When We Left Earth Part 5: The Shuttle

Discovery Channel - When We Left Earth (2008)

Information
Narrated by award-winning actor Gary Sinise, WHEN WE LEFT EARTH is the incredible story of humankind's greatest adventure, as it happened, told by the people who were there. From the early quest of the Mercury program to put a man in space, to the historic moon landings, through the Soyuz link-up and the first un-tethered space walk by Bruce McCandless, this is how the space age came of age. The vivid HD series features vintage rushes and all the key onboards filmed by the astronauts themselves. The sequences are captured by cameras onboard the spaceships, enabling the series to tell the stories in a depth never seen before.

Part 5: The Shuttle
The development of a new, larger spacecraft with a cargo bay brings an end for the older capsule vehicles. The new craft would revolutionize space travel, but someone would need to drive it. This would require a true test pilot, and John Young, the man who sat alongside Gus Grissom on the first Gemini flight was the chosen man. NASA's manned programs are again leading the way, but space travel remains as dangerous as ever and tragedy again strikes when the space shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all aboard.