All language subtitles for The UnXplained S02E11 Extraordinary Engineering 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DDP2 0 H 264-Kitsune_track4_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Magnificent temples, monumental dams...

and lofty spires

that reach out
and touch the sky.

Why do we build?

Huh? Is it just because
we need roofs over our heads?

Or is there another,
even more profound reason

why we create
massive stone monuments...

soaring cathedrals...

and towering skyscrapers?

Are we trying
to prove something?

Or perhaps even...

play God?

Well...

that is
what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Experts working in the Acoustics Research Centre

at the University of Salford,

publish the results
of a groundbreaking study

on one of the most iconic

ancient monuments
in the world...

Stonehenge.

In their experiment,
the scientists constructed

a scale model
1/12 the actual size

of Stonehenge...

used speakers to shoot sound
waves throughout the model...

and measured
how sounds reverberated

through the miniature structure.

Their conclusion?

The massive blocks of Stonehenge

were designed...

to amplify sound.

ANDREW COLLINS:
Everybody knows about Stonehenge.

This is the most famous
megalithic monument

anywhere in the world.

But who created this?

Why would they have done it?

What research is now
beginning to suggest is that

one of the possibilities
is to enhance

the generation of sound
used in ritual.

SHATNER:
The idea that Stonehenge was used to amplify sounds

made during rituals
is intriguing.

But it is just the latest
in a long line of theories

about this mysterious structure.

After centuries
of study and speculation,

Stonehenge continues
to inspire both fascination

and intense debate as to how

and why it was built.

HUGH NEWMAN:
Stonehenge is the most magnificent stone circle

in the British Isles.

It's unique,
it's unlike any stone circle

anywhere on the planet.

It has lintels above it,
it's perfectly circular.

And it really stands out
as the kind

of symbol of ancient Britain.

People are kind of obsessed
by it because it's the only way

they can get back to have some
contact with their ancestors.

SHATNER:
Believed to be constructed in 3000 BC,

Stonehenge has stood on the
plains of Wiltshire, England

for at least 5,000 years.

With an outer ring
of 30 four-ton stones

surrounding five huge arches

whose massive blocks
weigh 25 tons each,

Stonehenge's construction

defies explanation.

Such a project could not have
been achieved haphazardly.

LYNN PICKNETT:
We know that some of the stones

were actually imported
from South Wales,

which was something
like 120 miles away.

A bit tricky when you don't have

flatbed trucks or decent roads.

NEWMAN:
Some of the stones at Stonehenge

weigh between 50 and 70 tons.

So how could you have
moved them from Wales

to construct Stonehenge?

These are answers that have
not been properly dealt with.

PICKNETT:
For part of the journey, it's been worked out

that they would've
floated them on boats.

But then there would be
quite a bit of land

to drag them across

and presumably
they used greased rollers

and an awful lot of manpower.

But, again, we don't know.

Once people have actually
got the stones

to the site at Stonehenge,

the next major problem is

how do you lift them
up in the air?

And the only way I can think

that you would do that
is that you would make

a ramp and you would
drag them up the ramp,

and then tip them off the end.

That's a massive undertaking,

so we're talking
about thousands of people

involved creating Stonehenge.

And these people are working
150 miles apart.

Just imagine how complex
those logistics are.

We may never really know
how they did it.

SHATNER:
As if transporting, hoisting, and precisely balancing

those giant stones wasn't
incredible enough,

scholars have observed
that Stonehenge's entrance

aligns perfectly

with the rising sun
on the summer solstice.

The longest day of the year.

COLLINS:
It was almost like a marriage of heaven and earth together

to get closer to heaven.

And it seemed to be
bringing down the influence

of the sky world

on Earth itself.

NEWMAN:
It does seem that they wanted to influence

and integrate the natural
energies of the Earth.

And these massive
megalithic boulders

with cosmic energies from above

to create this enchanted space

where people
could have ceremony.

SHATNER:
Were Stonehenge's megalithic boulders intended

to be energetically linked
to the power of the sun

in some way?

It's certainly
a thought-provoking question.

And it might help to explain
yet another mystery.

The burial sites that are
all around Stonehenge.

You can see hundreds
of burial mounds.

The kind of people
that are buried there

come from all over Europe.

In other words,
they were visitors there.

It was a site
that people were coming to

from all over Europe.

Now, why were they coming there?

What's strange is
that the archaeology suggests

that many of these people had
some long-term illness

or disability, suggesting that
they were going to Stonehenge

in the hope of a cure.

SHATNER:
Stonehenge, a healing sanctuary?

But why would people
struggling with illness

think that this stone circle
could cure them?

PHILLIPS:
Some of the stones at Stonehenge

are called bluestones.

There's only one place
that bluestone

can be got in the British Isles,

and that's the Preseli Hills
in South Wales.

We know that they moved
those stones

all the way
from South Wales to Stonehenge,

but why would they do this?

Why would they need
those very specific

kind of stones?

NEWMAN:
In ancient traditions of

the Preseli Mountains
where the bluestones

of Stonehenge
originally came from,

it states that if you poured
water over the stones,

and then you drank the water,
it would have healing effects.

And the idea was people
would come from all over Europe

and actually come
to Stonehenge to be healed,

not just using the energy
of the stones,

but also the water
that was poured

over the stones and then drunk.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that the bluestones

that make up Stonehenge

actually have
healing properties?

For some, that sounds rather
fantastical and hard to believe.

But for others, it's one
of the many intriguing theories

that makes Stonehenge

so fascinating.

PHILLIPS:
We may never know why they brought the bluestones

from 150 miles away.

We may never know why they
built Stonehenge

because they left
no writing behind.

But we do know
that Stonehenge attracts

over a million visitors
every year.

It attracts new-age travelers.

It attracts occultists.

It attracts ordinary,
everyday people.

There's something
about Stonehenge

that seems to act as a magnet.

SHATNER:
Stonehenge is evidence of humanity's desire to build

a structure that was more
than just a place of shelter.

It is an early example
of a primal urge within us

to create something
greater than ourselves.

But what motivates this ambition
in the first place?

Well, perhaps a clue can be
found a little later in history

by examining the engineering
of the ancient Greeks

and the strange perfection

of the Parthenon.

SHATNER: High atop
the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

stands one
of the most magnificent

and most aesthetically pleasing
structures in the world.

The Parthenon.

This 23,000-square-foot temple

was constructed using 100,000
tons of radiant white marble.

The exterior of the Parthenon
is lined

with 46 colossal columns...

which strikingly
appear to be laid out

in the shape
of an exact rectangle.

And what's more astonishing
is that the more than

13,000 stone blocks used
to assemble the Parthenon

were precisely fitted together,

without the use of mortar.

Which begs the question...

how were the ancient Greeks able

to build something
that looks so...

perfect?

JONATHAN YOUNG:
The Parthenon is an amazingly beautiful structure.

The design,
the spacing of each stone

is so perfect that it inspires
just to look at.

The proportions are so exact.

For a large building,
it is an amazing thing.

And it lifts the spirit upward.

SHATNER:
Built beginning in 447 BC

on the orders of the famed
statesman and general Pericles,

the Parthenon celebrates
the Athenians' victory

over Persian invaders...

who had tried to conquer
the city for 50 years.

DORAN:
Athens during the time of the building of the Parthenon

is an incredible, cosmopolitan,
vibrant city.

It's producing art, literature,

sculpture, architecture.

It's the Manhattan
of the fifth century BC.

And I think if you're
an Athenian citizen,

walking, doing your
everyday work,

and then you see the Acropolis
in the center of the city,

this incredible shining hill,

and then you see the Parthenon--
the gleaming marble,

the biggest and most beautiful
Greek temple that existed,

at least in mainland Greece
at this point--

you'd be filled with
a sense of wonder.

SHATNER:
Although most of the interior of the Parthenon has decayed

due to the ravages of time,

the rectangular symmetry
of its exterior

looks flawless to this day.

But strangely, for a temple
that was clearly built

with perfection in mind,

what makes the Parthenon
so fascinating

is actually its imperfections.

Not only were the Greeks
masters of geometry,

they were also masters
of optical illusions.

They knew the fact that your eye
plays tricks on you.

Therefore, they built
the Parthenon

"slightly incorrectly,"
quote, unquote,

to compensate for this

so that the net result
is perfection.

DORAN:
The Parthenon is a rectangle,

but there are no right angles
in the entire building.

Everything is slightly off.

The columns look straight
from below,

but they are slightly
tilted toward each other.

So if you were standing at
the base of the Parthenon,

and if the columns didn't stop
after a certain number of feet,

but they kept on going
all the way up into the sky,

you would see the columns
meeting

if they were long enough
to actually meet.

This is a very curious thing
that the builders did.

KAKU:
It turns out that the Parthenon does not have

straight parallel lines at all.

The columns are not vertically
cylindrical at all.

They bulge by about an inch
at the center of the cylinder.

So, for example, the human
brain, looking at a column,

will actually think
that the waist is pinched.

Your eye thinks that
the center of the cylinder

is shrunk.

To compensate for that,

the columns of the Parthenon
bulge.

There's no way this could
have been an accident.

SHATNER:
But is that all the Greeks were trying to achieve--

an optical illusion?

Or could they have had
another purpose in mind

when they built the Parthenon?

COLLINS:
Why do we create monuments like the Parthenon?

And the answer is,

we want to try and imitate
the divine.

The divine was seen
as perfection.

The gods are seen as perfection.

And so sacred geometry

has been incorporated
into the Parthenon

in the belief
that it was now endowed

with some kind of divine power.

And this was done
very specifically

to connect the mundane
with the divine

to create the connection
between this world and the next.

SHATNER:
Is the unique design of the Parthenon

some kind of attempt
to connect to a higher power?

According to some researchers,
the answer is yes.

And they claim that the fact
that the Parthenon still stands,

and that it still looks perfect
and pleasing to the eye,

is a testament
to what its architects

were striving to build:
something eternal, everlasting

and, perhaps, divine.

Just like
another extraordinary structure

that was constructed more
than a thousand years later,

one that was built not just
to represent the divine,

but to make you feel

like you were actually
in the presence of God.

SHATNER:
For centuries,

many have remarked on the
strange power that Notre-Dame--

the historic cathedral that sits
at the center of Paris--

has on people.

But what exactly is this power?

And could it actually be
the presence of...

God?

DELL UPTON:
What's extraordinary to me

is that you've got a building

that has been there
for almost a thousand years,

in one form or another,

and even though it's important

from an architectural
historian's point of view

in various ways, it also has
this life in popular culture,

which many buildings don't.

Its role in the public view

has to do
with its subsequent reputation.

AMIR HUSSAIN:
You walk into Notre-Dame,

and all of a sudden you realize

the one human being is
very small,

and you're literally humbled
by this,

and almost falling
to the ground,

because it's such an impressive
sort of structure there.

YOUNG: The light coming
through the windows,

especially the rose windows,

has an effect
on our consciousness.

This is something beyond words.

This is the power of ritual
and aesthetics to touch us

on a spiritual level.

It can't entirely be explained.

PICKNETT:
It's like there is a presence there.

People go silent.

You know, talking in whispers.

And you say, "Well,
of course they would be,

it's a Christian cathedral."

So that's what Christians take
from it.

It reinforces...

their belief.

But millions upon millions
of visitors have felt it,

whether they have
any religion or not.

SHATNER:
In 1163 AD,

Bishop Maurice de Sully
authorized the construction

of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The bishop wanted the majesty
and splendor of Notre-Dame

to show France's devotion
to God.

The massive building took
over 180 years to complete,

and features
a 115-foot-high roof

and two towers
that stand 223 feet tall.

The value system of a collective

is reflected in the shrines
and monuments they build.

Notre-Dame was
the tallest building in Paris

for a very long time.

The common people on the street
would look up

and see the cathedral towering
above all other human activity.

That was the message.

A thousand years ago,
when architects were building

bigger and bigger
stone cathedrals,

the problem was,
sometimes they would collapse.

So before they had steel,

they had to use stone
with weight on the outside,

called the flying buttress,
to support the roof.

That's the reason
why Notre-Dame,

built a thousand years ago,

can have thin walls
and stained glass.

BURROWS:
Notre-Dame's builders wanted to inspire awe

when people came
and looked at the cathedral.

So, how did they do that?

One of the main tricks is
to allow light into the space

so that you get
this huge sense of height.

You don't see the massive walls,

and the building seems
to be floating on air.

SHATNER:
Historians and architects

have also suggested that the
power of Notre-Dame may come,

not just from how it looks,

but also how it sounds.

HUSSAIN:
So, one of the amazing things about Notre-Dame Cathedral

is the sound,
the acoustical properties.

And the acoustics in there
are just marvelous.

[men's choir singing gently
in Latin]

And that affects us.

It physically,
literally affects us.

Our heart beats
in a different kind of way.

You know, we can feel it
in our bodies.

BURROWS:
The great acoustics of Notre-Dame Cathedral came

from practice
and understanding geometry.

So the people who did that,
they understood

that if you emit noise,
a singing, at one location,

through the shape of the ceiling
you can bounce that noise

down to another location,

like a congregation
inside the cathedral.

SHATNER:
Did the builders of Notre-Dame

use clever engineering
to create a sense of holiness

and spirituality
in the cathedral?

Definitely.

But there are some who argue

that the site
at which Notre-Dame stands

already possessed
a special power

before the cathedral was built.

The location of Notre-Dame
is significant.

Like many other cathedrals,
it is a "temenos."

That means sacred place,
sacred ground.

A place where we can be in touch
with the transcendent energies.

COLLINS:
One of the little-known facts

about the Cathedral
of Notre-Dame

is that if you go outside of it,

there is a star on the ground

that points
towards every point in France.

And it is from here
that all of the measures

for cartography are made.

Which tells us that Notre-Dame

was considered to be
the absolute center,

not just of France,
but also of Paris itself.

HUSSAIN:
There's a symbolism

to the physical location
of Notre-Dame.

This idea
that Notre-Dame radiates out,

not just from the center
of Paris to France,

but from the center of Paris
to the world.

SHATNER:
A fire breaks out at Notre-Dame.

400 firefighters launch
a valiant effort

to fight the blaze,

using water pumped directly
from the Seine River.

[indistinct chatter]

Parisians watch in horror

as the flames and smoke envelop

the upper reaches
of the cathedral

and its 315-foot-tall spire...

...collapses.

[panicked screaming]

COLLINS:
A fire began in its timber roof

that spread quickly, causing
the collapse of its spire

and hundreds of tons of lead
melted and poured down

into the interior

of the structure.

And as much as a tragedy
as this actually was,

the response to it across
the globe was remarkable.

SHATNER:
The reaction to the disastrous fire

transcended national
borders and faiths.

In only two days, people
around the world contributed

nearly a billion dollars

to rebuild and restore
this beloved landmark.

YOUNG:
The outpouring of donations from within France

and from all over the world
tells us what a cathedral means.

It's not just a tourist spot.

If you enter a cathedral,
something happens to you.

People know they felt something.

They are attached
to that building.

HUSSAIN:
So, when you had the fire in Notre-Dame Cathedral

and the rebuilding of that,

that was extraordinary.

The rebuilding of Notre-Dame
Cathedral shows the attachment

that people have to the divine
is infinite,

and I think there's
a power there.

Can you explain it?

That sensation you feel entering
a historic cathedral.

Ah. Do these cathedrals actually
connect us to higher powers--

powers we might not
fully understand?

Perhaps the answer can be found

by examining another
vast man-made structure.

One that was designed with
another kind of power in mind.

Power over Mother Nature.

SHATNER:
With the country in the grips of the Great Depression,

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

presides over
the dedication ceremony

of one of the most extraordinary
engineering projects

in United States history--

the Hoover Dam.

McBRIDE:
There were thousands of people.

And at that time, the people who
came to listen to the president

dedicate it understood that
it was more than just a dam.

They were standing
on a structure

that they had built with their
own blood and sweat and tears.

We are here to celebrate
the completion

of the greatest dam
in the world.

SHATNER:
Named for President Herbert Hoover--

who was in office when
construction began in 1931--

the Hoover Dam is located

in the Black Canyon region
of the Colorado River.

Officials believed that
a dam in this area

could help manage flooding
of the Colorado River,

provide a much-needed reservoir
of fresh water,

and be a source
of hydroelectric power.

There was just one problem.

In order to tame
the Colorado River,

the engineers would have to
construct a more ambitious dam

than had ever been created
before.

McBRIDE:
Here you have the Colorado River--

one of the wildest and most
untamed waterways in the world--

and you want to tame it.

You want to control it

so that you can provide
dependable water storage,

hydroelectric power, irrigation.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
Well, when I think of the Hoover Dam,

I'm impressed that
we actually moved the river

to build the dam.

And they had to divert the river
through tunnels,

through the mountainsides
on either side,

so you have a dry bed
that you can build the dam on.

And then bringing the river back
just amazes me.

SHATNER:
Built in just five years--

two years ahead of schedule--

the Hoover Dam is
a staggering 726 feet tall.

At the time of its construction,

it was the tallest dam
ever built,

the costliest water project
ever undertaken,

and home to the largest
hydroelectric power plant

in the world.

McBRIDE:
Never before, ever in history, had there been

that much concrete placed
and poured in one spot.

And enough concrete went into
the construction of the dam,

you could build
a two-lane highway

from San Francisco to New York.

SHATNER:
The Hoover Dam changed the face of the nation,

allowing for the explosive
growth of cities

like Las Vegas and Los Angeles,

and fueling
the country's recovery

from the Great Depression.

But some have suggested that
the Hoover Dam represents

not just an engineering
success story

but also humanity's desire

to bend the forces of nature
to our will.

McBRIDE:
The construction engineer, Walker Young,

was widely quoted at one time
as saying,

"The Lord put that canyon there,
all we had to do was find it."

That speaks to a very kind of
Judeo-Christian philosophy

that human beings were
the paramount creatures,

and so we're going to impose
our needs on nature,

and we're going
to control nature.

LYNNE McNEILL:
The flooding power of rivers

is something that humankind
has been contending with

since there has been humankind.

And in a lot of ways,

the more we're able to restrain
what have often been understood

as the unrestrainable forces
of nature,

the more we suspect that
maybe something superhuman

is taking place there.

SHATNER:
Was the construction of the Hoover Dam

motivated by our need
to harness, control,

and ultimately have power
over Mother Nature?

There are many who believe that
to be the case.

And as evidence,
they point to a curious memorial

that was placed next to the dam.

An intricate celestial star map,

intended to send a message
to future generations.

McBRIDE:
The celestial star map is an amazing piece of art deco,

where laid into the ground,

is a star map with brass discs
named after certain stars.

And the purpose of that

was really just one thing:

it was to fix,

in astrological time,

the very moment--

the month, the day,
the minute, the second--

that Hoover Dam
was-was dedicated.

SHATNER:
The builders of the Hoover Dam certainly believed

that their creation would be
an everlasting testament

to their triumph
over the Colorado River.

But what happens when
the forces of nature defy

our attempts to control them

in ways that we can't foresee?

McNEILL:
Lake Mead is the man-made body of water

created by the Hoover Dam.

And what's interesting is
that Lake Mead is actually

one of the most deadly
recreational areas

that we have in this country.

People drowned mysteriously.

So many people
end up dying there.

One of the fascinating things
about Lake Mead

are these methane or gas pits.

And methane basically comes
when vegetation decomposes.

Now, one of the things
that Lake Mead did

is cover up a lot of vegetation,
'cause you make a lake

where there wasn't
a lake before,

and what you had before
was stuff growing.

So you can get
these periodic releases

of the methane gas

that's been generated
under the water

from the vegetation decomposing.

BARA: When the methane bubbles
up to the surface,

what can happen is, if a boat
is over that methane bubble,

it basically will lose
all buoyancy

and just sink like a rock
to the bottom of the lake.

So by building the lake
over this land,

we may in fact have created
a very dangerous situation,

and sort of set up
the lake itself

to basically be a death trap.

I think if you reflect back
to when the engineers

were making the Hoover Dam...

...it's often portrayed
as trying to control nature.

The focus was on the dam,

and we probably weren't even
asking questions

about the larger impact
on nature,

'cause it would have been
too hard

to calculate or worry about.

The challenge with
engineering and science

is always
the unintended consequences.

For the most part,
people are driven

by this desire
to make things better.

Are the tragic deaths
at Lake Mead a warning?

That our relentless drive
to build bigger, better,

and grander has gone too far?

If so, it's a warning
that isn't being heeded.

If anything, mankind's
determination to build bigger,

better, bolder is more evident
than ever before.

It seems not even the sky
is the limit.

SHATNER:
After five years of construction, Burj Khalifa,

the tallest building in the
world, is officially completed.

To celebrate this
record-breaking achievement,

the United Arab Emirates

throws an extravagant
opening ceremony

which features
a massive fireworks display

and an elaborate light show

projected onto
the gleaming tower.

KAKU:
It's an incredible engineering feat.

The tallest building
on the Earth.

It sticks out like a needle.

Everything else
is pretty much flat,

and you have this needle

sticking right out
of the desert.

SCOTT JOHNSON:
The Burj Khalifa

is an exceptional building
on many levels.

Most obvious is its height.

It's taller than any building
in the world,

and it's taller by a whole lot.

SHATNER:
At over a half a mile high,

Burj Khalifa bests the second
tallest building in the world,

China's Shanghai Tower,

by a whopping 644 feet,

and is a masterpiece
of contemporary engineering

and architectural prowess.

HUSSAIN: The fact
that the largest building

is now in the Arab world,
in Dubai,

is a great source of pride
to people there.

So, there's really
interesting connections

with the Burj Khalifa and Islam,

not just simply
because you've got

the building built
in a Muslim-majority country,

but also, you have
an ancient connection

that the largest mosque
in the world used to be in Iraq,

a ninth-century mosque built
by the caliph Al-Mutawakkil,

the Great Mosque of Samarra,
from the ninth century.

And what was really impressive
about it was

the sort of winding staircase
kind of minaret,

and that's what they've
duplicated in the Burj Khalifa.

And so, I think for people
in the Arab world,

it's almost
a nationalistic competition--

who can build the tallest
building in the world?

JOHNSON:
Nation states have discovered that a tall building

can become a cultural symbol.

A symbol of pride,

a symbol
of an ascendant economy,

a place in global states,

and a tall building seems
to resonate with that.

BURROWS:
We're currently in a race

to build the tallest structures
on Earth.

And the question for me is,

what is the limit
to how high these things can go?

McNEILL: Human beings
have always strived

to break their own records,

and when we can achieve
an architectural feat

that is breaking
all of the records

of any previous
architectural feat,

we are saying something

about our ability
to overcome limitations.

SHATNER:
At 481 feet,

the Great Pyramid of Giza
stood as the tallest structure

in the world
for over 4,000 years...

...until it was surpassed by
the old St. Paul's Cathedral

in London in the 13th century.

But it wasn't until steel
was invented

that the first skyscraper
was erected in Chicago in 1885,

and a new kind
of building boom began.

One that saw the completion
of the Empire State Building

in 1931, and shows
no sign of slowing down.

HUSSAIN:
For human beings to go up

isn't just to go up and be able
to see commanding views.

Why do we build these buildings?

Because we want to get up
into the heavens

because the heavens
are the divine realm.

It's being able to go up and see

what would God's-eye view
look like?

SHATNER:
To see things as God does?

But is that a good idea?

After all, there's a famous
story from the Bible

that serves as a cautionary tale
against doing just that.

In Genesis, chapter 11,
you have the story

of the Tower of Babel.

Human beings are united,
they speak the same language,

and they build this tower
to go up into the heavens,

and you have God saying,
"Wait a minute,

"what are these people doing?

"They're gonna build this

and they're gonna come up
to where I am."

And so, God basically
confounds these people

by having them speak
different languages,

so they're not able
to understand each other.

So they're not able
to build this thing

because now all of a sudden,

they don't speak
the same language.

McNEILL:
The Tower of Babel is a story

of trying too hard
to go too far,

and paying the price for that.

And it's interesting for us
to look at our modern

architectural marvels,

as potentially containing
that warning, or that threat.

So many people
have made a likeness

between the Burj Khalifa
and its shape...

...and the Tower of Babel.

The Tower of Babel
as we remember it

was supposed to be
a spiraled tower

that was going to reach
to the heavens

so that people could see God.

That was considered
inappropriate

and too much hubris.

I think we're operating
within the constraints

of engineering science,

but somewhere out there
is a limitation,

and I think we're
approaching a limit.

SHATNER:
As we seek to build ever higher,

is there a danger that
what we think of as ambition...

...may in fact be hubris?

Or is it simply an attempt
to reach for the sky,

to see how high we can climb
and how far we can go?

Perhaps even to the stars?

SHATNER:
The first module of the International Space Station

is launched into orbit
on a Russian rocket...

...beginning arguably
the most groundbreaking

engineering project
in human history.

The International Space Station

is really a marvel
of engineering.

It took 42 flights to build
this thing over ten years...

...and it was sent up
module by module,

with astronauts and cosmonauts
living on board

and adding to it as it became
a larger and larger space.

TOM SPILKER:
It has a set of solar arrays,

and from tip to tip, each one of
those eight wings is 239 feet.

So it is 357 feet long.

NASA likes to say
it's one yard short

of being an American
football field

including the end zones.

TEITEL:
The International Space Station

is the symbol of how incredible

human ingenuity
and engineering really is.

That we've been able to not only

build the International
Space Station

but keep it alive for 20 years

and learn so much
in the process,

is really an incredible outlet
of what humans can do.

SHATNER:
The idea of a space station

suitable for human habitation

started with the vision
of one man,

Dr. Wernher von Braun,

the German-born
aerospace engineer

who designed the Saturn V rocket
that took Americans to the Moon.

In 1952, nearly a decade before
the first manned spaceflight,

von Braun's concept for
a 250-foot wheel-shaped station

captured the world's
imagination.

SPILKER:
Von Braun envisioned

this rotating space station
to provide

a certain amount
of artificial gravity.

It could be used
for monitoring Earth,

weather, for military purposes.

Also as a way station
for docking a spacecraft

that would be going somewhere
else in space,

to the Moon or to Mars.

TEITEL:
So the International Space Station

isn't quite that.

But it's the proof of concept,

and starting to help us
understand the technology

such that maybe down the line,
the next generation

or the generation
after the next,

we will eventually get
that giant city in orbit.

SHATNER:
A giant city in space?

It's a marvelous
and inspiring idea,

one that raises
a profound question:

have we achieved all
that we can on our home planet?

And are we destined
to leave our mark

not just on Earth
but far beyond it?

So many of our iconic structures
on this planet

are reaching beyond,
stretching up from the surface,

trying to get us somewhere else.

Once we're in space,

what form
will our structures have

and what role will they play?

Not just pragmatically
as shelter for us,

but as symbols for us?

And what will we reach for

if we're already off
of this planet?

Whether it's the giant stone
monuments of the ancient world

or the awe-inspiring cathedrals
of the Middle Ages

or modern feats of engineering
that are all around us,

humans possess
an incredible ability and desire

to build and to make us wonder.

So, where do we go from here?

What are we going to build next?

Well, that, my friends,
is something

that is only limited
by our imagination

and our determination to impose
order on Mother Nature.

And our desire to explain...

...the unexplained.

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