(upbeat music) [Narrator] For centuries, humanity has been driven by wonder and the desire to go further, faster and beyond the known.

Legends of undiscovered continents and the potential of new resources pushed our natural curiosity.

The quest for new knowledge has fueled our greatest innovations.

Bold new vehicles carried us across the oceans or through the skies.

Science fiction became science fact.

(dogs panting and barking) Our inventions have not only transformed how we move around, they've changed how we live, think and dream.

(snowmobile engine roaring) (plane engine whirring) (train whooshing) (tracks clacking) (boat engine rumbling) (transitions whooshing) (jet engine whirring) (propellers beating) (rocket whooshing) (pensive music) (birds singing) From the dawn of civilization, transport innovation has been a catalyst for reshaping our world.

(dynamic music) The invention of the wheel unlocked the possibility of speed.

While the domestication of horses brought strength to our endeavours.

Combined, they created the horse and cart, a game-changing innovation that revolutionised trade, warfare and cultural connectivity.

It laid the foundation for the complex transport networks that continue to drive human progress.

(dramatic music) Today, electric cars continue the line of evolution that began with the wheel.

We take for granted the game-changing transportation marvels around us every day.

(rocket whooshing) But every one of them is remarkable and every one of them has a remarkable origin story.

(birds singing) (inquisitive music) One of the biggest paradigm shifts in the history of transport came in the form of what could be argued was the world's first superhighway.

For thousands of years, Europe and Asia existed as isolated worlds.

They developed distinct cultures limited by vast distances and impassible terrains.

They were disconnected and largely unaware of one another.

(transition whooshing) (singer vocalising) (singer vocalising) - [Narrator] But in the second century BCE, the seventh ruler of China's Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu, faced threats from aggressive nomadic groups from the north.

The Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic confederation and ancient ancestors of the Mongols, dominated the steps of Central Asia.

Frequent raids and military incursions into Northern China by these invading barbarians destabilised the northern frontiers of the Han Empire.

So Emperor Wu sought alliances with distant lands to establish trade relations and safe passage with Central Asia and connect China with regions as far west as the Mediterranean.

The Silk Road trade routes were born.

(uplifting music) (donkey braying) A common site in markets today, it revolutionised the movement of gemstones from India, silks and spices from China, and intricate textiles from Turkey, which travelled back and forth along the trade route.

For the first time ever, precious goods were being transported and traded across thousands of kilometres through Asia, Africa and Europe instead of local markets.

If the concept of modern globalisation had a birthplace, it was the Silk Road.

Sometimes referred to as the Silk Roots, it's not a single road.

The expansive East-West network evolved over centuries, spanning from the bustling markets of Chang'an, modern-day Xi'an in China, across continents to the grandeur of ancient Constantinople.

(camel grunting) (light music) At approximately 6,400 kilometres, it was a long and challenging route across harsh landscapes.

In the north of the Arabian Desert in Jordan, Petra found itself at an important crossroads on the route.

(upbeat music) (camel grunting) (footsteps clopping) Capitalising on its position, Petra offered sanctuary and supplies, but also controlled the flow of luxury goods, such as spices, incense and silk.

Their trading nous generated tremendous wealth, which transformed the small settlement of nomadic Nabataeans into a prosperous cosmopolitan city with architecture to match.

(dynamic music) The Treasury, also known as Al-Khazneh, is a breathtakingly elaborate 39-meter-high mausoleum hewn out a rock by the Nabataeans.

A royal tomb dating back to the first century AD, its exquisite temple facade is intricately carved into the sandstone.

The architectural marvel has modern-day tourists scratching their heads about how the Nabataeans could've mastered rock-cut construction with ancient tools.

(footsteps clopping) When it first opened, it was horse and cart, donkeys and oxen that moved people and goods along the Silk Road's treacherous tracks.

But the animals' endurance was limited and travel was often slow.

They struggled to cross deserts, like the Gobi and Taklamakan, due to their frequent need for water and food.

That all changed when the undisputed long-distance ships of the desert took over the road, camels.

(bright music) (camel grunting) With the ability to drink 200 litres of water in just under 15 minutes and go without another drink for weeks, camels could traverse the deserts other animals couldn't.

They became the backbone of the Silk Road and completely changed the way people saw long-distance transport, but it wasn't just how far they could travel that made them transportation game changers of the highest order.

Horses and donkeys could only carry small loads, meaning more animals and larger caravans were needed to transport goods, whereas a single camel could carry 100 kilogrammes, so long-distance trade along the Silk Road became more economically viable.

As traffic on the route increased it wasn't always just goods the traders were carrying.

(pigeons cooing) (light music) In the 14th century, the Black Death pandemic was likely spread into Europe from Asia via the Silk Road.

It remains one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, killing 50 million people and up to half of Europe's population.

But traders also broadened humanity's mind, making the Silk Road a thriving artery of intellectual exchange.

(uplifting music) The concept of zero, thought to have originated in India, travelled west to Europe, completely revolutionising mathematics.

Buddhism travelled East into China, but if ever there was a monument to the Silk Road's enduring power to transform human culture, it can be found in the architecture of what remains of what was one of the world's greatest ancient cities, Constantinople.

(upbeat music) (seagulls squawking) (transition whooshing) Known today as Istanbul, Constantinople was the jewel of Byzantium, where empires clashed and cultures merged.

(singer speaking in foreign language) - [Narrator] The iconic 17th-century Blue Mosque is an architectural masterpiece dominated by grand domes and an interior lined with stunning handmade iznik ceramic blue tiles, a design style inspired by the influx of Chinese porcelain moving along the Silk Road and sold in markets throughout the Middle East.

Today, Istanbul's bustling markets still echo what it must've felt like and looked like at the height of the Silk Road's influence.

(inquisitive music) While the iconic Silk Road will always have its place in history, it was only ever a well-worn trail of dirt through the heart of Asia.

Amazingly, the birth of roads as we know them took place hundreds of years before, as the mightiest military in the ancient world had to solve the problem of expanding and maintaining its vast empire.

As they say, all roads lead to Rome.

(transitions whooshing) (upbeat music) (crowd faintly speaking) It's a modern city of more than 2.8 million people, where the echoes of an ancient empire reverberate through its grand piazzas.

Cobblestoned paths beneath towering ruins tell the story of a civilization that shaped the world.

Its legacy etched in culture, art, and perhaps most surprisingly, its roads.

Roman road engineering, with its layered construction, drainage and long-lasting materials, truly changed the game when it came to building long-lasting transport infrastructure.

Paved roads can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, where the Sumerians, in present-day Iraq, laid the oldest known organised paths to get people from A to B. These early roads, mostly simple dirt paths, but some paved with clay, became essential for trade and communication.

Like so many other inventions, Romans may not have come up with the concept of roads, but they took the idea to a whole new level.

The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia, or Appian Way, was constructed around 312 BCE.

It originally ran 261 kilometres southeast from Rome to Tarentum, now Taranto, and was later extended to the Adriatic coast.

But the Via Appia was just the beginning.

(upbeat music) (birds singing) (car horns honking) The Empire's vast road network grew to more than an estimated 320,000 kilometres, meticulously designed to connect every corner of the empire to its capital.

The Romans revolutionised the way roads were constructed using multiple layers of stone, gravel and sand.

It made them durable and integral to military movement, connecting cities, outposts and ports.

And unlike other cultures that would typically build roads around obstacles, the Romans would make their roads as straight as possible, navigating over or through hills and rivers.

They became the strategic arteries of the expanding empire.

And as roads improved, so too did the vehicles that used them.

(crowd cheering) (footsteps clopping) Chariots were a marvel of ancient transportation and synonymous with Roman grandeur.

They became an important part of rituals and entertainment.

They were seen in grand processions, triumphs and games where emperors displayed their authority and Rome's prestige.

(dynamic music) Chariot races captivated audiences with their speed and spectacle at venues made possible by roads.

Like the Colosseum.

Rome's iconic amphitheatre was more than an arena for entertainment, it was a monument to Roman engineering.

(birds singing) Construction began on the Colosseum around 70 to 72 BCE.

At 189 metres long and 156 metres wide, it's almost twice as long and three times wider than a modern soccer field.

Built with materials from across the empire, the Colosseum's construction was a feat of logistics.

It relied on the vast Roman road system that connected distant quarries and workshops to the heart of Rome, including an estimated 100,000 cubic metres of travertine stone mined in modern-day Tivoli.

The echoes of chariot collisions and gladiator battles still whisper through the Colosseum's time-worn arches.

The fact so much of it is still standing almost 2,000 years later is a testament to its construction.

And the Roman roads that made it all possible were constructed with such incredible mastery that there are still remnants of them today.

(uplifting music) In the ancient city of Jerash, located in modern-day Jordan, ruins even reveal chariot tracks still visible in the stone-paved streets.

The tracks worn into the surface at Jerash are etched with the story of Rome's expansion through Europe and the origins a genuine revolution in global transportation that we can easily take for granted today.

Many of Europe's modern roads follow the same routes as those 2,000-year-old Roman roads.

And even though roads are built around the world with advanced materials and machinery, they continue to reflect Roman innovations in durability and design.

Multi-lane highways slice through landscapes, cloverleaf interchanges, spiral like concrete art, carrying millions effortlessly every day.

These incredible roads are the descendants of those early roads of the Roman Empire.

Buzzing with traffic, they are powerful symbols of progress, connecting cities and bringing people closer while reshaping the way we experience speed and distance.

But in some parts of Europe, modern roads are still as impractical as they've ever been, and the challenge of transporting essentials across great swaths of the high Arctic needed a far more versatile solution.

(bright music) (transitions whooshing) (footsteps clopping) In Finland, Rovaniemi is the glorious gateway to the Arctic.

It feels like Christmas every day.

And no wonder, it's the official home of Santa Claus.

(snow shuffling) A gateway to the Arctic wilderness, Rovaniemi offers a unique mix of Lapland culture, modern amenities and nature-based adventures.

(light music) (reindeer grunting) But it's also an area where a legacy of survival and expedition is etched into the snow, created by a simple yet revolutionary way of getting around one of the world's most unforgiving terrains.

(dogs yapping) Powered by the strength and endurance of hardy sled dogs, these vehicles transformed the way people navigated vast snow-covered landscapes.

Each sled team driven by the unbreakable bond between musher and dogs could traverse great distances, carrying essential supplies and connecting remote communities.

The dog sled's ability to move swiftly and reliably over deep snow and ice made it an unparalleled innovation, especially in regions where other forms of transport were impossible.

(dogs barking) (serene music) Dog sledding traces back thousands of years to the Sámi of Northern Scandinavia, Inuit of Greenland and indigenous peoples of Canada, Alaska and northern Russia, who pioneered the remarkable form of transportation.

(musher shouting) (dogs barking) For these peoples that lived in frozen settlements, the dog sled was more than a tool, dog sledding was a necessity.

(seagulls squawking) It was a key to survival, enabling hunting, fishing and trade.

It was a symbiotic relationship between man and dog that defined their way of life, a symbol of their adaptability and deep connection to the land.

(upbeat music) Today, dog sledding continues to be celebrated in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a gruelling 1,688-kilometer journey across the Alaskan wilderness.

Starting in Anchorage, the race was created to bring back the sled dog to Alaska and to get the Iditarod Trail declared as a national historic trail.

With no roads, railways or aircraft able to reach the small town, for early settlers, the only option was to transport by dog sled.

Today, the race is one of Alaska's most important events.

Mushers can start the race with between 12 and 16 dogs and must finish with at least five dogs.

It winds through frozen rivers, dense forests and treacherous mountain passes.

The Iditarod honours the pioneering spirit of those who braved the elements to connect distant communities.

(upbeat music) (bird calling) (snowmobile engine roaring) During the 20th century, motorised engines replaced manpower, horsepower and dog power.

It was a complete game changer for travelling across the dangerous and harsh snow.

Instead of multiple mouths to feed and dependency on the health of the pack, a single tank of petrol could carry someone hundreds of kilometres.

(upbeat music) Just over a century ago, in 1922, Canadian inventor and businessman, Joseph-Armand Bombardier, created the very first snowmobile.

It didn't much resemble the snowmobiles you find out on the trails these days, but it was the beginning that led to years of innovations.

Just two years later, American Carl Eliason developed a motor toboggan, which was very similar to the snowmobile.

There is some debate as to whose invention came first, but either way, the race was on.

(inquisitive music) (snowmobile engine roaring) Engines improved, suspension was added, and snowmobiles completely transformed the lives of isolated Arctic communities and the way people and cargo were transported.

They were safe and reliable even in the harshest weather.

In the end, technology from both Eliason and Bombardier can be found in the modern snowmobile.

But there was another game changer to be found along the way.

(dynamic music) (snowmobile engines roaring) Bombardier put his mind to creating a snowmobile that could be fun.

In 1959, he launched the smaller, more agile Ski-Dog, a nod to its husky-driven predecessor, or so he thought.

A printing error in the marketing material announced the arrival of the Ski-Doo instead of Ski-Dog, and the name stuck.

(snowmobile engine roaring) Ski-Doos revolutionised winter travel and sports.

Right across the world, tourists and thrill seekers zip across icy landscapes, Finland, Alaska, even New Zealand.

Over 100 years, snowmobiles have proven themselves indispensable as vital transportation for emergency services, hunting and agriculture in some of the world's most unreachable winter environments.

But in the pantheon of transportation game changers, there is nothing that compares to the advances humanity has made in the art of navigation.

(inquisitive music) For millennia, before the world was mapped, the stars provided guidance to travellers and explorers.

The Earth's uncharted lands and oceans posed a formidable challenge to humankind.

Knowledge of the stars was critical to finding the way to places, and importantly, the way back again.

People would look to the night sky to identify constellations, planets and other celestial bodies to establish direction and distance.

(birds singing) In the southern hemisphere, Polynesians mastered ocean navigation using canoes guided by the stars, the sun, wind patterns and ocean swirls.

This profound connection to the natural world helped them cross thousands of kilometres of open ocean, discovering and settling islands, like New Zealand, Samoa and Tahiti.

Amazingly, Polynesian navigators were able to do all this without any form of instrumentation.

In the northern hemisphere, around the second century BCE, China began using rudimentary compasses, but not for navigation.

(light music) Often shaped like a spoon that spun freely on a smooth surface, its movement was interpreted to reveal auspicious directions, predict the future, or determine the best locations for buildings and graves.

It wasn't until the 11th or 12th century CE that compasses started to be used for navigation.

It completely revolutionised travel.

By providing a consistent reference point, sailors could determine direction even without visible landmarks or stars.

It enabled safer, longer voyages, which allowed global exploration to boom.

But for all the game-changing possibilities the tools of navigation enabled, it was the great navigators themselves that really advanced the art form.

(birds singing) (bright music) (transition whooshing) And here in the ports of Spain, one of the world's greatest explorers literally defined what it meant to break new ground in navigating the world.

All he needed were some Spanish gallions.

(birds singing) In the 16th century, Spanish galleons became a country's symbol of power and ambition.

These grand vessels with their towering masts and billowing sails were the workhorses of Spain's maritime empire.

Built for endurance and armed to defend against pirates and rivals, the galleons were not just ships, they were floating fortresses, brimming with treasures and the hopes of an empire.

And the name which became synonymous with Spanish exploration was Ferdinand Magellan.

Born in Portugal, but serving the Spanish crown, Magellan set out in 1519 with a fleet of five ships seeking a westward route to the Spice Islands.

His journey led him through the treacherous strait at the southern tip of South America.

It's a narrow twisting passage that opened the door to the vast Pacific Ocean.

(light music) Today, it's known as the Strait of Magellan.

The Magellan Expedition traversed the Atlantic, South America, the Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Though Magellan himself would not survive the journey.

He and his crew became involved in a conflict between rival local leaders in the Philippines, on April 27, 1521.

During the battle, Magellan and his small force were overwhelmed by a local chieftain named Lapu-Lapu.

The explorer was killed with a poisoned arrow to his right leg.

Though his crew continued, ultimately completing the journey, becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe.

This monumental achievement not only solidified Spain's dominance in the age of exploration, but redefined our understanding of the world.

The age of discovery saw Spanish galleons crisscross the oceans and established trade routes and colonies stretching from the Americas to Asia.

The galleons were the lifeblood of the Spanish empire, connecting distant lands and bringing the riches of the new world to Spanish shores.

As Spain's galleons sailed the seas, other European powers sought their share of the world's riches.

Dutch explorers with their sleek and nimble ships ventured into unchartered waters, establishing trading posts and claiming territories.

(uplifting music) The British too embarked on grand voyages.

Their tall ships cutting through the waves as they mapped new lands and expanded their own empire.

In the wake of these explorers, the world was forever changed.

The art of navigation opened new horizons and brought the continents together.

The distances that divided us became smaller.

The voyages of these early navigators are remembered as important steps in the journey to connect people around the world, through trade, conquest and humanity.

(pigeon cooing) (birds singing) As they bridged oceans and continents, humanity's gaze remained fixed on the skies, driven by the timeless dream of soaring through the blue alongside the birds.

(transition whooshing) In Greek mythology, Icarus desired to soar above the earth.

But his wings, crafted of beeswax and feathers, melted in the sun.

It was a warning about being over-ambitious and the dangers inherent in defying our natural boundaries.

Yet humanity's longing continued and our visionaries persisted.

(bright music) (transition whooshing) Leonardo da Vinci envisioned a future where mankind conquered the skies.

Though he never saw it realised, the man who painted the Mona Lisa transcended his fame as an artist into a renaissance futurist who saw the modern world centuries before it would become reality.

His genius laid the groundwork that would make the impossible possible.

People eventually did take to the skies.

Inspired by da Vinci's visions, the future of flight was born centuries later in an unlikely place halfway across the world.

(bright music) (transition whooshing) In 1903, on the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made history with their fragile motorised aircraft, the Wright Flyer.

(propellers beating) Though their first controlled powered flight lasted just 12 seconds.

Their pioneering achievement not only revolutionised transportation forever, but also had far-reaching impacts for the world's economy and culture.

Innovations in engine power, flight control and aerodynamics allowed for longer, higher and more reliable flight.

By 1914, the first flights for passengers took place by biplane between St.

Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.

This short 23-minute flight carried one paying passenger across Tampa Bay, marking the advent of commercial air travel.

But as with all transformative innovations, there was a dark side, because this breakthrough was a massive game changer when it came to waging war.

(pensive music) Motorised aircraft provided the speed and mobility that military forces needed to strike their enemies from the air.

By World War I, biplanes were initially used for reconnaissance, giving military tacticians the ability to see the battlefield from the air, allowing for more precise artillery targeting and better coordination of troop movements.

(guns firing) But to protect these eyes in the sky, the fighter plane was born.

And the first aerial combats or dogfights began as pilots attempted to gain control of the skies.

(planes whooshing) (plane whizzing) From here, there was no turning back.

Air power had become a central element of modern warfare.

(ominous music) (crowd chanting in foreign language) The Second World War saw aircraft become faster and more deadly.

(plane engines whirring) Revolutionary new technologies, like radar, were invented to detect imminent air raids.

The advent of the aeroplane completely reshaped the world's navies, as aircraft carriers replaced battleships in the Pacific.

Carrier-based planes could strike enemy ships beyond the range of their guns, leading to new naval strategies centred around aircraft.

And finally, air power had reached its most devastating potential with the transporting and release of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Amazingly, it had been only 42 years since the Wright Brothers first took to the skies.

(inquisitive music) But their feat of engineering kicked off a chain reaction of aircraft innovation that continues to this day.

Modern war planes, powered by jet engines, are now able to fly over three times the speed of sound and feature advanced stealth capabilities making them difficult to detect by radar.

But while these are the most advanced planes ever built, ever since the time of the Wright Brothers, virtually all planes still needed a runway to generate the lift they needed to take off and land.

And not long after the Wright Brothers took to the skies, the question of lift inspired a young French engineer to dream up a game-changing aircraft that needed no runway and could take off vertically.

Paul Cornu's big idea was founded on two rotors, four blades, and a lot of belief.

He made history in 1907 by inventing and piloting the first helicopter.

The rudimentary design barely lifted off the ground, but it marked the first recorded manned vertical flight.

(upbeat music) (traffic whizzing) (transition whooshing) In 1939, Igor Sikorsky designed and successfully flew the VS-300 in the United States.

Unlike earlier attempts, Sikorsky's design featured a single main rotor for lift and a small tail rotor for stability, much closer to the design we see today.

Just as fixed-wing aircraft changed the face of warfare, helicopters were also adapted for the military.

(propellers beating) (dynamic music) With unprecedented vertical mobility, these aircraft enabled military forces to operate in areas inaccessible to traditional vehicles, such as dense forests, mountains and urban environments.

During the 1950s and '60s, they quickly became the most important method of combat medical evacuation, rapidly transporting wounded soldiers to field hospitals, and greatly improving survival rates.

(upbeat music) In civilian life, this concept revolutionised emergency medical services and enhanced the capabilities of the air ambulances.

A helicopter supplied with medical equipment and personnel rapidly transporting patients from accident sites to hospitals when timely ground support would be fatal.

(propellers beating) (bright music) But for most of us, helicopter flight has become something of a traveler's rite of passage.

All around the world, helicopters have expanded the possibilities of what it means to explore and discover, providing travellers with unparalleled views and experiences, while also contributing to local economies and conservation efforts.

It's the perspective da Vinci dreamed about in the 15th century.

In the 21st century, it's one that doesn't even need a person on board to see.

And the helicopter itself can fit in the palm of your hands.

Miniature remote-controlled, unmanned aircraft are being used for everything, from taking out defence missiles in war zones to delivering packages in the suburbs.

Miniaturisation and automation has changed the game again.

(drone whirring) But for all the futuristic paradigm shifts in air transport we've experienced in the last 120 years, from the moment we took to the skies, our innate curiosity and desire to push the boundaries would take us to the stars.

(suspenseful music) Space represents the ultimate frontier for the human spirit of progress, the vast and largely uncharted domain that challenges us to extend our reach beyond Earth.

The journey to get there pushed the limits of our technology, engineering and human endurance, and began at a time of great distrust between Russia and the United States.

In 1945, as the world's sighed in relief with the declaration of peace, the ashes of World War II gave rise to a new tension, the Cold War.

(dynamic music) It was a fragile peace, shadowed by looming threats that ushered in an era of silent, relentless rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States.

For millions of people, it was a terrifying time.

(door slamming) But the rivalry led to unprecedented scientific discovery, as the US and Soviet Union pushed the boundaries of what was possible.

They took the jet engine technology that dominated the skies in World War II and evolved it into rockets that could pierce the heavens.

(rocket whooshing) Weapons of war became vessels of exploration that fueled humanity's quest to conquer space.

(rocket whooshing) (upbeat music) (footsteps scratching) (transition whooshing) The first satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into space by the Soviet Union on October 4th, 1957.

Then in 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin soared into the cosmos becoming the first person to break through our atmosphere.

It was such an astounding feat that Moscow erected a monument in 1964 in honour of the Soviet Union's achievement in space exploration.

Made from titanium and an impressive 110 metres tall, it depicts a rocket rising through the air with an expanding contrail behind it.

The towering monument looms over the skyline, a symbol of humanity's ascent to the stars.

Inside its base, the Museum of Cosmonautics serves as a bridge to the cosmos, preserving the legacy of our journey beyond Earth.

Inside, relics and replicas, such as Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 capsule, which carried the first human into space, and Valentina Tereshkova's space suit, an example of the suit first worn by a woman beyond our atmosphere, stand as tangible mementos of history.

Lunar 9, the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, rests alongside a replica of Sputnik 1, the satellite that ignited the space race.

Each artefact is not merely a display, but a piece of a greater story, one of Soviet ambition, the intense competition between superpowers and the dreams that propelled humanity to new frontiers.

Every item whispers the echoes of those groundbreaking moments that forever altered our place in the universe.

(dramatic music) European and US space development lagged behind the Soviet Union.

Europe sought to enhance its space capabilities by forming the European Launcher Development Organisation or ELDO, to develop a joint satellite launcher, reflecting a commitment to competing in the space race.

ELDO tests were primarily conducted at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia.

Blue Streak, a liquid-fueled rocket similar to the early US missile designs, was initially developed as Britain's entry into intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

(rocket whooshing) It was later repurposed by ELDO for satellite launches in space exploration.

Its stainless-steel construction provided both strength and lightness, which contributed to its success as a first-stage booster.

The use of liquid fuel made it capable of longer burns compared to solid-fueled rockets, although it required a more complex fueling process.

Blue Streak used an inertial guidance system, meaning it did not rely on external signals to navigate, but rather internal gyroscopes and accelerometers to track its position and orientation.

This self-contained system was more secure in the event of enemy interference.

Woomera's remote location provided an ideal testing ground for missile and space flight technology, aiding European and British space efforts during the Cold War.

While Blue Streak performed well, the second and third stages built by France and Germany encountered numerous technical failures.

Combined with soaring costs and political disagreements, the ELDO project only had one partially successful launch out of 10 attempts.

While European aspirations of space exploration languished, the US were hot on the Soviets' heels with even bigger dreams.

(dynamic music) (door clacking) The Apollo programme solidified the US's leadership in space exploration, with advancements in training and rocket innovation.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.

(audience cheering and clapping) Early programmes, like Mercury and Gemini, helped NASA develop space flight techniques.

The powerful Saturn 5 rocket was designed for Apollo's lunar missions.

The Apollo 1 mission, initially scheduled for launch on February 21st, 1967, tragically ended in a cabin fire during a pre-launch test on January 27th, 1967.

All three crew members lost their lives.

This disaster led to a comprehensive review and redesign of the Apollo spacecraft, significantly enhancing safety measures.

The lessons learned from Apollo 1 set a new standard for safety in the Apollo programme, emphasising the importance of rigorous testing and engineering oversight in future missions.

(rocket whooshing) The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7, launched on October the 11th, 1968.

The mission successfully tested the command service module in Earth's orbit for nearly 11 days, demonstrating key systems and communication capabilities.

(water flowing) Apollo 7 set the tone for future missions by proving that NASA could conduct a safe and effective crude flight, paving the way for subsequent Apollo missions to the Moon.

- [UPSOT] 10, nine, we have ignition, sequence start.

(rocket whooshing) - [Narrator] Apollo 8 was the first crude mission to orbit the Moon, successfully testing the command module systems and providing critical data on lunar geography for future landings.

Its iconic Earthrise photographs and live Christmas Eve broadcasts significantly increased public interest and support for the Apollo programme.

Just eight years after Yuri Gagarin's Earth-shattering flight into space, NASA's Apollo 11 mission set out to put the first man on the moon.

(rocket whooshing) (uplifting music) 384,000 kilometres later, Neil Armstrong famously took one small step for man.

- [Neil] One giant leap for mankind.

- [Narrator] Remarkably, just 65 years after the Wright Brothers' bumpy 12-second flight, the incredible achievements in space were celebrated as national triumphs of status, but they were triumphs for humanity.

They rewrote the rule book on what was possible.

Since the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, the USA has remained a leader in space exploration.

The Space Shuttle programme was a ground-breaking initiative that developed reusable spacecraft to carry astronauts and cargo into low Earth orbit and return to land like an aeroplane.

(garbled radio chattering) The International Space Station became a game changer by advancing scientific knowledge, fostering global partnerships and demonstrating the potential for sustained human presence in low Earth orbit.

(bright music) The first module was launched in 1998, with the US leading its design, construction and ongoing operations, facilitating international collaboration in space research.

Reusable spacecraft and deep-space probes has revolutionised how humans explore and utilise space.

These achievements highlight a transportation marvel, enabling human travel beyond Earth, laying the groundwork for future space exploration.

These achievements sparked a technology boom that led to innovations like satellite technology, which has transformed global communication.

Today, rocket-powered spacecraft frequently break through the Earth's atmosphere.

1957's single satellite has grown to nearly 10,000.

The once unthinkable feats of engineering have born technologies that have become part of our daily existence.

From GPS to weather forecasting, mobile phones and the internet, the space race literally changed the way humanity functions.

(rocket whooshing) (dramatic music) Driven by an insatiable curiosity, humanity endlessly seeks to explore the unknown, yearning to uncover mysteries beyond our reach.

It's an innate desire that propels us toward new frontiers, from the depths of the oceans, across wild lands, and up into the mysteries of space.

We yearn to know and we fight to survive.

Companies like SpaceX are leading the charge with ambitious plans to colonise Mars, fueled by a vision of making humanity a multi-planetary species.

At 225 million kilometres away, it's a long way from home, but maybe in the future, Mars will be home.

SpaceX believes the long-term survival of the human species may depend on it, in the case that Earth is no longer habitable.

It's bold and aspirational.

(staff cheering and clapping) But it may represent the next chapter in our journey of discovery, a journey that began with our ancestors gazing up at the night sky in wonder.

Perhaps one day we'll wonder no more.

(wind blowing) (transition whooshing) (upbeat music)