Liftoff Videos
Every mission, with the videos that tell it
Every mission we cover, by year.
Mission: 1977Published: 31 May 2025
The video looks at the golden records on Voyagers 1 and 2, launched in 1977, and asks whether a hypothetical Voyager 3 would carry one today.
Published: 28 May 2025
A long documentary on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, from the Grand Tour concept and spacecraft design to the golden record and the discoveries at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the edge…
Published: 23 May 2025
A design-focused look at the Mir space station, covering its modules, their origins in Salyut, TKS and Buran hardware, and Galina Balashova's interior design.
Mission: 1970Published: 10 May 2025
Part one of a documentary on Apollo 13, launched in April 1970 with Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise.
Published: 6 May 2025
A children's educational overview of NASA's Apollo program, which aimed to take humans to the Moon and bring them home safely.
Published: 17 Apr 2025
An explainer on China's Tiangong space station, in orbit since 2021, covering its predecessors Tiangong 1 and 2, its Tianhe core module and two science modules, and its five research themes.
Mission: 1986Published: 3 Apr 2025
A short National Geographic UK segment recounts the Challenger accident of January 28th, 1986.
Published: 26 Mar 2025
The B1M explains how the International Space Station was built from Zarya in 1998 onward and why it is planned to be brought down in 2030 by a specially modified SpaceX Dragon, ending in the ocean…
Mission: 2025Published: 7 Mar 2025
SpaceX's eighth Starship flight test lifted off from Starbase with all 33 Raptor engines on the booster igniting, followed by hot staging and a booster catch at the tower.
Published: 17 Feb 2025
A documentary tour of the International Space Station, described as covering 9,700 m² and about 400 tons.
Published: 6 Feb 2025
Emily Calandrelli documents her November 2024 flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard, the NS-28 mission, which made her the 100th woman to fly to space.
Mission: 1986Published: 25 Jan 2025
A National Geographic special built from archival news reports and NASA footage follows Christa McAuliffe's selection as the first Teacher in Space, the crew's training, and the launch of Challenger…
Mission: 2024Published: 3 Jan 2025
SpaceX's sixth Starship flight test launched from Starbase on November 19, 2024.
Mission: 2021Published: 20 Dec 2024
An animated explainer of how space telescopes work, comparing Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Published: 17 Nov 2024
A look at the history of solid rocket motors and the Aerojet AJ260, a 260-inch motor built in the 1960s as a possible backup to the F-1 engine on the Saturn V.
Mission: 1970Published: 6 Nov 2024
Apollo 13 was launched in April 1970 toward the Moon with Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise.
Mission: 2024Published: 6 Nov 2024
SpaceX's fifth Starship flight test lifted off on October 13, 2024.
Published: 16 Oct 2024
A documentary history of Skylab, NASA's first space station, built from Apollo-era hardware.
Published: 14 Oct 2024
A history of the Mir space station from its 1986 core module launch on a Proton rocket to its 2001 deorbit.
Published: 30 Sep 2024
Five spacecraft, Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and New Horizons, are on one-way trajectories out of the solar system.
Published: 17 Sep 2024
Explains why the Apollo Lunar Module looked the way it did: a two-stage design by Grumman built to save weight, with four legs, honeycomb shock absorbers, small windows and a thin hull wrapped in…
Published: 16 Aug 2024
The lunar module ascent engine was the one Apollo engine classed as so critical that even minor changes needed sign-off from NASA's highest management, because a failure on the Moon would leave no…
Mission: 1998Published: 22 Jul 2024
The video explains why the International Space Station is due to be deorbited by SpaceX around 2030 and sent into the sea at Point Nemo.
Published: 18 Jun 2024
Compares the 33 Raptor engines on SpaceX's Super Heavy booster with the five F1 engines of the Saturn V.
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