Apollo Program: Tragedy and Triumph (All Parts)

This is the dramatic story of NASA's Apollo Program, beginning with President Kennedy's ambitious deadline for a lunar landing by the end of the decade, in response to Soviet success with Sputnik and cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin. We look at how Werner von Braun, a former rocket scientist of the Third Reich, played a leading role in NASA's planning. After groundbreaking success with the Mercury and Gemini missions, NASA was rocked by the Apollo 1 disaster, in which all three crew members (Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee) were killed in an accidental fire on the launch pad. NASA overhauled its designs and methods to achieve a successful manned launch with Apollo 7. Then came the launch of Apollo 8 aboard the mighty Saturn V rocket - the largest and most powerful rocket ever seen. The mission was a complete success, culminating in the first manned orbit of the moon, and the capture of the legendary 'Earthrise' photograph by astronaut Bill Anders.

NASA's next challenge was to test the world's first true 'spacecraft' - the Lunar Module, as well as identify what risks the moon's unexpected 'mascons' posed to future Apollo missions. But in 1969, everything was in place for the Apollo Program to make history, with the first lunar landing attempt - a mission which would test the skills of crew-members Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins to their limit.

Following the success of Apollo 11, and the fulfilment of Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon, questions hung over the future of the Apollo Program. With declining public interest in Moon missions, and government funding slashed, NASA focused on scientific research. But the final phase of the Program is best remembered for the dramatic near-disaster of Apollo 13, in which the ingenuity of astronauts and Mission Control was pushed to the limit.

This video created for Epic History TV by James Malcolm:
@JamesEMalcolm

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[mrmoore]

You guys are what the history channel should be.

[holyrolypoly]

This just confirms my theory that humans work best and most creatively when there's a time limit. Only taking nine years to essentially build a space organization from scratch and then accelerate to first place in a race to conquer space is astounding to me.

[hyypersonic]

This entire series was incredible, but what stood out to me the most was the graphics. The production quality you guys put into this is nothing short of phenomenal. This is one of youtube's greatest channels right here.

[alex.t]

Neil, Michael and Buzz were my childhood heroes. What an incredible team. No wonder they choose them for the first landing. An absolute legends

[Jaabra]

I love the "new" thing yo do by combining all episodes in series to one long.
Big shout out to the narrator! That voice could make anything sound epic and interesting.

[torchk]

As a long-term aerospace nerd I've read everything I could get my hands on and watched tons of documentaries on space exploration. I'd never have thought one could condense the Apollo Program into a one-hour presentation and touch on any meaningful portion of the story. You've managed it, though, with a great overview that hits all the milestones, covers the challenges and mishaps, acknowledges the contribution of those on the ground as well as the astronauts, and places the program in not only a technical but also a social and historic context. Brilliant!

[lilliansteele]

I remember seeing this live on Xmas Eve in 1968. My grandmother was ready to go with us to Xmas Eve church services. However, she lost her balance and nearly fell and almost broke her hip. I grabbed her arms and held onto her, called out to my parents and brothers for help. We decided not to go and placed her health and safety first. She was my buddy and role model and did not die until August of 1971 from natural causes.

She witnessed many important historical events between the years of her birth in 1887 until her death in 1971, including the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July of 1969, us kids being born and growing up, the Civil Rights Movement, school integration and so many other interesting historical events. She loved history and it was her love of reading and learning that led to many of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to succeed in life. She is still missed by many family members today.

[philoshaughnessy]

That was a straight-forward, uncomplicated and thoroughly enjoyable account of the NASA program. Many thanks for airing this.

[LuMartinelli]

What the hell. This is better produced than hundreds of TV documentaries. Respect.

[coltonsupergame]

What’s crazy to me is that Buzz Aldrin, the second person to ever set foot on the moon, is still alive as of April 20, 2024.

[craigfowler]

Imagine the pressure of landing on the moon for the first time, not only that but alarms going off all around you, computer overload and having to take over manual control to land safely in an area with lots of boulders.

The calmness in NA voice proved he was indeed the man for the job.

[mjbball]

I have watched dozens of documentaries about Apollo and had no idea Apollo 12 had been struck by lightning on liftoff. So cool how that was resolved quickly by a confident controller.

There were several other tidbits in this I didn’t know before - of course the best producers of historical content on the internet crushed it again. Bravo.

[TheMakumakumaku]

This would be Commander Shepard's favorite channel on YouTube.

[ericyardley]

Fantastic work. I love the narrator's voice. It's truly EPIC

[mikesmith]

This is simply incredible! I’ve watched just about every documentary on the Apollo program, to the point of them being stale by now. What a refreshing take! The graphics, music, editing, and narration are the best I’ve seen yet!

[HealthySkepticism]

12:30 The moments describing the Mighty Saturn 5 rocket were fantastic!

[Studebaker]

What a great condensed and beautifully presented timeline of these historic events. For people just getting into the history of space this is a great starting point at 54 minutes.

[jacksonmorgan]

Just a nice touch that they tell you what previous missions each crew member had been on; Really nice way to make connections visually.

[lukisltu]

This is not a YouTube VIDEO its a MOVIE, the best documentation about the history of the APOLLO program I have ever seen.

[greglongmore]

Brilliant.... I actually spent a long time without context for Gemeni, Mercury & Apollo Programs, thanks for the breakdown. Consider me enthused.