posted 10-05-2021 04:41 PM               

"Among the Stars" is a six-part docuseries with fly-on-the-wall access into the vast world of NASA.

The series starts with astronaut Captain Chris Cassidy on a quest to get back in his space suit for one last mission - to fly to the International Space Station and help find the origins of the universe, but this quickly becomes a tale of the wider team at NASA, their roles on this mission and collective quest to succeed.

With cameras stationed on both Earth and the International Space Station, using intimate footage, personal video diaries and livestream footage, viewers are embedded with Cassidy and the team of engineers, flight controllers and specialists who take on missions risking life, limb and reputation for the greater good of humankind. Join them as their missions unfold.

posted 10-10-2021 02:27 PM               

I was particularly impressed by the behind-the-scenes access the filmmakers had to the deliberations, planning meetings and preparations that went into carrying out the series of spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). The tension that comes across adds an new layer to the story, which I think was largely missing from the live coverage.

Chris Cassidy's story serves as the string that connects all of the events together and adds a level of personal insight into what is like to be an astronaut today. In a lot of ways, the finale to Cassidy's astronaut career feels like the bookend to the first 20 years of continuous human operations in low Earth orbit.