History Honors Neil Armstrong with Day of Special Programming, 8/28

Related: History Channel, Neil Armstrong

HISTORY will honor the legacy of Neil Armstrong in a daylong programming event, tomorrow, Tuesday, August 28.

Failure is Not an Option (8am)

No one lived the adventure of America's manned space program more fully than Gene Kranz, the Mission Control Flight Director known to moviegoers from Ed Harris' Oscar-nominated portrayal of him in the feature film Apollo 13. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION is based upon Gene Kranz's best-selling book. This world premiere program provides an insider's view of over 30 years of technological innovation and human determination, seen from the ground up. This is not just another space documentary - it is the untold story of the engineers in Mission Control. Mission Control was presented with a never-before envisioned disaster after an explosion in space, and against all odds managed to bring the astronauts back alive. Executive Producer for History is Carl H. Lindahl. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION is produced for The History Channel by Lone Wolf Pictures.

Moonshot (10a, 4p)

Neil Armstrong will always be intrinsically tied with the extraordinary and breathtaking mission of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon. Moonshot is interlaced with original NASA footage transferred to high definition and puts viewers aboard the rocket and takes them on the eight-day round-trip to outer space. Life behind the scenes and edge-of-your-seat moments in space are dramatized in a film that stretches from the crew's earliest days at NASA to the moment when Neil Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin stepped on the Moon. From home life and families, to the moon itself, this is the remarkable story of one of the most chronicled events in history. Using a script based on transcripts from the mission, contemporary documents, books and interviews, the show incorporates news footage from around the world, including that of the iconic CBS anchor Walter Cronkite. Together, the drama and original material present a close-up glimpse of one of the most stunning and courageous personal and technological achievements of man...and one of the defining moments of modern history.

Our Generation: Apollo 11: The Moon Landing (12p)

With one small step for man, the dream of a hopeful nation finally became a reality. It was a tumultuous time for an embattled generation, but for one brief and shining moment, there was unity and wonderment at the great potential of mankind.

Tech Effect: Apollo 11 (12:30p)

In 1961, President Kennedy challenged the United States to put a man on the moon before the decade ended. Just under the wire in July of 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person ever to set foot on the lunar surface. In this episode of Tech Effect, the culmination of the remarkable technological advancements of that decade are explored in the context of the lunar landing. The technology ranges from the Saturn V, the largest rocket ever built, which sent the astronauts into orbit, to the handmade computers on board the lunar module with less power than an ordinary handheld calculator. Spacesuits had long been in development to provide greater mobility and comfort to the astronauts, factors of great importance for the first moonwalk. Finally, Americans wished to share in the accomplishment of this impressive and long awaited goal, which resulted in the development of lightweight cameras brought aboard the lunar module, and a deep space network of satellites around the world to beam the pictures live into the homes of 600 million viewers.

Page 2 >>