Now Streaming
"Blue Sky Metropolis" is the untold story of how aerospace was central to the growth of California and its emergence as an economic power. The documentary miniseries focuses on the people behind the aerospace movement and will feature many of the current major players in the aerospace industry in California, which is the hub of modern day aerospace engineering.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Providing Support for PBS.org
Tech billionaires choose Southern California to launch their own space companies.
The race to the moon is matched in dollars by a secret military program to dominate space.
Episode 4 Preview | Back to the Future
Tech billionaires choose Southern California to launch their own space companies.
Sue Finley: Human Computer, Wife and Mother
Sue Finley is one of the longest serving women in NASA history, but it wasn’t easy.
Ansari XPrize, A Century-Old Idea, Is New Again
The idea of the Ansari XPrize is one with history that dates back more than a century.
The Southern California Spirit in the Sky
Southern California workers remember the excitement of being part of the space race.
Making the First Photo of a Planet Ever
The first pictures of Mars were more difficult to put together than one might imagine.
Inventing the Future in Southern California
The Southern California outlook is due in part to the futuristic influence of space.
Episode 3 Preview | A Space Odyssey
The race to the moon is matched in dollars by a secret military program to dominate space.
Duck and cover drills were way to allay fears of nuclear attack, but did it really work?
Episode 2 Preview | The Big Chill
The Cold War and Pentagon dollars fuel the explosive growth of modern Los Angeles.
Walt Disney and Wernher Von Braun were major figures in the popularization of space.
How did Southern California become the aerospace capital of the world? What were the consequences of this development for the region, for the nation and for aerospace itself?
Narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Tony Goldwyn and written and directed by two-time Primetime- and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jones, “Blue Sky Metropolis" examines the largest Southern California-grown industry that, nevertheless, has received only a fraction of the attention heaped upon the Hollywood entertainment business. Like its counterpart, aerospace was an industry created by dreamers drawn to a region that was invented by dreamers — civic boosters comprised of newspaper publishers, real estate developers and Hollywood moguls. Their entrepreneurial spirit surely resonated with those imaginations attuned to the possibilities of flight. “Blue Sky Metropolis” explores the intersection of aerospace and Southern California from multiple perspectives: technology, popular culture, politics, race, business, labor, environment and gender.
Throughout the 20 century, millions flocked to Southern California to claim aviation/aerospace jobs, forever changing the social and physical landscape. Did the “blue sky” environment nurture that combination of vision and technical know-how as it did for Walt Disney and his Imagineers?
Explore the Aerospace Century as it unfolds through the lives, often in the words, of the men and women who created it: John Northrop, Glenn Martin, Donald Douglas, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Walt Disney and Wernher Von Braun. From the pivotal 1910 Los Angeles Air Meet, the second public showcase of powered flight in the world, through World War II; the Cold War and onward to the rebirth of the industry thanks to New Space companies such as Virgin Orbit, SpaceX and Relativity, “Blue Sky Metropolis” is a sweeping look at the century in Southern California that brought humankind to the skies and beyond.
Launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, c. 2018
1/14
Courtesy SpaceX
Movie cameras at March Field in Riverside, CA, c. 1937
2/14
Courtesy Dick Whittington
Dr. Wernher Von Braun and President Kennedy inspect Saturn IV rocket, c. 1962.
3/14
Courtesy NASA
North American Aviation worker assembles B-25, c. 194.
4/14
Courtesy Library of Congress
Mars Rover driver Vandi Verma demonstrates the project’s latest technology at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Yard in Pasadena, Calif.
5/14
Credit: Peter Jones Productions
XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari prepares for her spaceflight, c. 2006.
6/14
Courtesy NASA
North American Aviation engineer, c. 1941
7/14
Courtesy Library of Congress
Space Shuttle Endeavour arrives to its final home in Los Angeles, c. 2012.
8/14
Courtesy NASA
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin plants the flag with planet Earth above, c. 1969.
9/14
Courtesy NASA
Lockheed Aircraft workers, c. 1942
10/14
Courtesy Lockheed-Martin
Astronaut Ed White, the first American to walk in space, c. 1965.
11/14
Courtesy NASA
Mars Rover Curiosity takes a selfie on the Red Planet, c. 2015.
12/14
Courtesy NASA
Air Force General Bernard Schriever, c. 1958
13/14
Courtesy Getty Images
Onlookers at 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet.
14/14
Courtesy Huntington Library
Support for PBS.org provided by:
