First Flights With Neil Armstrong
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''First Flights'' was a half-hour televised
aviation history The history of aviation spans over two millennia, from the earliest innovations like kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight in powered, heavier-than-air jet aircraft. Kite flying in China, dating back severa ...
documentary series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...
. The series premiered on September 25, 1991, on
A&E Networks A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...
and ran for three seasons. It was hosted by former test pilot and astronaut
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...
, the first person to walk on the Moon. The series initially aired Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on A&E in the U.S. The series focused on the technological
history of aviation The history of aviation spans over two millennia, from the earliest innovations like kites and attempts at tower jumping to Supersonic speed, supersonic and hypersonic flight in powered, heavier-than-air flight, heavier-than-air jet aircraft. ...
, from early balloons and gliders through war-time and mass commercial aviation, to experimental
hypersonic flight Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below altitudes of about at Hypersonic speed, speeds greater than Mach 5, a speed where Dissociation (chemistry), dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist. Spe ...
at the
edge of space ''Edge of Space'' is a 2024 Swiss-American short film written, directed and produced by Jean de Meuron. Inspired by actual historical events, the 18 minutes short film about a USAF Test Pilot recruited by NASA was among the 15 Shortlisted films ...
. In the series, Neil Armstrong interviewed pilots and
aerospace engineers Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
. Archival footage and vintage aircraft were used to recreate historic takeoffs.


Episodes

Episodes of ''First Flights with Neil Armstrong'' are listed below in the original
A&E Networks A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...
broadcast order. Season 1 traces the development of aviation technology from balloons to early post-WWII jet aircraft. Season 2 continues the story of atmospheric flight to the edge of space in the 1990s. Neil Armstrong had previously flown several aircraft featured in Season 2 during his long career as a NASA experimental
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...
in Edwards, CA. Season 3 focuses on the development of particular technologies within the broader field of aviation.


Season 1


Season 2


Season 3


Production

During pre-production, the series was titled ''Test Pilot'' and the actor
Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film ''PT 109 (film), PT 109'', a ...
, who had portrayed the astronaut
Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...
in ''Return to Earth'', was cast to host the show. Robertson backed out after the filming of flying sequences and pilot interviews had begun in England, the Netherlands, and the United States. A&E agreed to allow the host to be changed, "as long as it was someone of at least the stature of Cliff Robertson." The show's producer obtained a list of astronauts and pilots from the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and sugges ...
, and being "naive enough to ... start at the top," approached Armstrong, asking if he would be interested. "The fact that he show's producerran his company out of a small Pennsylvania town and not New York or L.A. may have appealed to the wary Armstrong," Michael Cascio, who supervised the show at A&E, later recalled; Armstrong accepted. Amstrong disapproved of the show's title and, after considering other possibilities, including ''Thumbs Up!'', the producers settled on First Flights. When the show premiered in the fall of 1991, a television reviewer criticized Armstrong's limited involvement onscreen, and Armstrong agreed to a larger role, conducting discussions with pilots and historians, and flying the aircraft.


Release

The series aired during prime time on A&E until 1993. After subsequently running on the
History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
, ''First Flights'' was syndicated to PBS stations across the United States and Canada. The series also appeared on
Bridges TV Bridges TV was a Muslim television network in the United States. It was originally headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Premiering nationally in November 15, 2004, it was the first American Muslim television network to broadcast in the English lan ...
. The series has been broadcast globally, including in the United Kingdom on Discovery Europe, the Netherlands on
Evangelische Omroep Evangelische Omroep or EO ('Evangelical Broadcasting') is an Evangelical broadcast television network in Netherlands. It is one of the twelve member-based broadcasting associations contributing to the Dutch public broadcasting system. History E ...
, and various channels throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Columbia House Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...
and A&E Home Video marketed selected episodes on VHS. The complete series has been released by
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
, where it is available to customers with an
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subscription.


Reception

Reviews for pre-released "advanced look" episodes were mixed. Jay Sharbutt, the senior television writer for The Associated Press, called the series "disappointing" because it did not give enough time to Armstrong. Reviews of subsequent episodes and the second season were positive. Brian Taves (fr) described the series as "an exemplary history of aviation. ...The selection and use of the historical footage is ideal and edited with unusual skill." "The show was an immersive experience with Armstrong looking at — and ultimately trying out — historic aircraft that were risky to fly," Michael Cascio, who supervised the show at A&E, later wrote. "It had the same appeal, in a milder form, as later docureality shows nd helped establish and embellish a programming template that populated Discovery, History and National Geographic in the years to come."


References


Further reading

*
"Cable premiere"
''
The Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...
''. August 13, 1991.


External links

* * {{TV Guide , 289207 , First Flights 1991 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings A&E (TV network) original programming 1990s American documentary television series Documentary television series about aviation American aviation television series Cultural depictions of Neil Armstrong