The tragic launch rehearsal that nearly ended the Apollo Moon Program. The Mir Space Station collision of 1997. The re-entry failure of Space Shuttle Columbia. Each NASA and Soviet space mission is a high-stakes project with an ever-present risk of failure. This series pays tribute to the bold men and women who put their lives on the line in order to get a foothold in the heavens...sometimes with spectacularly disastrous results. We also show how the close calls and catastrophes of our past paved the way for the breakthroughs of today.