NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie Review

Man has made no greater accomplishment than reaching into, and traveling through, the stars. NASA: A Journey Through Space crafts a capable history of space travel with a sprinkling of how aviation history and political and social climates shaped man’s journey beyond Earth. Mill Creek mainstay narrator Coby Batty capably, and often grippingly, tells the story in conjunction with vintage film and video footage, still photos, and more. It is well paced, complexly but accessibly informative, and a joy for audiences of all levels of knowledge and interest in space history and exploration.

• The History of Flying & The Space Race (45:36): This opening segment examines human fascination with reaching towards the sky through the prisms of mythology, literature, comics, radio, television, and film. It further explores man’s early history of flight, including the accomplishments of Otto Lilienthal and the Wright Brothers. The segment explores the role and development of aviation in World Wars I and II, jet engine technology development, The Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager and breaking the sound barrier, Sputnik and early rocketry feats, the "Space Race," and the birth of NASA.
• Operation: Lift Off (45:35): The “Space Race” ramps up. This segment begins with a history of Project Mercury, which includes an in-depth examination of the science, successes, and failures of the program. It continues to examine President Kennedy’s vision for space exploration, Soviet Yuri Gagarin’s and American Alan Shepard’s historic flights, the flight of the Liberty Bell 7, and John Glenn’s service record in combat and space flight.
• Shooting for the Moon (44:49): Now that man has reached space, it is time to study how man can exist in space, including coping with zero gravity. The piece begins with a look at the remaining Mercury flights with an eye towards the Gemini and Apollo flights that will carry men further into space and for longer periods of time. Also examined is Edward White’s historic spacewalk and tragedy in program growth. The piece also looks at the emergence of Star Trek’s telling of a tale of rising humanity to the stars and above its own social problems and technical limitations. The segment briefly examines the impact of President Kennedy’s assassination on the space program.

• The Apollo Missions (45:13): This segment begins with a recap of Apollo 1’s tragic destruction and the investigation -- and lessons learned -- to follow. NASA reworks and rebrands its missions for improved safety and success. The piece explores the construction of the Kennedy Space Center, the effect of President Johnson’s refusal to seek re-election on the space program, the Soviet Zond program as a rival to the U.S.’ Apollo missions, Apollo 8’s orbital lunar image transmissions and the crew’s readings from the book of Genesis, and Apollo 10’s mission. Apollo 11’s launch and landing man on the moon closes the segment and serves as its highlight, recapping perhaps the most monumental moment in human history.
• After a Giant Leap (44:30): The Apollo program has created heroes and pushed human history forward, but its work is not yet done. Apollo 12 launches to the moon on November 14, 1969, but the craft is struck by lightning -- twice -- mere seconds after takeoff. But the launch and trip to the moon are otherwise without hangup, and a new crew of astronauts step foot on the lunar surface. The piece explores President Nixon’s “Space Doctrine” followed by an Apollo mission that encounters a “problem” that would draw the world’s attention to the seemingly doomed craft and its crew saved only by the “resilience and ingenuity of NASA and its astronauts.” The segment further explores Apollo 14 and some of the physical struggles the astronauts faced and moves on to look at the missions of Apollo 15, 16, and 17.
• The Shuttle & Living in Space (45:35): This segment begins far back in time, exploring the history of flight around the world, from ancient China to Civil War-era United States. The segment does move on to explore the budget cuts that eliminated the final Apollo missions and the political landscape of the 1970s and 1980s. Spacelab, Star Wars and its influence on the world’s love affair with outer space, the Voyager probes, space shuttle development, Sally Ride’s and Guion Bluford’s groundbreaking work with NASA, and the Challenger disaster are all studied.
• The 21st Century and Beyond (46:14): NASA is reeling from the Challenger disaster. As America attempts to move forward, great advances are made in craft and astronaut safety as NASA envisions a more greatly expanded role for humankind in space. This segment explores the Hubble telescope’s deployment and purpose, President Clinton’s announcement of a cooperation of nations on the construction and occupation of the International Space Station, the exploration of and search for life on Mars, the Columbia disaster, the Bush and Obama administration plans for the future of NASA, and the promises of tomorrow.

NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For this Blu-ray release of NASA: A Journey Through Space, Mill Creek has split the program over two discs. The material has some room to breathe, though it's somewhat limited by various source flaws and some sporadic artifacts. The picture quality is fairly uneven, with older photographs and film reels showing various signs of wear and tear. Macroblocking and banding are not commonplace but appear frequently enough to distract from several shots. Overall, however, the picture is more than proficient, featuring good, clear imagery, particularly older photographs and some more capably revealing film-sourced archival footage. But some shots show far too much macroblocking than is ideal, or expected. Colors are pleasantly stable with tonal neutrality a key highlight. Black level depth appears good, particularly in various images depicting outer space. This is mostly a product of its sources limitations, and in that light the image is fine.

NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

NASA: A Journey Through Space features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The track rarely has a feel for front end extension despite only making use of the front right and left channels. Most everything images to the center, which is fine for archival speeches, comms chatter, audio interviews, and of course Coby Batty's narration, but it's not so good for music and effects work. Basic dialogue and effects clarity are fine, both limited by source quality. Narration is usurpingly the most consistently robust and pleasant part of the presentation. The track is unspectacular by its nature but more than capable of delivering the sort of audio a program of this variety requires.

NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc Blu-ray release of NASA: A Journey Through Space contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen on each disc offers only a subtitle on/off toggle and the opportunity to play all episodes or select any available on the disc. A MovieSpree digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover which features artwork different from the Blu-ray packaging.

NASA: A Journey Through Space Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

NASA: A Journey Through Space offers a well-rounded history of space flight, with a greater narrative of aerial technology development and social and political histories interwoven into the story of the world's journey into outer space. The presentation may not be so polished as others, but it's smartly written, nicely narrated, and flows incredibly well over its seven-part narrative. The only drawback is a sudden reach backwards in time in episode six, which includes some regurgitation of information first presented rightly from the outset. Video and audio presentations are fine within the context and will serve both home theater enthusiasts and armchair historians equally well. Highly recommended.