stevewin Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I think this series has been fantastic - much better than the more highly hyped/acclaimed 'When we left the Earth' on Discovery. I've been making my kids watch - I'm an engineer and consider myself fairly informed on the space program - but at least once in each show I've found myself saying "I never knew that" to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I think this series has been fantastic - much better than the more highly hyped/acclaimed 'When we left the Earth' on Discovery. I've been making my kids watch - I'm an engineer and consider myself fairly informed on the space program - but at least once in each show I've found myself saying "I never knew that" to them. Damn it, I'll have to get a season pass to catch up on the episodes. I do agree that When we left earth sorta sucked. I was a much bigger fan of the tom hanks series that ran last summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadCap Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Damn it, I'll have to get a season pass to catch up on the episodes. I do agree that When we left earth sorta sucked. I was a much bigger fan of the tom hanks series that ran last summer. When we Left Earth shed absolutely NOTHING new on the programs. I think everyone who watched the show knew everything they talked about already. What would have been great would have been for them to talk about some of the things that are not as well known, especially with respect to the Shuttle Missions. For example, what about the near manual destruction of STS-1 immediately after liftoff? Something about the Polar Express missions from VAB, or the abort on STS-51-F? However, they did a good job with the Hubble missions, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. I have not seen Moon Machines as of yet, but I have recorded a few. Did they do much talking about the atmospheric flights of the LM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Watched an episode last night on Science HD based on the recommendation in this thread. It was very enjoyable. The episode told the story of the developement of the lunar rover. I'm an engineer so I've loved seeing how they dealt with the limited weight and space they were budgeted. I enjoyed how they were trying to estimate the properties of the moon's surface. I had to laugh at how hard it was for them to get it to unfold itself from it's cargo area. I'm guessing the weight restrictions held them back because that sort of thing is really common place. It also reminded me of how far we've come in the last thirty years in terms of material science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewin Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 I have not seen Moon Machines as of yet, but I have recorded a few. Did they do much talking about the atmospheric flights of the LM? I've watched them all (except for the CM which my DVR flaked out less than halfway through ) so they all kind of blur together for me. I like them all - but the Navigation one was esp interesting to me - I enjoyed the Staturn V and even the Spacesuit one I found fascinating. The Rover one last night was also even more interesting than I was expecting. For me there is just so much information and stories from a different perspective, the people who actually worked on it, that I had never heard before - and to hear of all these unsung players in all different parts of the program, each with some remarkable idea or contribution that enabled their piece (and thus the whole program) to remain viable and continue. The thing that comes out consistently for me is the unbelievable pressure EVERY different group was under - with no lack of politics/infighting - but they all persevered and came through (in one of them I think a guy says that basically every guy from his project got divorced as a result of working on the program). Just scores of great/brilliant/resiliant people in such a variety of wildly different programs who just persevered until it all came together. It is unbelievable they pulled it off. It is too bad the series wasn't more highly advertised (and has such a lame name) - it is the best I have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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