There’s a reason rocket science is used as a benchmark for difficulty. See why as we examine great liftoff disasters.

Views of deep space: Orion Nebula, Rose of Galaxies and Pillars of Creation.

Flying through bad weather can be a harrowing experience, and for NASA, it can be doubly unnerving, as violent storms can strike from below the atmosphere or above it. Witness the true power of nature in space and on Earth as astronauts and ground crews battle to overcome the elements, including a severe lightning strike that crippled Apollo 12's computer system, the freezing temps that compromised the Space Shuttle Challenger, and the tempest of space debris that sent a dead satellite on a collision course with the International Space Station.

Hubble is a global superstar and a household name. Now it faces the most dramatic moment in its life, the final visit for repairs and fond farewells from astronauts. The dangerous massive mission to revive the greatest science tool today is under way and once again Hubble and all the brilliant scientists and astronauts responsible for her, will make history. With unprecedented access to NASA’s training facilities, it follows a team of world-class astronauts through training, into space, and back to Earth.

The tragic launch rehearsal that nearly ended the Apollo Moon Program. The Mir Space Station collision of 1997. The re-entry failure of Space Shuttle Columbia. Each NASA and Soviet space mission is a high-stakes project with an ever-present risk of failure. This series pays tribute to the bold men and women who put their lives on the line in order to get a foothold in the heavens…sometimes with spectacularly disastrous results. We also show how the close calls and catastrophes of our past paved the way for the breakthroughs of today.

This is a documentary on how British scientists have been researching atomic energy during the 1950's, its applications and ultimately, man's ambition to venture into the unknown - outer space.

On a perfectly still August morning in 1960, Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger lifted off in a helium balloon from an abandoned airstrip in New Mexico, floating upwards into the clouds. When his open gondola reached 100,000 feet, nearly 20 miles above the earth, Kittinger disconnected his onboard oxygen supply, said a prayer, and stepped off into the unknown. Within seconds, he was hurtling at over four hundred miles per hour through temperatures nearing one hundred degrees below zero.

In 1972, the crew of Apollo 17 captured the iconic 'Blue Marble': the first photograph ever taken by an astronaut of the entire Earth. This photo had a profound effect on our perception of ourselves. Since then, Nasa has taken millions more. In this epic, powerful and revelatory documentary, a new generation of astronauts, including Tim Peake, use those images of the Earth from space to reveal the astonishing transformation humanity has wrought in the 45 years since 'Blue Marble'.

Our universe reveals itself in ways we’ve never seen before, thanks to new discoveries in astrobiology.

The first cinematic journey to the International Space Station (ISS), where audiences can experience for themselves life in zero gravity aboard the new station. The audience blasts off into space with the astronauts and cosmonauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center and Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome to rendezvous with their new home in orbit 220 miles above Earth. Space Station is a story of challenges, setbacks and triumphs and ultimately, the shared international victory of men and women whose dreams exceed the limits of life on this Earth.