6/7 mission. Here, most of the footage is ground-based, including a well presented explanation of rendezvous procedures.
Numerous bonus clips on various topics are included
What you see is what you get with this set. I ordered this set as I wanted a nice set of DVDs covering NASAs biggest highs and lows, and that is exactly what you get with this set, at a great value price.
I like the packaging, featuring individual slimline DVD cases within a cardboard outer, it sits nicely within the others sets and being slimline doesn't hog too much shelfspace!
The set covers the from the first in space, to orbits, the space race, men on the moon, Apollo 13, the Shuttle Era (including the low points of the disaster), Hubble and Skylab. The four disc set covers a lot, probably not as in depth as others but well enough for most-which also keeps it interesting and moving along fast. Interviews with Astronauts throughout with their viewpoints and feelings are a great feature as well.
Highly recommended for anyone wishing to have a good set of historic moments in space flight and America's space program.
This blu ray boxset is incredible. Such an amazing story about those brave men who went up into space. The picture quality and sound are amazing - this is worth the price.
