Lift off for Discovery!

This June, the Discovery Channel will commemorate the first 50 years of space exploration with the landmark special series When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. The special, which will air consecutive Sundays, June 8, 15 and 22 at 9 PM (ET/PT), will take you inside NASA in a way you’ve never seen before.

Discovery Channel has gathered together hours of original mission footage from NASA’s vaults, much of it filmed by the astronauts while onboard their spaceships.  This never-before-seen footage has been transferred to High Definition so you’ll be seeing the story unfold with unprecedented clarity.

From the early quest of the Mercury program to put a man in space, to the historic moon landings, through the Soyuz link up, and the first un-tethered space walk by Bruce McCandless, When We Left Earth is the incredible story of humankind’s greatest adventures, as it happened, told by the people who were there.

“The story of NASA is really America’s story. People coming together with grit, audaciousness and determination to go – quite literally – where no man had gone before,” said John Ford, President and General Manager, Discovery Channel. “WHEN WE LEFT EARTH is a story of great human courage, innovation and groundbreaking science and technology. We are proud to have played a part in preserving NASA’s film archives so that future generations can celebrate this glorious past and dream and build an even brighter future.”

Want to learn more?  Discovery Channel has put together an extensive online experience that takes you into the history of NASA and into the future.  You’ll find it at www.discovery.com/nasa.

Photo Credit: NASA / Discovery Channel

The new, more powerful Atlas rocket carries astronaut John Glenn into space on the third manned mission intended to place the first American in orbit.