TV's Space Week: Reaching for the Space Station and Beyond

by Tariq Malik, Staff Writer

Date: 06 May 2007 Time: 08:00 AM ET

TV's Space Week: Reaching for the Space Station and Beyond

The red planet beckons in Mars Underground, part of The Science Channel's Space Week of programming betwen May 6 and May 12.
CREDIT: The Science Channel.

NASA's plans to fling astronauts out to the Moon and Mars will step out of the future and into your living room tonight as The Science Channel launches its first-ever "Space Week."

Between May 6 and May 12, The Science Channel will debut a series of programs ranging from inside looks at the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA's next spaceship to future plans for manned lunar base camps.

"Space is a powerful catalyst for exploration and imagination," Jane Root, president and general manager for the Discovery Channel and The Science Channel, in a statement. "Today's greatest scientific minds are tapping this power to determine real possibilities of the potential for humans in space."

"Space Week" intersperses planetary studies of our solar system with nightly premieres that kick off tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT with "Space Station and Beyond," which presents views of the still-unfinished $100 billion orbital laboratory from the by astronauts who've been there and future plans to push human space exploration outwards.

NASA plans to launch seven astronauts to the ISS, where the three-person Expedition 15 crew currently awaits, aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in June to deliver a pair of massive trusses and new solar arrays to the orbital laboratory.

The Moon gets its close up Monday in "Base Camp Moon" to chronicle Earth's only natural satellite and NASA's plans to return human explorers to its surface by 2020. The U.S. space agency's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, a Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft slated to make its first flight in early 2015 after the space shuttle fleet's 2010 retirement, follows Tuesday in "Starship Orion: The Future of Space Travel."

Two separate spotlights on the red planet run between May 9 and 10, beginning the U.S. premiere of "Mars Underground," a documentary detailing plans for a direct human expedition long-supported by Mars Society founder and engineer Robert Zubrin.

NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have both spent more than 1,000 Martian days exploring the red planet, close out Space Week in "Roving Mars," an IMAX film chronicling the robot's early mission.

Initially built for a primary 90-day mission, Spirit and Opportunity are now in their fourth Earth year exploring Mars.

"With 'Space Week' our commitment is to immerse viewers in scientific efforts to help further understanding of these possibilities and knowledge of what lies beyond Earth," Root said.

The Science Channel's Space Week begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT nightly (check local listings) between May 6-12. For more information, click here.