Discovery & Science Channels to Celebrate Neil Armstrong With All-New Special

This week, the sun set on one of mankind's greatest pioneers with the passing of Neil Armstrong. The Armstrong story provides a snapshot of a profoundly historic moment for the United States, when groundbreaking science and technology combined with an unmatched passion for satisfying curiosity. In celebration of Armstrong's life and innumerable contributions to space exploration, Discovery Channel and SCIENCE will air special premiere presentations of ONE GIANT LEAP: A NEIL ARMSTRONG TRIBUTE, featuring footage from Neil Armstrong's last public appearance. The feature also offers interviews with crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and leverages special access to the Apollo 11 archives to take viewers through the complete journey - from initial training, to moon walk, to splashdown on Earth.

Discovery Channel will debut the U.S. premiere on Saturday, September 1 at 8PM ET/PT, followed by a special encore presentation on SCIENCE later that night at 10PM ET/PT. The special also will air across Discovery's international network portfolio in more than 200 countries around the world. ONE GIANT LEAP: A NEIL ARMSTRONG TRIBUTE is a co-production between Discovery Canada, Discovery Channel and SCIENCE.

Throughout the week, Discovery Channel and SCIENCE also will present special programming blocks to commemorate Armstrong and the history of space exploration with the following presentations, produced in partnership with NASA featuring exclusive interviews with key astronauts and engineers.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31

THE PLANETS (8X60 Series) on SCIENCE
Encore Presentation: 9AM - 5PM ET/PT
Where did the planets come from and how were they formed? Clues to the birth and evolution of the planets lie scattered throughout the solar system. Distance, time, and technology handicap the search for answers, but scientists are making progress.

MOON MACHINES (6x60 Series) on SCIENCE
Encore Presentation: 5PM - 11PM ET/PT
Forty years on from mankind's first steps on the lunar surface, reaching the Moon is still a metaphor for an impossible journey. In just eight years 400,000 people across America came together to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth. But whilst the astronauts who walked on the Moon became household names, the men and women who created the machines that made their journeys possible have been largely forgotten. Yet, from the impossibly gigantic Saturn V rocket to the fragile tissue paper lunar lander, the stories of these miracles of engineering are every bit as extraordinary as those of the men who flew them.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH
Special One-Hour Presentation: 7PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel
Narrated by award-winning Gary Sinise, Discovery will provide a special presentation of the NASA mission that changed human history forever. Supporting the Apollo 8 astronauts are the three men who have been selected to attempt the first moon landing - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Two missions later, NASA is ready to go for the moon. But no one knows what will happen to them when they get there. Will the lunar module sink into the dust, will the crew be attacked by "lunar germs," will they be able to blast away from the lunar surface once the mission is complete?

ONE GIANT LEAP: A NEIL ARMSTRONG TRIBUTE
U.S. Premiere: 8PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel
Network Premiere: 10PM ET/PT on SCIENCE
ONE GIANT LEAP: A NEIL ARMSTRONG TRIBUTE, featuring footage from Neil Armstrong's last public appearance. The feature also offers interviews with crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and leverages special access to the Apollo 11 archives to take viewers through the complete journey - from initial training, to moon walk, to splashdown on Earth. The special serves as a definitive exploration of the legacy of Apollo 11 and the man who was first to step foot on the moon.