Season 3 (11)

20 Seasons | 178 Episodes

Episode 1 Satellites
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Satellites

Aired on Aug 17, 1997

Strong enough to survive their fiery launch into orbit, sophisticated enough to provide life-saving images or relay tens of thousands of phone calls at the same time. By monitoring weapons systems and troop movements, these “eyes in the sky” may be the difference between security and annihilation. From the futuristic visions of a British sci-fi writer to creations of a German rocket designer for the Nazi war machine to the Cold War technological race, we review the satellites that link our world.

Episode 2 Radio: Out Of Thin Air
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Radio: Out Of Thin Air

Aired on Aug 24, 1997

To some it was a miracle. Others call it the triumph of illiteracy. Somewhere between adoration and scorn. Somewhere between the carrier pigeon and television. There was and is radio. We take radio for granted. Perhaps think of it as a second rate medium. A poor relation to our pride and joy, television. But fewer than a hundred years ago, the discovery that people could communicate over great distances without wires, galvanized the world to a degree that has been equalled.

Episode 3 Great Towers In The Sky
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Great Towers In The Sky

Aired on Sep 07, 1997
Viewer discretion is advised for those with vertigo! Featuring rare construction footage and interviews with architects, the program climbs to the top of the world's largest towers including Seattle's Space Needle, Canada's CN Tower, and Las Vegas's Stratosphere.
Episode 4 Household Wonders
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Household Wonders

Aired on Sep 14, 1997

Reviews the revolution in home improvement and glimpses the kitchen of tomorrow. Included: the development of the stove, sewing machine, refrigerated air, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, toaster, and mixer.

Episode 5 Radar
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Radar

Aired on Sep 21, 1997

Examine the history of this landmark technology, from its role in the Allied victory in World War II, to its widespread use in air traffic control, ocean surveillance, astronomy, geology and meteorology.

Episode 6 Forensic Science: The Crime Fighter's Weapon.
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Forensic Science: The Crime Fighter's Weapon.

Aired on Sep 28, 1997
From Sherlock Holmes' examination of the physical evidence at a crime scene to today's DNA technology, we review the history of crime detection through the use of forensic science.
Episode 7 Polio Vaccine
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Polio Vaccine

Aired on Oct 05, 1997
A deadly disease swept through America. It struck suddenly and mysteriously. Thousands would die. Many more would be left helpless. The disease was poliomyelitis. Polio would enlist renowned scientists, shape the vision of one of the world's greatest leaders (Franklin Roosevelt), and transform a young unknown doctor (Jonas Salk) into a world-famous hero. Ingenuity, trial and error, even acts of scientific desperation would pave the way to one of the greatest breakthroughs in scientific history.
 9 Norad: The War Game Fortress
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Norad: The War Game Fortress

Aired on Oct 19, 1997

Journey inside the top-secret headquarters of NORAD–the North American Aerospace Defense Command–a binational military command composed of the United States and Canada. Established in 1958 during the height of the Cold War, NORAD’S initial mission was air defense against a bomber attack by the Soviet Union. We see how its primary mission has changed through the years, and go inside the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, one of history’s most ambitious underground building projects.

 11 International Airports
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International Airports

Aired on Oct 28, 1997
Each day 3 million passengers get on airplanes bound for destinations around the world. At any given moment there are 10,000 aircraft in the air. International Airports goes behind the scenes to show the complex inner workings that make international air travel possible. The show takes the viewer high up in the most advanced air traffic control tower on earth, deep into the air cargo holds that makes lighting speed international trade possible, behind the scenes of high-tech internal security and inside the procedures of international customs. It takes the viewer into the future with the airports of tomorrow and into the past to show how dirt strips developed into massive air terminals. International Airports explores the exciting early days of aviation with flying airboats and ocean platforms, daredevil pilots and swashbuckling entrepreneurs. And it shows how war and peace drove aviation and airports forward through history to today, when international air travel has transformed the world as we know it.
Episode 13 The Alaskan Oil Pipeline
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The Alaskan Oil Pipeline

Aired on Nov 04, 1997
In 1973, a desperate America, starved by an OPEC embargo, began construction on a 800-mile lifeline for its insatiable oil hunger. We'll study the technological triumph of the Alaskan oil pipeline built over impenetrable mountains and tundra, where temperatures drop to 75 below zero, and its impact on a fragile ecological system.
Episode 14 Aqueducts: Man Made Rivers Of Life
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Aqueducts: Man Made Rivers Of Life

Aired on Jan 04, 1998

Many rivers quenched the thirst of millions in the American west and around the world. Without these aqueducts, some of the earth’s largest cities would turn into gigantic ghost towns. Their technology has been in use for over two thousand years. But today these engineering marvels cost billions of dollars to build, requiring thousands of men to toil for years on end. Aqueducts have made some men famous and others fabulously wealthy. In Los Angeles one man’s vision took one hundred thousand men to complete and a great city was truly born. In Northern California the most famous conservationist of our time waged the political fight of his life in an attempt to save one of nature’s most spectacular valleys from San Francisco’s demand for more water.

Episode 15 American Steel: Built to Last
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American Steel: Built to Last

Aired on Jan 18, 1998

For over a century, the US steel industry was a powerful symbol of the nation’s industrial might. Steel helped explode the stock market into an overnight powerhouse, and transformed a country of farmers and merchants into a nation of visionary builders. But America’s domination of the market would meet new challenges in the 1970s.

Episode 16 Battlefield Engineering
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Battlefield Engineering

Aired on Feb 08, 1998

Laying the groundwork for battles.

 17 Statue of Liberty
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Statue of Liberty

Aired on Feb 14, 1998

It started as an idea at a French dinner party and became the symbol of the free world. The story of France’s gift to the US reveals a 20-year struggle to design and build the world’s largest monument–using paper-thin copper sheets.

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