Blue Sky Metropolis | KCET
"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 mini-series 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. The aerospace century will unfold through the lives and 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. "Blue Sky Metropolis" is a part of PBS "Summer of Space," a multiplatform experience that includes new science and history programs, all commemorating America’s journey into space.
Full Episodes
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Blue Sky Metropolis
Blue Sky Metropolis
E1: Wings - Aviation Takes Flight in Early Los Angeles
Episode 1
Aviation takes flight in early Los Angeles, becoming an industry of dreamers, risk takers and entrepreneurs. The region is America’s “arsenal of democracy” during World War II, as two million workers build 300,000 aircrafts.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
Blue Sky Metropolis
E2: The Big Chill - The Cold War Fuels Business and Anxiety
Episode 2
The Cold War and Pentagon dollars fuels the explosive growth of modern Los Angeles and creates the military-industrial-complex.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
Blue Sky Metropolis
E3: A Space Odyssey - Southern California Spearheads Mankind’s Greatest Achievement
Episode 3
This episode traces how The Cold War and Pentagon dollars fund the explosive growth of modern Los Angeles and create the military-industrial-complex.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
Blue Sky Metropolis
E4: Back to the Future - A New Space Age Dawns in Southern California
Episode 4
The end of the Cold War brings massive layoffs but tech billionaires choose Southern California to launch their space companies. Though committed to the “democratization” of space, SpaceX and Virgin Orbit include the Pentagon as a major customer.
Clips & Segments
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Blue Sky Metropolis
The idea of the Ansari XPrize is one with history that dates back more than a century.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
The day when we could be living in other planets is coming closer and closer, but in the meantime astronaut Garrett Reisman has a few words for us earth dwellers.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
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Blue Sky Metropolis
In the summer of 1964, Mariner 4 began transmitting images of Mars, but a full picture of the Red Planet is more difficult than what you would think.
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Upcoming Airdates
The Big Chill: The Cold War Fuels Business and Anxiety
Episode 2
This episode traces how The Cold War and Pentagon dollars fund the explosive growth of modern Los Angeles. The end of World War II meant massive unemployment for the millions of workers in Southern California who built the aircraft that helped win the war, but a series of world events changed all that, creating a permanent wartime economy. First, the Soviets successfully tested an atomic bomb. Next, Mao Tse-Tung created a second Communist empire with his People’s Republic of China. Finally, the Korean War marked the first communism/capitalism military showdown
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2019-08-23T07:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
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2019-09-20T07:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
A Space Odyssey: Southern California Spearheads Mankind’s Greatest Achievement
Episode 3
The triumphant and tragic Space Race unfolds in the first-hand accounts of those who pioneered the technology and built the hardware that made possible mankind’s greatest achievement. Meantime, the military-industrial-complex expands unchecked.
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2019-08-25T13:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
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2019-08-25T16:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
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2019-08-26T07:00:00-07:00KCETLINK
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2019-08-30T07:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
Back to the Future: A New Space Age Dawns in Southern California
Episode 4
“Back to the Future” explores the decline of the industry in Southern California and its resurgence in recent years. We hear first-person testimony from Southern California residents who came of age during the Cold War and Space Race.
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2019-09-01T13:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
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2019-09-01T16:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
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2019-09-02T07:00:00-07:00KCETLINK
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2019-09-06T07:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
Wings: Aviation Takes Flight in Early Los Angeles
Episode 1
In this episode, the documentary establishes Southern California as the undisputed aviation capital of the world and introduce the industry founders — Jack Northrop, Glenn Martin and Donald Douglas. Nice weather attracted them but so did a climate friendly to dreamers, risk takers and entrepreneurs. Amelia Earhart learned to fly here, becoming only the 16th woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license, succeeding in an industry dominated by men.
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2019-09-13T07:00:00-07:00KCET-HD
Articles
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Blue Sky Metropolis
As the Cold War fizzled out, Hollywood and the entertainment industry eclipsed aerospace as the main industry in Southern California. Yet, the possibilities of space were broadening. Mankind proved that the sky was not the limit it once imagined.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
An ambitious project combines design and futurism to envision what cities might look like on Mars.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
Pilots say there is nothing on earth that can compare to flying. For those who painstakingly restore vintage aircraft, the story begins and history unfolds even before the plane returns to the skies.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
The thought of flight and the consuming power of fire has fascinated mankind for centuries. For the CAL FIRE team, fire and flight go hand in hand.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
After immigrating from Colombia, Diana Trujillo took the long path to becoming an aerospace engineer at JPL, but for the Colombian aerospace engineer, it was worth it.
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Blue Sky Metropolis
It's hard not to be fascinated JPL's mind-blowing scientific accomplishments. The good news is that you can get a look behind the scenes.
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