Space's Deepest Secrets

Space... The last great unknown.

NASA's mission... To unravel the mysteries

of mankind's final frontier...

To search for new knowledge

and understanding... Godspeed, John Glenn.

And to lead us towards a peaceful

and unified future in space.

To the Moon and to the planets beyond.

The Eagle has landed.

We applaud NASA's greatest achievements

and explore how their impacts

continue to shape how we view

our place in the universe.

That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

For the eyes of the world... Absolutely incredible.

Now look into space... Okay, here we go.

To the Moon and to the planets beyond.

Lift-off.

And we set sail on this new sea

to solve these mysteries, to solve them

for the good of all mankind.

**

1957 heralds the unprecedented orbit

of the sputnik satellite,

launched by the Soviet union.

This milestone sends waves of fear

throughout the U.S. government

about the technological superiority

Of their cold war enemy.

Shortly thereafter, a federal organization

whose sole purpose is spearheading the American

space effort is born... The national aeronautics

and space administration, known as NASA.

Despite its cold war Genesis, NASA is

a distinctly civilian agency with a focus

on the peaceful exploration of space and science.

President Eisenhower wanted a space program

for science and technology

that was not based on the

military occupation of space.

And his emblem was space for peace.

He was deeply concerned that

if left to their own devices,

the military would occupy space

and take the high ground.

Had that occurred, you would never have seen

any of the great accomplishments

in science or engineering that embraced the world.

Thanks to Eisenhower’s

forward-thinking administration,

NASA remains the world's leading

manned-and-unmanned- space-research agency

since its inception in the late 1950s,

setting the precedent for all present

and future spacefaring nations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

today we are introducing to you

and to the world these seven men

who have been selected to begin training

for orbital space flight.

These, ladies and gentlemen, are

the nation's Mercury astronauts.

On April 9, 1959, NASA introduces the world

to the Mercury seven...

The astronauts selected to pilot America's

first manned space program.

These men immediately become national heroes.

Project Mercury's first goal

is to put a solo human into Earth's orbit...

Which is named Freedom 7.

Freedom 7 was America's first

foray into human space flight,

and it came at a rather difficult period in time,

because three weeks before the launch of Freedom 7,

Russia had successfully launched

Yuri Gagarin, who became the first human in space.

From the Mercury seven, astronaut Alan Shepard

is chosen to become the first

American to fly in space.

He pilots the Mercury-Redstone

launch vehicle, a hybrid

of a U.S. army ballistic missile

and a research and development rocket

Modified for human flight.

And on may 5, 1961, Shepard leaves cape Canaveral

and leads the United States into a new era

of manned space exploration.

Flight, this is m&o.

Go ahead, m&o.

All subsystems status green.

Roger, m&o. Understand all systems green.

60 seconds and counting.

T-minus one minute and counting.

- Status check... pressurization. - Go.

Lox tanking. You are go.

Water systems. Go.

T-minus 30 seconds.

Mercury capsule, go.

All pre-start panel lights are correct.

The ready light is on.

T-minus 15 seconds.

Check Mercury umbilical.

Mercury umbilical clear.

Mercury is entering flight zone.

T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7... 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Engine start.

Ignition.

Well, Roger. Lift-off, and the clock has started.

This is Freedom 7 reading you loud and clear.

The fuel is go.

1.2 G.

Cabin at 14 psi.

Oxygen is go.

All systems are go.

Flight lasts 15 minutes and follows

a parabolic trajectory,

arcing over the Earth's surface

to land in the ocean 302 miles downrange.

The main scientific objective of project Mercury

is to determine man's capability

in the space environment and the conditions under

which astronauts would work.

In contrast to Yuri Gagarin's flight,

which was effectively an automated flight...

Gagarin had the ability

to control the spacecraft, but didn't...

Shepard's flight allowed him

to exercise some control over the spacecraft.

He's going to hand-control movements now.

Switching to manual control of the pitch attitude.

So Shepard genuinely took

real control of the spacecraft.

He wasn't just there for the ride.

He wasn't simply baggage.

After re-entry, the capsule of Freedom 7

lands by parachute in the Atlantic ocean,

with Alan Shepard paving the way

for every NASA astronaut

and manned mission to come.

The initial Mercury manned space flight

certainly helped lift the spirits in America

of people who felt that

the Russians were racing ahead,

that they'd been eclipsed with sputnik,

they'd been eclipsed with Yuri Gagarin,

in the first months of a president

who had criticized the government it replaced

for sitting on their hands while the Russians

rocked away into the future.

So, it was vital to restore American pride

and to mobilize a can-do spirit

so that, weeks later, when Kennedy announced

the decision to go to the Moon,

people could believe it.

President Kennedy: I believe that this nation

Should commit itself to achieving the goal,

before this decade is out,

of landing a man on the Moon

and returning him safely to the Earth.

Freedom 7 was a vital component

of Kennedy's Moon program

that had been decided before Alan Shepard

first went into orbit.

And, in fact, the announcement

of that decision was held back

until Alan Shepard's flight

on the 5th of may, 1961.

Freedom 7 had to happen

for Kennedy's commitment to go to the Moon

to be publicly announced

and to be a funded program.

Otherwise, we would probably not

have been on the Moon even yet.

Freedom 7 is only the beginning

of Al Shepard's space-flight career.

He serves as chief of the astronaut office,

and then, in 1971, flies to the

Moon as commander of Apollo 14.

Human space flight has changed

dramatically since 1961.

Today's flights are complex, multi-crew,

multinational missions,

working together in the spirit

of international collaboration.

But the legacy of Freedom 7, Alan Shepard,

and the pioneering Mercury project

Will be remembered every time

NASA launches humans into space.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

Roger.

The clock is operating.

We're under way.

Oh, that view is tremendous.

Beautiful.

Coming up, NASA's first spacewalk

doesn't go according to plan.

The flight director says, "get back in."

This is Jim.

As we celebrate NASA's greatest achievements,