When We Left Earth
When We Left Earth
PG | 08 June 2008 (USA)
When We Left Earth Trailers

Commemorating the space agency's 50th anniversary, follow John Glenn's Mercury mission to orbit the earth, Neil Armstrong's first historic steps on the moon, unprecedented spacewalks to repair the Hubble stories, and more!

Reviews
amylhendren

After I first binge watched this on a free streaming platform, I went to Amazon to purchase it because I could not imagine ever not having access to rewatch whenever inwanted. Basically even though at the time I watched it, it was free I turned around and paid $ to have it forever. Stop reading this stupid review and watch it.

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denitaarnold19

I grew up with the space program, being born a month to the day after John Glenn's historic flight, and remember watching the moon missions on TV. I especially enjoyed the stories of the Mercury, Gemini & Apollo programs. There was 2 major flaws in the series, and that was the omission of Apollo 15, and the very brief mention of Apollo 1. People will think that Apollo 16 was the first to use the LRV, but it was Apollo 15. and to virtually bypass Apollo 1 is a crime against the memories of Gus, Ed, and Roger. Sad, really. but overall it's the best space documentary I've seen. And the appearance of Neil Armstrong makes it worth watching.

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logos1

As a certified space geek, I'm not sure how I missed this when it first aired, but I just finished watching the whole series on Netflix and was very impressed.This series broke some ground that other similar documentaries have not. With respect to Apollo, perhaps the most novel thing was that they got Neil Armstrong to contribute commentary which he has steadfastly refused to do for any of the other documentaries such as "In the Shadow of the Moon" or "The Wonder of it All". The astronaut commentary in general was excellent. The examination of Mercury was far better than, say, The Right Stuff. The focus on the vital role that Gemini played in the development of the capability to land on the moon was also very welcome. I enjoyed hearing from astronauts like Jim McDivitt, who was actually more highly regarded than Armstrong in his class, who have been absent from similar documentaries. It was good to hear from Frank Borman and Bill Anders as well as they, too, have been absent for the most part. The tip of the cap to Skylab was good, too. Both Pete Conrad and Alan Bean have said they were more proud of their work on Skylab than on Apollo 12 where they walked on the moon.The coverage of the later years was excellent as well. Some nice work on the development of the Shuttle. Good summaries and insight into both the Challenger and Columbia tragedies. I had forgotten what a scandal the initial Hubble deployment was and how much effort it took to fix it (and how much was on the line with the repair). People have questioned the omission of Apollo 15 and David Scott from coverage and the commentary. I wondered about that as well and missed it as it was one of my favorite missions and, as others have said, was the first use of the rover. Those who posited that it had to do with the stamp scandal may be right. However,aside from NASA's collective memory being long, it may also have been a case that the Discovery Channel simply wasn't willing to pay him enough (or anything) for his appearance and he refused. That would be in keeping with the portrayal of him in Deke Slayton's autobiography. Some people have really been rough on the music for the series written by Richard Blair-Oliphant. I actually liked the music and thought it set a good background for most of the story. To each his own, I suppose.On balance, though, an excellent piece of work and a good orientation for anybody who would like an overview of NASA's manned space flight history. It's a shame that that history has come to a halt.

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nikishopping

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this series. Unlike many shows on space exploration in which the focus is on space itself, this series was presented with an emphasis on the people who were involved to make it happen. Viewers are treated to personal behind-the-scenes trials and tribulations of space program from the perspective of the people who were there. Personal anecdotes and experiences are interspersed throughout the series. I often found myself saying, "Oh, I didn't know that." For example, describing what Allen Shepperd said to Mission Control before his first take-off was amusing.This is an American show produced from the American perspective. Sorry to break it to some people but contrary to worldwide belief, America is NOT the world's country. When America says "We" it doesn't mean Russia, Canada, Europe, China, and Japan too. America is entitled to tell its own history without having to include everyone else's too. Russia is welcome to produce its own space program documentary. And when they do, I don't expect it to include shots of Cape Canaveral or soundbites from John Glenn.

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