Customer Reviews

Rocket Science

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I won't see the DVD until my order arrives--but I saw every episode of the series more than once, so I feel qualified to comment. This is simply the best documentary ever made on man in space, from Goddard to today. I was there when most of this stuff happened, studying it with great interest and close attention--there was a time when I could have shown you a hand-drawn chart of the first 50 satellites to leave earth, listing payload, weight, thrust, orbital characteristics and purpose. I've been a science fiction reader all my life. I've been a science fiction writer for over thirty years, professionally concerned with space and men in space. And I learned at least two AMAZING things I hadn't known in every single episode of this remarkable documentary. (Full disclosure: I appear briefly in one or two of them.) Beyond that, the story I already knew is told visually with impeccable skill and dramatic flair by producers Michael Lennick and Michel Plaxton, using a combination of existing footage and live interviews. They should show this DVD in all high schools. It's a disgrace that Discovery USA did not pick this up from its sister Discover Canada network. It should be shown on PBS, and CBC, and BBC. It is thrilling, informative, exhaustive, intelligent and absorbing. It left me both fiercely proud to be human, and frustrated by the inexplicable disinterest of most of the electorate. Men dreamed mighty dreams, once, not that long ago. If enough people see this DVD, those days might (please!) come again.

I think this is the most comprensive history of the evolution of rockets from Melies to the landing on the moon you will find anywhere on video. Contains both historical footage and new interviews with participants to the moon program and the X-planes. It's sometimes a little long but I beleive you get the most accurate picture of what it was and what drove the race to the moon . To me that's worth far more than pretty pictures of actors pretending to be rocket scientists or astronauts. Well worth the money.

If you see this dvd...BUY IT...'BRILLIANT'
Covers A to Z of the space race in amazing detail.
3 dvd box set for this price is AWESOME value for money.

This 3-DVD set is a must-have for space enthousiasts. It is packed with great footage, and covers not only the American manned missions but also - and fairly extensively so - the Soviet program (Soviet rocketry, R16, Vostok, Gagarin, Leonov, Salyut, Zond, N1 Soviet moonrocket). There's a lot of unique footage on Wernher von Braun and nazi-Germany (including the V2) and on things like the Cuban missile crisis. It's really a history course all by its own. The space age comes alive again in all its cold war glory (it's nice to see, for instance, a triumphant Khruschev (with white hat) discussing plans with Korolov outside his summer mansion, embracing hero-cosmonaut Gagarin on the red square, and cheering with Castro, or president Kennedy's speech before congress). It is impossible to describe the incredible amount of content on these three discs (mostly high quality). The program also features a lot of interviews with astronauts, technicians, scientists, historians and managers. Especially interesting in my opinion were the interview-fragments - spreaded throughout the discs - with Andrew Chaikin (A man on the moon) and Robert Godwin (Apogee books). But you'll see and hear many, many more interesting people. It's a great historical document, recommended also for history teaching. You can watch it, or parts of it, over and over again. I found the title of this Canadian TV-program somewhat misleading, because it is not focusing on rocket technology at all, but on the space program in all its dimensions. This set will please you, space enthusiasts.

If you are interested in the space program, particularly in its history and achievemnts, I doubt you will find a better series than this one. It is superb.

Man's quest for space is examined in a series of programs starting out with wide eyed visionaries like Robert Goddard and progressing through the Air Force's X-Plane program of the 50s. Those are well done and interesting and then it just gets better. Subsequent volumes look at the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo prgrams. Each episode is a delight.

Not only are the pilots and astronauts present to take part in the series, many of the support staff lend their experiences as well. This includes the engineers who made the program happen and even the odd politician or two. Not only are we given the facts of the program, we get a feel for the excitement of the era as well.

I love the space program and have seen many programs. None is as good as this one.

I too was a child of the Space Age and have always been fascinated by what took place in those days. Even today as a middle-aged accountant, I still have that same sense of wonder and appreciation for the space program that I had as a boy in the late 60's/early 70's. It is in that vein that I have bought and read/watched numerous astronaut biographies, documentaries, etc. including most of the Spacecraft Films DVD's and the CG Publishing/Apogee Books space series.

In fact, I stumbled across this DVD set on the CG website, then later saw it on Amazon for $17.99. I wasn't sure if there would be anything here that I hadn't seen or read before but the price was right so I gave it a shot, and I'm glad I did. I haven't watched the whole thing yet but I've already learned some things I didn't know about before, like the mass influx of Canadian engineers and the inflatable wing proposal for Gemini landings. If you're looking for a good "starter set" for learning about the space race days of the 60's, look no further. Highly recommended.

I had just about every documentary about rockets and space exploration but I came across this set which I hadnt seen before. I purchased it based on the high reviews and was extremely satisfied. This set is even better than I could have thought. Top notch in every way. This is the must have dvd set for people interested in such things. This series starts at the beginning with Jules Verne and makes it's way up through the space race. The footage of Goddard and Van Braun is reason enough to own this. Most space documentaries mention the X-15 but this starts with the X-1 and has Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield talking about it. Wonderful.

The best spaceflight history documentary that I have ever seen. I have looked at this many times and I would give it five stars.

All of these other reviews are as good as anything I could write about this series. I will simply say this; if you if you are looking for good moonshot programming, this is the most detailed one. Really good