Search - Nasa Collection-Volume 1 on DVD

Star Struck

Ursus Somnolicus | Bearizona, USA | 01/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kudos to St Clair Vision for collecting and preserving these original NASA documentaries. This set weighs in at a generous 11 hours, 22 minutes on three DVDs. Here's what you get:

Disc 1 - First Years of Exploration
* Freedom 7 (first Mercury flight)
* The Voyage of Friendship 7 (first American orbital flight)
* The World Was There (Project Mercury overview with focus on press coverage)
* The Four Days of Gemini IV (first American spacewalk)
* This Is Houston, The Flight of Gemini VIII (first docking)
* The Legacy of Gemini (Project Gemini overview)
* Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed
* Research Project X-15
Bonus Feature: Earth from Space (10 minutes)

Disc 2 - Deep Space Discovery
* The Moon, Old and New (lunar science)
* Houston, We've Got a Problem (Apollo 13)
* Apollo 15: In the Mountains of the Moon
* Apollo 16: Nothing So Hidden
* On the Shoulders of Giants (Apollo 17)
* Skylab: The First 40 Days
* Skylab: The Second Manned Mission
* Images of the Universe (The box lists something called 'Aeronautical Oddities' here, but I was happy to find this 15 minute description of the science to be explored by the Hubble Space Telescope instead!)
Bonus Feature: NASA Launches (10 minutes)

Disc 3 - Advancing the Dream
* Four Rooms, Earth View (Skylab overview)
* The Mission of Apollo Soyuz
* The Time of Apollo (Project Apollo overview)
* Houston, I Think We've Got a Satellite (This was a surprise. It covers the 1992 shuttle mission STS-49, the 47th shuttle flight overall and the first for Endeavour, featuring its dramatic capture and re-launch of a satellite. This film would have fit better on St Clair Vision's The NASA Collection, Vol. 2, which has lots of space shuttle information.)
* The John Glenn Story (1962, 1 hour 20 minutes. This film should logically be on Disc 1. Personally, I could have done without this exercise in Cold War propaganda and hero worship. Watch the introduction by President Kennedy, ponder Glenn's future political career, and wonder why other astronauts didn't get such star treatment.)
Bonus Feature: Planetary Snapshots (3 minutes)

I am enjoying this collection immensely! There are gaps, of course. I missed seeing films of the other Apollo missions; 8, 12 and 14 in particular. But for the price this is a wonderful piece of history. In many cases science has moved on, but if you're like me you'll be engrossed by the flavor of the times in which these documentaries were made. Everything from the music and graphics to the clothing, cars and computers takes you back."

Time Capsule

slow glass | Big Spring, TX United States | 06/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a child of the "Space Age" I enjoyed the product very much, especially since the price is excellent for this much history (hours and hours). Keep in mind that this is archive footage and programs produced in the 60's and 70's for the most part, so don't expect Tom Hanks to pop up...he was a kid too when these missions and educational films were going on. I recommend this for any space exploration buff."