Cosmic Dawn

Jun 11, 2025

1h 37m

★ 10.0

The Untold Story of The James Webb Space Telescope

Overview

For over three decades, NASA and an international team of scientists and engineers pushed the limits of technology, innovation, and perseverance to build and launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever created. Cosmic Dawn brings audiences behind the scenes with the Webb film crew, and never-before-heard testimonies revealing the real story of how this telescope overcame all odds.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

NASA

Cosmic Dawn Trailers

Cast

Self

Sophia Roberts

Self

John Mather

Self

Paul Geithner

Self

Mike Menzel

Self

Eric Smith

Self

Amber Straughn

Self

Jane Rigby

Self

Scott Acton

Self

Begoña Vila

Self

Lee Feinberg

Self

Larkin Carey

Self

Bill Ochs

In the year 1957 the cold war expands to space. The Soviet-Union sends Sputnik as the first manmade object into earth-orbit. 3 years later Yuri Gagarin enters space as the first man in space. The so called "Space Race" seems to be decided. But in 1961 President Kennedy promised to send American Astronauts to the Moon. The Apollo Project was born. A space ship had to be built that is strong enough to escape earth's gravitation, land on the moon and bring the crew safely back to earth. Motion Designer Christian worked with his brother and Composer Wolfgang for 18 months on this shortfilm. The foundation were thousands original NASA photographies, taken from the Astronauts during the Apollo Missions, which were released in September 2015. It is an animated collage using different techniques to bring the stills to life.

7.2

A Brief History of Time

Oct 1, 1991

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

0.0

Gravitation - Urkraft des Universums

Aug 4, 2003

No overview available.

6.0

WEED

Jan 23, 1971

This 1971 color anti-drug use and abuse film was produced by Concept Films and directed by Brian Kellman for Encyclopedia Britannica. “Weed: The Story of Marijuana” combines time-lapse, montage, illustrations, animation (by Paul Fierlinger and emigre Pavel Vošický) and dramatized, documentary-style interviews to survey the evolving role of cannabis in U.S. society, with emphasis on the legal risks faced by young people. A unique score of experimental synthesizer music is provided by Tony Luisi on an EMS VCS 3 “Putney”

7.0

Edge of Darkness

Nov 1, 2015

The film features amazing scenes of places never before seen gathered by key space missions that culminated with groundbreaking discoveries in 2015. It features a spectacular flight though the great cliffs on comet 67P, a close look at the fascinating bright "lights" on Ceres, and the first ever close ups of dwarf binary planet Pluto/Charon and its moons.

7.6

Microcosmos

Sep 6, 1996

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

6.6

The Last Man on the Moon

Feb 26, 2016

The 1960s was an extraordinary time for the United States. Unburdened by post-war reparations, Americans were preoccupied with other developments like NASA, the game-changing space programme that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Yet it was astronauts like Eugene Cernan who paved the uneven, perilous path to lunar exploration. A test pilot who lived to court danger, he was recruited along with 14 other men in a secretive process that saw them become the closest of friends and adversaries. In this intensely competitive environment, Cernan was one of only three men who was sent twice to the moon, with his second trip also being NASA’s final lunar mission. As he looks back at what he loved and lost during the eight years in Houston, an incomparably eventful life emerges into view. Director Mark Craig crafts a quietly epic biography that combines the rare insight of the surviving former astronauts with archival footage and otherworldly moonscapes.

0.0

Testerep

Mar 21, 2024

A team of scientists search for the lost island of Testerep in front of the Belgian coast, venturing into artificial landscapes and virtual realities.

0.0

The Frog

Feb 24, 1931

An educational film about frogs produced by Encyclopædia Britannica Films, an educational film production company in the 20th century owned by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.

0.0

Churchill's Toyshop

May 22, 2015

In Britain's darkest hour Winston Churchhill assembles a team of eccentric geniuses to fight the Nazi menace by building biizzarre brilliant weapons.

9.5

The Weirdest Weather in the Universe

Oct 22, 2016

Horizon visits state-of-the-art laboratories and uses CGI to recreate the science-fiction-worthy weather experienced on other planets.

7.2

Destiny in Space

Jan 17, 1994

Travel alongside the astronauts as they deploy and repair the Hubble Space Telescope, soar above Venus and Mars, and find proof of new planets and the possibility of other life forming around distant stars.

7.3

The 21st Century Race For Space

Sep 5, 2017

A new age of space exploration, and exploitation, is dawning. But surprisingly, some of the boldest efforts at putting humans into space are now those of private companies started by a handful of maverick billionaire businessmen. Beyond mass space travel, and even space mining and manufacturing, the dream of Elon Musk and others is true space exploration. His company, SpaceX, already delivers supplies to the International Space Station, and their next step is delivering astronauts too. But their true ambition is to ensure the survival of the human race by crossing our solar system and colonizing Mars in the next decade. Could commercial spaceflight companies eventually make us a space-faring civilization?

10.0

Destination: Pluto Beyond the Flyby

Sep 23, 2016

The New Horizons team examines the latest findings and imagery from Pluto and the fringes of our solar system revealing a world unlike any other we've seen before.

0.0

9 Days in Summer

Jan 1, 1967

A promotional film for the Ford Company detailing the introduction of the Cosworth engine into Formula 1 in conjunction with Lotus.

4.0

Live from Space

Mar 14, 2014

National Geographic and NASA are sending you into space - live! For the first time ever, board the International Space Station and take a complete orbit of Earth in real time.

7.7

National Geographic: Journey to the Edge of the Universe

Dec 6, 2008

In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond.

6.7

Mars: One Day on the Red Planet

Jan 5, 2020

An epic journey around Mars — built from real satellite and rover data — revealing the red planet as you’ve never seen it before.

6.8

James May on the Moon

Jun 21, 2009

Top Gear presenter James May presents this informative program that examines the historic moon missions. Traveling to America, May meets three of the men who walked on the surface of the moon, learning how it felt and how the now antiquated technology was used to achieve such an historic feat.

6.1

How William Shatner Changed The World

Nov 13, 2005

William Shatner presents a light-hearted look at how the "Star Trek" TV series have influenced and inspired today's technologies, including: cell phones, medical imaging, computers and software, SETI, MP3 players and iPods, virtual reality, and spaceship propulsion.