Survival in the Skies

Space Suits reveals the technology that allowed Neil Armstrong to walk on the moon in 1969 and which will eventually allow explorers to walk on Mars. Engineers, fashion designers and astronauts tell the story of a “spacecraft you can wear.” From the first crude suits that nearly killed early cosmonauts, to the reusable “personal habitats” of the Space Station, discover the evolution of the technology that allows humans to thrive in the most hostile conditions in the universe.

Parachutes have come a long way since Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first one over 500 years ago. They have evolved from 18th century oddity to wartime lifesaver to the ultimate thrill-seeking activity. And now they are being designed to drop astronauts on alien planets. But perfecting these highly sophisticated devices has been a risky endeavor for the pioneers who design them. Join us as we tell the untold story of parachutes, from the people who build them, test them, and those who owe their lives to them.

When a fighter jet is spiraling out of control, a rocket-powered ejection seat may be the pilot’s only hope of salvation. Originally designed as a spring-loaded chair, today’s ejection seats are $100,000 computer-controlled flying machines that have saved the lives of over 10,000 pilots. Discover the stories of the pilots whose lives were saved and the inventors who risked it all to design and test new generations of ejection seats.

The jet engine changed civilization forever, making global travel cheaper and faster. More than 100,000 commercial jet flights take off and land every day, while super high-tech military jets can blast through the sky at over six times the speed of sound. From the first prototype gas-turbine engine to tomorrow’s hypersonic jets, this is the ultimate history of the jet innovation, told by the inventors and pioneers who risked their lives to pilot them to new heights and speeds.