I grew up in the mid to late sixties and, like all young boys at the time, I was very interested in the space program.  My most cherished toy at that time was a metal Johnson Space Center set the included a spring launched Saturn 5 rocket, and a whole slew of little plastic astronauts that were not to scale.  I practically lived to watch the launches and was sure that I would grow up to be an astronaut, if my plans for being Batman didn't work out.

Well, I'm not an astronaut, (I refuse to comment on whether I am really Batman or not) but I'm still fascinated that we were able to put a man on the moon.  It is even more astounding when you realize that much of the complex math that was done to design the rockets and calculate the flight paths and trajectories was preformed on slide rules.   The first thing that hit me when I saw the Gemini 7 space capsule on display at the Smithsonian institute in Washington DC was how primitive the technology was.  The engineers at NASA did an amazing job with what they had to work with.

For all of us space buff that are still around, the History Channel has collected some of their programs dealing with the space program and released them in a two DVD set.  These programs give a great behind the scenes look at one of mankind's most impressive achievements.
 
Failure is Not an Option:  This 90-minute feature narrated by Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff) is based on the book by Gene Kranz, NASA Mission Control Flight Director for the Gemini and Apollo programs.  (Ed Harris portrayed Kranz in the movie Apollo 13.)  Starting with the origins of the space race, this show presents the history of mission control.  Through interviews the men who were there at the time and archival footage, the show illustrates the difficulties and challenges that the mission control operators faced every time we sent men into space.  It talks about the pressure that these young engineers faced, and the long hours that they put in.  The Mercury and Gemini programs are discussed as well as the Apollo 1 fire, Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, and the Apollo 13 mishap.  If you ever wondered what all those people sitting at rows and rows of terminals were doing, this is the show for you.

I really enjoyed this show.  It was long enough to go into more detail than your usual ½ hour TV show does, but it never got boring.  They did an excellent job creating the tension and pressure that the Mission Control Operators felt, and the show has a good amount of suspense, even for people who know how it will turn out.  Since this program was intended for broadcast on television, there were breaks for commercials.  When the show returned, they would bring the audience up to speed and repeat what had been said just before the break.  Of course there are no commercials on the DVD, so this constant repetition gets tiresome after a while, but it is a minor critique.

One thing that bothered me a little more was that they altered the recording of Neil Armstrong's famous "One small step" line when he became the first man to step on the moon.  They removed the beep that occurs midline, which makes it sound a little strange after hearing it there for the past 35 years.  This, along with including reenactments that were not labeled (the crew of the Apollo 1 during the fire stands out) made me feel like they were to fool me into believing some things were authentic when they weren't.  That's the last thing you want to do in a documentary.  Admittedly I'm a little anal about things like this, but after a while I was trying to pick out what was vintage footage and what wasn't.  By eliminating the reenacted scenes I think that it would have been easier to concentrate on the program itself.

Code Name:  Project Orion:  This episode of History Uncovered deals with a little known project that was seriously considered in the 1950's:  to use nuclear bombs to launch huge payloads into earth orbit and beyond.  Nuclear bombs offer a lot energy for very little weight.  At a time when the biggest rockets could only deliver satellites the size of volleyball into orbit, but a nuclear based ship wouldn't have to carry tons of liquid fuel and could instead carry a large payload.  The story of this amazing scheme is told through recently declassified film footage and interviews with the scientists who worked on the project.  This is an interesting footnote in the story of the space race.

Apollo 13:  This is an episode of the television show Modern Marvels.  Starting with the objectives of the Apollo 13 mission, the show covers the personnel and takeoff, and then quickly gets to the explosion that disabled the spacecraft.  The show features interviews with the astronauts that were on Apollo 13, as well as the tapes of the original radio conversations between mission control and the crew.  An interesting show, and though much of the information was given in the first program in the set, it still offered a different emphasis and contained some footage not in the first show.  Well worth watching.

The Space Shuttle:  Another episode of the series Modern Marvels; this one examining the space shuttle and its uses.  The first quarter of the program gives a rapid overview of the space program before they start discussing the space shuttle.   The show picks up once they start talking about the design and fabrication of the reusable space vehicle.  In addition to the construction of the shuttle, the program looks at the training of the crew and how they would live and sleep.  The last segment of the show examines the Challenger disaster, and stops after that, not covering the more recent events.  This show went way too fast.  They covered too much material in a very short time.  It was a brief overview with statistics and facts rattled off at a rapid rate, but it didn't give you a feeling of excitement or wonder.  A briefer scope would have suited the program much better.

This is a two DVD set that comes in a slipcase.  The first DVD contains Failure is Not an Option along with the commentary, while the second DVD has the other three programs.

Audio:

The stereo sound was adequate.  I would have liked some more bass when the rockets launched, but I can understand why a TV show doesn't have 5.1 sound.  There wasn't any distortion or hiss and the narration was easy to hear.

Video:

The video to these shows was nice and clear.  The vintage footage was faded and scratchy of course, but that wasn't distracting.  The interviews looked great.  There weren't any digital defects worth mentioning.  This is a good looking set for a group of documentaries.

The Extras:

In addition to a photo gallery, there is a commentary featuring Flight Director Gene Kranz, writer/producer/co-director Rushmore DeNooyer, and editor/co-producer Tony Bacon.   This is a great audio track for people who are interested in the space program to hear.  There was about 45 minutes that had to be cut from the first edit of the film, and they talk about what was left out, and what they wanted to expand upon.  DeNooyer acts as an interviewer and asks Kranz about what was on the screen.  Kranz is a very interesting person who has a lot of great stories and a unique perspective about the space program.   Most of what he says isn't directly covered in the movie, so this commentary is almost like a second documentary.  This extra adds a lot to the quality and value of this set.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this set.  Failure is Not an Option is a great show, well worth the price of the whole set.  The three shows on the second DVD, while not as engrossing as the first show, still contain a lot of interesting information.  People who liked Apollo 13 and the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon should pick this set up.  Highly Recommended.