About this season
Revealing terrifying accidents, fights for survival, and stories of close calls and near misses by the astronauts who survived them. This series offers chilling accounts of the challenges of space exploration as told only by the explorers who lived them and the men and women in mission control who helped each team avert disaster.
Episodes (8)
1. Fire on the Mir
Aired 10 November 2015 • 45 min
In 1997 astronauts and cosmonauts Alexsandr on MIR deals with a life-threatening cabin fire and an out-of-control cargo ship; In 2001 astronaut Chris Hadfield's rookie spacewalk takes a terrifying turn leaving him temporarily blinded in space.
2. Shipwrecked
Aired 17 November 2015 • 45 min
In 1997 on board the Russian Space Station Mir a collision put a hole in the station and the vacuum of space bares down; another astronaut's first spacewalk becomes a nightmare when he and his partner have only the oxygen in their suits to survive.
3. Secret Mayday Mission
Aired 24 November 2015 • 45 min
A Space Shuttle crew discovers damage to protective tiles on the shuttle's underbelly that could kill them during re-entry in temperatures up to 3000 degrees.
4. Toxic Leak
Aired 1 December 2015 • 45 min
A toxic ammonia leak endangers a crew; and a space walk goes wrong when an astronaut's helmet fills with water. Also: a cosmonaut is stranded in the wilderness after narrowly surviving re-entry.
5. Point Of No Return
Aired 8 December 2015 • 45 min
An astronaut loses his vision and is locked outside his craft after a spacesuit malfunction during a spacewalk; a fire on the launchpad threatens cosmonauts; and a space shuttle is aborted seconds before launch, but the crew doesn't know why.
6. Gasping for Air
Aired 15 December 2015 • 45 min
A toxic leak threatens the lives of astronauts; a crew suffers from depressurization; and an engine malfunctions at takeoff.
7. Abandon Ship
Aired 22 December 2015 • 45 min
A power failure occurs on the ISS forcing the crew to consider abandoning the station, although damage has been found on the shuttle that could comprise them upon reentry. During the first spacewalk a cosmonaut is nearly stranded after a suit malfunction.
8. Solar Panel Crisis
Aired 12 January 2016 • 45 min