Episode 5 tonight Friday 11 Jan 2013
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Originally Posted by SBS
Episode 5: The Shuttle
For 20 years, NASA had launched capsules carrying a maximum of three people - drawn from an exclusive group of men, nearly all of whom are test pilots. The development of the reusable shuttle leads to a revolutionary approach to space travel. For the first time ever, groups of six or seven astronauts can fly into space at once. Described as a butterfly on a bullet, the shuttle is first flown by John Young, the man who sat alongside Gus Grissom on the first Gemini flight. The pioneers of NASA’s manned programs are leading the way into the modern era of the space age. Yet space travel remains as dangerous as ever, as demonstrated by the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster and the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident. But the development of the International Space Station - human beings' boldest collaboration in space hardware to date - meant that the shuttle could not be abandoned.
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