Space month on Discovery

Discovery sets course for Space Month in November with a number of premiere docos landing in an 8:30pm timeslot.

They include 14 Minutes From Earth, Seeing The Beginning Of Time, Space Mistakes and Great American Eclipse.

It’s an out of this world line-up that will have you reaching for the stars, and beyond. From the Google Exec who jumped from the edge of the stratosphere, 40km above Earth in a top secret mission; to examining the extreme threat that solar weather poses to modern society; and uncovering stories of NASA’s harrowing near misses in space as well as the mysteries, unusual encounters and discoveries the agency has experienced over the years, Space Month is interstellar travel on overdrive. Plus, you can catch every spectacular moment of The Great American Eclipse which was 99 years in the making.

14 Minutes From Earth | 1×90
Wednesday 1 November at 8.30pm
This is the story of 55-year old Google executive Alan Eustace; a man who decides to invent a pioneering spaceship, build it, pilot it 40km into the stratosphere and then freefall jump from it, shattering world records in the process. On top of this, the entire mission was conducted under the cloak of total secrecy… until now. Alan and his world class team push the boundaries of science and engineering in their mission, testing innovative propulsion devices to pioneering a new prototype spacesuit, so that he could survive the freefall from the edge of space, 14 minutes from Earth.

Seeing The Beginning Of Time |1×60
Sunday 5 November at 8.30pm
Based on the work of scientists opening a powerful new window into deep space, Seeing the Beginning of Time takes viewers on a visually-compelling journey through the distant galaxies to trace the influence of mysterious unseen forces such as dark matter and dark energy to look for clues to what they are. Using high-tech telescopes we can now capture light across wide swathes of the universe and channel a vast flow of cosmic data into supercomputer models to probe the forces and events that shaped it. What can we learn about the origin of galaxies like the Milky Way, and of worlds like our own?

Space Mistakes | 6×30
Mondays from 6 November at 8.30pm double eps weekly
Space Mistakes features the amazing behind-the-scenes stories of NASA catastrophes and near misses, many unknown to the public. The series relives harrowing moments such as NASA’s historic “Return to Flight”, as a massive pressure build up inside the Space Shuttle, sending engineers and NASA brass scrambling to avoid another space shuttle loss. Viewers will also discover why a high priority science mission using the most delicate atomic collection technology ended in an eight-foot deep crater in the desert after its parachute failed to deploy, forcing NASA scientists to recover thousands of fragments with tweezers from the desert sand! The science of exploration is imperfect – sometimes NASA must learn the hard way: Incorrect metric conversions, reverse installations, deadly chemical spills, material substitutions and a near miss that could have resulted in a massive rocket fuel explosion that could have wiped out a small town – and almost did! With each failure NASA refines and advances space flight to go further and explore deeper into the unknown.

The Dark Side Of The Sun | 1×60
Sunday 12 November at 8.30pm
Narrated by Grammy and Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated artist Sting, The Dark Side of the Sun examines the extreme threat that solar weather poses to modern society. In an age of hyper-connected telecommunication and reliance on electricity and electronics, what would happen if the sun took out our electrical power grid for an entire year? Telling the story of our growing awareness of the true nature of the sun, this powerful documentary explores its critical importance to all life on Earth, and its potentially harmful effects on modern civilisation.

The Truth Is In The Stars | 1×120
Sunday 19 November at 8.30pm
Do we as a society have the capacity to live up to Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision for humanity’s future? The Truth is in the Stars follows William Shatner, Star Trek’s original Captain James T. Kirk, as he interviews innovators, celebrities and thought leaders to uncover the impact of the franchise on popular culture and human innovation. Taking viewers on a fascinating journey across the US and UK, Shatner investigates whether art has imitated life in the years since the world-renowned Star Trek television series premiered in 1966, envisioning a promising and more hopeful future for the world. Featuring interviews with Stephen Hawking, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Chris Hadfield, plus more.

Great American Eclipse | 2×60
Part 1 premieres Sunday 26 November at 8.30pm
On Monday, August 21 2017 a total eclipse of the sun passed over the continental United States for the first time in 99 years, the path of totality stretching from Oregon to South Carolina. This two-part documentary special captures every moment of this incredible phenomenon, investigating the latest science on eclipses and providing on-the-ground coverage of the event.