When We Left Earth - The NASA Missions (4-Disc Set in Limited Edition Tin)
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DVD details
Actor: When We Left EarthDirector: na
Brand: IMAGE ENT.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 258 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Product features:
- 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,
DVD Reviews of When We Left Earth - The NASA Missions (4-Disc Set in Limited Edition Tin)
DVD Review: A Strong Overview Of The US Manned Spaceflight Program
Summary: 5 Stars
"When We Left Earth" is a very strong effort made by the Discovery Channel, presented here on four DVDs with several hours of bonus footage that was not televised. The set chronicles the United States' spaceflight program from its inception during the cold war, through the International Space Station. The Mercury program gets a lot of attention due to all the "firsts" and the extremely high-risk nature of the flights, and, of course, Apollo gets the bulk of attention due to the extremely complex nature of the missions, and the amazing imagery of the lunar flights and landings. I was pleased that while Apollo 11 was featured prominently, that other Apollo missions were also discussed (Apollo 15 got the short shrift). I was happy to see Gemini featured so extensively: it's frequently glossed over despite the critical nature of the work performed in the program, which in large part allowed Apollo to succeed.
The shuttle is featured as well, and no account of the shuttle would be complete without a recounting of the "Columbia" and "Challenger" disasters, which are discussed candidly. The ISS is also discussed in glowing terms despite its tortuously long, political, and convoluted birth. I was especially pleased with the interviews with astronauts (I greatly enjoyed the interviews with the reclusive Neil Armstrong, the soft-spoken John Young, and the laconic Charlie Duke), engineers, and members of Mission Control (notably Gene Kranz), which are extremely illuminating.
The set is not perfect, and everyone would make changes based on personal preferences, but overall the balance between being a complete historical account of NASA, and selecting the most significant events in manned spaceflight is very good. The price for the set is very reasonable, and I recommend it to anyone, and especially anyone interested in a high quality and succinct overview of NASA history.
As of this writing the future of manned US spaceflight is very much in doubt, and I appreciate the effort that the producers went through to present a balanced, concise history of the space program, emphasizing what is possible when intelligent, dedicated individuals are given a goal and the funding to achieve the goal.
DVD Review: Lots of great original footage
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this on TV and was originally skeptical since I'm not a big fan of Discovery Channel (I prefer BBC documentaries). However, I was quite impressed with the "When We Left Earth" series. Each episode contains great original NASA footage and interviews with the original astronauts and key players. I frankly found myself wondering how they even got some of those shots in space (and pretty good quality, even in the 1960s footage). The interviews are insightful and reveal interesting trivia (such as the revelation that, had he survived, Gus Grissom would probably have been the first man to walk on the moon). Definitely recommended for space fans.DVD Review: Very impressed!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a child of the '60s I have always been incredibly drawn to the entire space program. I can remember sitting in our house watching (on a black and white TV with aluminum foil on the antennas so we could hopefully get a better signal) when the moonwalk occurred, so when I received this DVD tin set as a present for Christmas, I was thrilled. I was even more excited when I watched the first DVD - the entire production is thoroughly well done, and I highly recommend this set for the entire family.
Lots of movies nowadays are not geared for the family - most of the time there is too much like violence, cursing and sex that takes away from the viewing experience. Nothing to worry about with this inspiring set - it makes you proud to be an American and proud to know that whatever we set our minds to, with God's help, we can achieve anything.
DVD Review: Excellent Series, But Some Important Things Neglected
Summary: 4 Stars
I have read six books on the space program in the past three months, basically as part of the excitement I feel for the 40th anniversary celebration of the Apollo program, and the current steps now being taken by NASA to return to the Moon. I must say, this series vividly brings to life the missions I have been reading about for the past several months, with film footage I have never seen anywhere else. I think it is the only documentary series out there that tells the whole history of NASA from Mercury to the present, or surely there are no others that do it better.
That being said, I did have some problems with some topics neglected in the series. While I understand the time constraints of having a six episode series, each episode just under 50 minutes, there were still some glaring omissions in missions and topics.
First, the mission omissions.
1) Apollo 15 was jumped over straight to 16. But 15 was the first use of the lunar rover, and it was the mission that brought back the Genesis Rock, perhaps the oldest lunar sample from all of Apollo.
2) Apollo-Soyuz was not even mentioned, when this was the first international space mission and the one that effectively ended the Space Race and led to the future U.S.-Russian Cooperation now seen with the ISS.
3)Two shuttle flights in particular were passed over--Sally Ride's first flight as the first American woman in space, and John Glenn's return to space aboard Discovery. These were important milestones in NASA's mission history, if for no other reason than PR.
Beyond neglected missions, there was also neglect in the discussion of the people who worked behind the scenes to make the NASA missions work. The series focuses almost exclusively on the astronauts, and a couple of important people like Chris Kraft and Gene Krantz. But there were others who also made the whole program work. Examples-President Eisenhower, James Killian, James Webb, Wernher Von Braun. And Deke Slayton, who assigned the crews for the missions from Gemini through Skylab, isn't mentioned again after Mercury. Yes, the astronauts are the exciting guys to focus on, but these others also deserved mention.
Despite its slight shortcomings mainly caused by its glaring omissions, this series is a must have for space enthusiasts.
DVD Review: Bringing up a couple issues
Summary: 3 Stars
There are some nice things in this portrait of the U.S. trip through space, but I wanted to point out a couple of flaws I noticed watching these episodes. For one, there's extremely little mention of what the Soviets were doing, especially once we get past Yuri Gagarin being the first man in space. I know this is about the NASA missions, but still, you come away with the impression that NASA was doing everything in space exploration until the USSR broke up and work with the Russians on the space station started. It would be helpful to put these missions in some context by talking more about the Soviets and how the U.S. was trying to keep pace with and move ahead of them in the space race.
More seriously, the music that serves as soundtrack for these episodes is highly dramatic and foreboding: you get the constant feeling that disaster is right around the corner. This takes away from your ability to see the missions as triumphs, discoveries, and landmarks in human history. Instead, you sense the atmosphere of the Challenger and Columbia tragedies looming over the entire NASA history. The music became a real distraction in the later episodes, as I got more and more frustrated by its intrusion into the events being shown on the screen. If you're looking for an analytical, plain-spoken portrait of the full history of space exploration, don't get this set of discs.
Description of When We Left Earth - The NASA Missions (4-Disc Set in Limited Edition Tin)
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.
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