Stuck for something to watch on TV of an evening?
Then why not load up a Moon, astronomy or space-exploration themed DVD, Blu-Ray or Stream and enjoy something related to your hobby.
This is my list of recommended titles that cover astronomy and space related themes.
All are in my own collection…
The Farthest – Voyager In Space
This is the Extended Theatrical Edition which has an additional 21 minutes of runtime.
The twin Voyager space launches in 1977 are one of humankind’s greatest achievements.
An emotional, cinematic documentary, The Farthest tells their story through first-hand accounts from the passionate men and women who built the space-probes and guided their journeys.
Negotiating a series of perils on it’s Grand Tour of the outer planets, the Voyagers beamed back spectacular images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
But those planets’ moons offered bigger surprises – volcanoes, geysers, and a liquid water ocean.
On the chance of discovery by intelligent aliens, each spacecraft carried a Golden Record with music and spoken greetings.
More than twelve billion miles away, these tiny spaceships are leaving our Solar System and entering the void of deep space – the first human-made objects ever to do so.
Slowly dying within each of their hearts is a nuclear generator that will beat for perhaps another decade before the lights on Voyagers 1 and 2 finally go out.
But these little craft will travel on for millions of years, each carrying that Golden Record bearing recordings and images of life on Earth.
In all likelihood the Voyagers will outlive humanity.
From Crossing The Line Productions, The Farthest celebrates these magnificent machines, the men and women who built them and the vision that propelled them farther than anyone could ever have hoped.
Only 12 American men walked upon the surface of the Moon and they remain the only human beings to have stood on another world.
Between 1968 and 1972, the world watched in awe each time an American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon.
Beautifully shot, this riveting first-hand testimony is interwoven with visually stunning archive material which has been re-mastered from the original NASA film footage – much of it never used before.
For the first, and very possibly the last, time, In The Shadow of The Moon combines archival material from the original NASA film footage, with interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 and 13), Dave Scott (Apollo 9 and 15), John Young (Apollo 10 and 16), Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and 17), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).
The astronauts emerge as eloquent, witty, emotional and very human.
Dramatic, moving and insightful, Armstrong tells the definitive life story of Neil Armstrong: from his childhood in rural Ohio, through aerial combat in Korea, to his first steps on the Moon – and the unwanted celebrity status that ensued.
It is the story of a quiet determined man who became an aviator, astronaut, husband, father and reluctant hero.
Made with the full support of his surviving family, it includes previously unseen home-movie footage shot by Armstrong himself.
Neil’s own words provide the narration based on his rare interviews, writings and speeches, which are delivered by renowned actor and aviation enthusiast Harrison Ford.
The film includes major interviews with his family, an exceptional cast of fellow astronauts and aviators, those who knew him in his youth and later life, together with newly filmed sequences at some of the key locations from his life story.
When Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan stepped on the Moon in December 1972, he left his footprints and his daughter’s initials in the lunar dust.
Only now, over forty years later, is he ready to share his epic but deeply personal story of fulfillment, love and loss.
Cernan’s burning ambition carried him from a quiet Chicago suburb to the spectacular and hazardous environment of space, and ultimately, to the Moon.
Five years in the making, The Last Man on the Moon unveils a wealth of rare archive, and takes Cernan back to the launch pads of Cape Kennedy, to Arlington National Cemetery and to his Texas ranch, where he finds respite from a past that refuses to let him go.
Sharing home movies, scrapbooks and intimate moments with his closest friends and family, he brings his spine-tingling experiences to the big screen more vividly than any moonwalker has done before.
This Blu-ray edition includes extended interviews and featurettes capturing more of Gene’s intimate moments and stories.
Journey to the Edge of the Universe
National Geographic presents the first accurate non-stop voyage from Earth to the edge of the Universe using a single, unbroken shot through the use of spectacular CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) technology.
Building on images taken from the Hubble telescope, Journey to the Edge of the Universe explores the science and history behind the distant celestial bodies in the solar system.
This spectacular, epic voyage across the cosmos, takes us from the Earth, past the Moon and our neighboring planets, out of our Solar System, to the nearest stars, nebulae and galaxies and beyond – right to the edge of the Universe itself.
The Universe Seasons 1-5 Megaset (Blu-Ray)
We once thought ourselves to be at the center of the world, now we know that we are just a small speck in a giant universe.
Immerse yourself in an astonishing exploration of space with all five seasons of this epic series from the History Channel.
Shot in HD with stunning footage from NASA and packed with state-of-the-art CGI graphics The Universe (not to be confused with Brian Cox’s Universe) takes viewers on a visually arresting journey across the galaxy to bring the beauty and mysteries of the cosmos a little closer to home.
Delve into the cataclysmic events that set the stage for life, and visit sites where Earth’s birthing process is still in evidence.
Relive astronomical triumphs, from the first crude lenses that were able to magnify celestial bodies to probes that blaze to the most distant planets.
See the hottest events in the sky, from colliding celestial bodies to collapsing suns.
And venture into the uncharted territory of outer space through the visions, studies, and predictions of scientists and explorers on this journey of cosmic discovery, amazement, and adventure.
Now in glorious Blu-Ray, this Mega Collection includes all 63 original episodes of the first five seasons of this epic series, plus the feature-length documentary Beyond the Big Bang, on 16 discs.
Note: Does not include Season 6 or Season 7.
Special Features
- 7 Wonders of the Solar System episode in 3D
- Feature-length documentary: Beyond the Big Bang
- Featurettes – Meteors: Fire in the Sky, Comets: Prophets of Doom, Ask the Universe, & Backyard Astronomers
Brilliantly narrated by film and television legend Sir Patrick Stewart, Journey To Space gives a sweeping overview of humanity’s accomplishments in space, as well as our ongoing activities and future plans.
Journey To Space puts into historical context the magnificent contributions made by the Space Shuttle program and its intrepid space pioneers.
It uses the most spectacular space footage (including unique views of Earth and operations in space) such as deploying and repairing the Hubble Space Telescope.
It then goes on to show how the shuttle launched and assembled the International Space Station (ISS).
Together, these programs have taught us how to live, build and conduct scientific experiments in space.
The ISS will continue operating in space until 2024, and the film shows how it is building a foundation for the next giant leaps into space, concluding with a fascinating, realistic scenario of how astronauts will actually get to Mars, live there for long durations, and then return home after a two-and-a-half-year mission.
Includes 4K SDR And 4K HDR For The Full UHD Experience. Ultra HD TV With HDR Needed To Access 4K HDR.
A Beautiful Planet [4K edition here]
Narrated by Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence, A Beautiful Planet is a breathtaking portrait of Earth from space, providing a unique perspective and increased understanding of our planet and galaxy as never seen before.
Made in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the film features stunning footage of our magnificent blue planet – and the effects humanity has had on it over time – captured by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
From space, Earth blazes at night with the electric intensity of human expansion – a direct visualization of our changing world.
But it is within our power to protect the planet.
As we continue to explore and gain knowledge of our galaxy, we also develop a deeper connection to the place we all call home.
Space Station is the cinematic journey to the International Space Station (ISS), where audiences can experience for themselves life in zero gravity aboard the new station.
Tom Cruise narrates this fascinating look at the high-flying laboratory where today’s space heroes develop technologies to make possible future voyages to Mars and provide solutions to earthbound problems!
Originally shown in IMAX theaters, this extraordinary documentary examines life high above the Earth in the International Space Station.
Featuring unprecedented access to the ISS and the astronauts and cosmonauts living there, the program explores the many challenges they face while presenting stunning imagery that is literally out of this world.
Additional features:
- Director’s Audio Commentary
- Adventures In Space – Interviews with Tom Cruise, Director Toni Myers and the Astronauts aboard
- Expedition 7- An Audio Visual Tour of the ISS
- STS-108 – An Audio Visual Tour aboard Endeavor to the ISS
When Cosmos was first broadcast in 1980, our world – and the context of Carl Sagan’s eloquent “personal journey” – was a different place.
The late Dr. Sagan would be pleased to witness the cooling of the Cold War, the continued exploration of space, and ongoing efforts to curb our destructive dependence on fossil fuels.
For Sagan’s series is far more than a guided tour through “billions and billions” of stars and galaxies.
It remains a profound plea for the unity of humankind, for the recognition that “we are a way for the universe to know itself,” with an obligation to know our origin, our place in the universe, and our future potential.
In the course of 13 fascinating hours, Cosmos spans its own galaxy of topics to serve Sagan’s theme, each segment deepening our understanding of how we got from there (simple microbes in the primordial mud) to here (space-faring civilization in the 21st century).
In his “ship of the imagination,” Sagan guides us to the farthest reaches of space and takes us back into the history of scientific inquiry, from the ancient library of Alexandria to the NASA probes of our neighboring planets.
Upon this vast canvas, Sagan presents the “cosmic calendar,” placing the 15-billion-year history of the universe (we now know the universe is about 13.8 billion years old) into an accessible one-year framework, then filling it with a stunning chronology of events, both interstellar and Earthbound.
From the lives of the stars to creation theories, functions of the human brain, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Cosmos asks big questions.
When appropriate, Sagan offers big answers, or asks still bigger – and yes, even spiritual – questions at the boundaries of science and religion.
What’s most remarkable about Cosmos is that it remains almost entirely fresh, with few updates needed to the science that Sagan so passionately celebrates.
It is no exaggeration to say that Cosmos – for all the debate it may continue to provoke – is a vital document for humanity at a pivotal crossroads of our history.
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey continues the exploration of the remarkable mysteries of the cosmos and our place within it.
Hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, this thrilling, 13-part adventure will transport you across the universe of space and time, bringing to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and a deeper understanding of nature.
With an updated Cosmic Calendar, dazzling visual effects, and the wondrous Ship of the Imagination, prepare to take an unforgettable journey to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest – and smallest – scale.
This family-friendly series explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.
It brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and transports viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale.
NOVA – The Planets (2019) is a 2-Blu Ray disc set that presents the eight planets of our solar system in stunning detail (including Pluto as well).
Narrated by Zachary Quinto, this program’s greatest strength is its pacing and tranquil feel.
Rather than a program with fast pacing, quick cuts, in-your-face zooming in/out, and a lot of narration, this program in contrast has a slower pace, a tranquil feel, more sparse narration, longer individual clips, and no in-your-face zooming.
Also, the comments made by the astronomers and physicists is not overdone or too intrusive.
The footage and computer generated images are state-of-the-art.
You can truly get lost in this program as you watch it on a cold night.
The series seems to be a rebranding of the BBC’s original The Planets series with new narration (for US audiences and CGI).
The Planets is an entertaining, comprehensive, and informative documentary series that sets out to answer many of life’s most physically existential questions.
This series combines scientific history of early scientists, rich knowledge from the leading minds in modern astronomy, and extraordinary image technology to tell the story of our solar system, from its beginnings to the present and beyond.
From the sweltering rocky surface of Mercury to the violent stormy skies of Jupiter to the cold, mysterious land of Pluto, The Planets is a fascinating exploration of discovery and adventure for anyone who has looked up into space on a starry night in total amazement.
If you are interested in the physics of subatomic particle theory tied together with cosmology, its history of discovery, what is known vs what challenges remain to be discovered… then this is for you.
Join leading scientists as they turn up clues to the origin of the universe, exploring today’s most exciting and far-reaching theories.
Could the universe have appeared spontaneously out of a perfect vacuum?
Spectacular special effects and animation dramatize the birth of the universe.
Nobel Prize-winner Carlo Rubbia, Murray Gell-Man and world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking explain their complex theories in easy-to-follow terms.
Seeing in the Dark aims to redefine the standards of quality in nonfiction science programming for television, and is meant to introduce viewers to the wonders of the night sky, making casual stargazing or serious amateur astronomy a part of their lives.
This program follows in the footsteps of Timothy Ferris’ two prior PBS specials The Creation of the Universe and Life Beyond Earth.
The film traces the story of the Chicago-born astronomer George Ellery Hale, considered the father of astrophysics, as he struggles personally and professionally to build the greatest telescopes of the 20th century at the Yerkes and Mount Wilson Observatories.
And finally the 20-year effort to build the million-pound telescope on Palomar mountain beginning in the 1930s.
Hale’s observatories revolutionized our understanding of the universe.
With vivid docudrama scenes starring Scott Handy (Henry VIII) as Newton, NOVA recreates the unique climate of late 17th-century England, where a newfound fascination with science and mathematics coexisted with extreme views on religious doctrine.
Unknown to most, Newton shared both obsessions.
Besides revealing his secretive and vindictive personality, this NOVA special shows how Newton made the bold intellectual leaps that transformed science, such as the universal law of gravitation.
Newton?s Dark Secrets also recreates one of Newton?s little-known alchemical experiments using his secret recipes, which have only recently been deciphered.
With these lively glimpses of a brilliant and obsessive mind, NOVA explores how Newton became the giant on whose shoulders all later scientists would find a place to stand.
This is the panorama of America’s race to space – from the late ’50s urgency to catch up with the Soviets to the immediate aftermath of man’s setting foot on the Moon.
It is exhaustively and absorbingly recounted in this epic “American Experience” offering.
Drawing from thought-lost and overlooked archival materials, and offering the observations of crucial figures including astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders, light is shed on a pivotal era’s struggles for a new age.
Apollo 11 
(2019)
From director Todd Douglas Miller (Dinosaur 13) comes a cinematic event 50 years in the making.
Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission — the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names.
Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future.
In July 1969, the space race ended when Apollo 11 fulfilled President Kennedy’s challenge of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
No one who witnessed the lunar landing will ever forget it.
Al Reinert’s documentary For All Mankind is the story of the twenty-four men who traveled to the Moon, told in their words, in their voices, using the images of their experiences.
Fifty years later, it remains the most radical, visually dazzling work of cinema yet made about this earth-shaking event.
This Director-approved special edition features:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by producer-director Al Reinert
- Audio commentary featuring Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the Moon
- An Accidental Gift: The Making of For All Mankind, a new documentary featuring interviews with Reinert, Apollo 12 and Skylab astronaut Alan Bean, and NASA archive specialists Don Pickard, Mike Gentry, Morris Williams, and Chuck Welch
- On Camera, a collection of excerpted, on-screen interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts
- New video program about Bean’s artwork, accompanied by a gallery of his paintings
- NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage
- Optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission control specialists
- Plus: A booklet featuring essays by film critic Terrence Rafferty and Reinert.
- Reinert sifted through 6 million feet of film footage and 80 hours of interviews with astronauts, which serve as humble voice-overs for the lyrical imagery, and he assembled all this into a unique experience which was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar.
Brian Eno’s lovely, atmospheric score evokes the sense of peace the astronauts say they felt while floating through space; the film’s spiritual quality is as affecting as its breathtaking visuals.
Magnificent Desolation – Walking on the Moon
Tom Hanks continues his love affair with space that began with Apollo 13 and his miniseries From Earth to the Moon with this compelling IMAX adventure, Magnificent Desolation.
Fans of space fact and fantasy will not want to miss this engaging docudrama, which combines actual footage of lunar walks and interviews with the few men who’ve trod there with dramatizations of scenarios both exciting and terrifying.
The true way to experience this film, of course, is in its IMAX splendor, but home-theater buffs won’t be disappointed.
The footage takes the “lunar visitor” along moon’s craters and potholes, with nothing but the vastness of space all around.
Unseen film shows close-ups of terrain as well as technical infrastructure that may well be models for future moon-living.
One particularly scary scene thankfully has never happened on a moon mission, and involves the sudden loss of breathing apparatus.
Scuba divers will recognize the “buddy system” of sharing a single air source – and viewers with any kind of claustrophobic issues may want to fast-forward.
But overall, the thrills of space travel are made as real as possible for us mere mortals who will only experience it from our comfy chairs. Roger that.
When We left Earth – The NASA Missions
Since the dawn of mankind, we have stared up at the lights in the sky and wondered…
Now join the heroic men and women who have dared the impossible on some of the greatest adventures ever undertaken – the quest to reach out beyond Earth and into the great unknown of space!
To celebrate 50 years of incredible achievements, the Discovery Channel has partnered with NASA to reveal the epic struggles, tragedies and triumphs in a bold chapter of human history.
Along with the candid interviews of the people who made it happen, hundreds of hours of never-before-seen film footage from the NASA archives – including sequences on board the actual spacecraft in flight – have been carefully restored, edited and compiled for this landmark collection.
- Original NASA footage digitally remastered in high-definition featuring exclusive;”never before seen”; footage
- Includes 4 hours of bonus footage not seen in the TV broadcast.
When you consider the odds against success, the achievements on glorious display in Roving Mars are almost miraculous.
This excellent IMAX production follows the familiar IMAX format; at 40 minutes in length, it’s not as wide-ranging as other documentaries might be, but in chronicling the design, launch, and successful landings of NASA’s robotic Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, it offers an unprecedented level of visual splendor, highlighted by amazingly accurate computer-animated depictions of what really happened when the rovers arrived at their destination.
Financed by Disney, and combining the talents of veteran IMAX director George Butler and top-ranking Hollywood producer Frank Marshall (best known for his frequent collaborations with Steven Spielberg), this celebration of science and technology begins with a raspy introduction narrated by Paul Newman (who had recently voiced the character of “Doc” in Disney/Pixar’s Cars), then dives right into the formidable challenge of launching and landing the rovers on time and budget, with a looming deadline of optimal Mars/Earth orbital alignment occurring only once every 26 months.
At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, we see highly skilled engineers addressing every challenge and every possible contingency, and project leader Steve Squyers serves as our informative host and enthusiastic populist for space exploration.
After launching in June and July of 2003, the rovers traveled for seven months and 300 million miles to Mars, landing on the red planet in January 2004.
Every aspect of the mission is covered in concise detail, and tension escalates as touch-down (achieved with the now-familiar “bouncing balloon” landing system) draws near.
What’s most remarkable, even to the crew at JPL, is that Spirit and Opportunity succeeded far beyond their mission expectations, becoming one of NASA’s most triumphant achievements in interplanetary exploration.
The photos, chemical analyses, and other data gathered on Mars were intended to prove the past existence of water on Mars (and hence the possibility of life), and in this and many other respects, Roving Mars stands as a breathtaking tribute to the men, women, and robots who’ve given us a greater understanding of the planetary system we call home.
If you think there’s a space documentary that should be included in the list, let me know in comments and I’ll add it.
