Examines the history of radar, focusing on its role in the Allies' victory in WWII--from the Chain Home Network, rudimentary radar towers that ringed England's eastern coast, to the role of Boston's MIT in developing a smuggled English secret, the cavity of magnetron.

With the ironic motto, Peace is our Profession, the Strategic Air Command was in charge of U.S. nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was the ultimate Cold War military machine, at its height controlling thousands of nuclear weapons, planes, and missiles, and boasting over a quarter-million personnel. We travel to the Strategic Air and Space Museum, located 20 miles from SAC's old headquarters in Nebraska, and walk through the cavernous bomb bay of SAC's workhorse, the B-52 Bomber.

Examine the colorful history of the premier flight test center, and America's most important aviation facility for more than 60 years, Edwards Air Force Base in California. Every single aircraft to enter the Air Force's inventory has been put through its paces at Edwards, along with many Navy and Army aircraft as well. With unprecedented access to several forgotten and abandoned facilities on the base, we are guided by Richard Hallion, former chief historian for the US Air Force. Today, Edwards continues to push the envelope. Among the many cutting-edge projects currently being tested is the Airborne Laser, designed to focus a basketball-sized spot of intense heat that could destroy a ballistic missile.

The Apollo 13 mission was intended to be a "routine" trip to the moon. But when an oxygen tank exploded, the spacecraft was crippled and its 3-man crew placed in mortal danger. The Lunar Module, intended for deployment on the moon's surface, instead became a lifeboat. Scientists and engineers on earth fought a race against time to save the crew.

Star City, the Gagarin Center for Training Cosmonauts, was established by the former Soviet Union in the 1910s as a school for the future conquerors of space. Today, it's where Russian cosmonauts and international guests train on Soyuz rocket simulators and the MIR complex simulator. We join cosmonauts as they undergo grueling ground training in survival courses and parachuting, and face some of Star City's toughest challenges--G-Force simulators, space orientation, and rescue training.

Discover how essential space travel technologies have journeyed back to Earth with surprising and indispensable commercial applications. For example, paint that can withstand the heat of reentry now protects our steel-framed high-rises from collapsing in a fire. Batteries that can take a sports car from zero to 60 in four seconds also keep our satellites in orbit. The oxygen tank used by firefighters to save countless lives is just like the one used by our astronauts during the Apollo missions. These and many ordinary objects are traced back to their NASA roots, where they originally had the right stuff.

Operating in the harsh environment of space, these eyes-in-the-sky remain the world's most precious cargo. From the futuristic visions of a British sci-fi writer to the creations of a German rocket designer for the Nazi war machine, we review the history of these marvels of the technological age.

Space Telescopes. From Stonehenge to the Hubbell Telescope, mankind has always been a race of stargazers. Unforgettable film footage and expert accounts reveal the facts of astronomy's most mind-boggling discoveries.