Moon Landing at 50: A Guide to TV Specials Celebrating Apollo 11’s 1969 Feat

July 20, 2019, marks 50 years since Apollo 11 made its historic landing on the moon. Since then, Hollywood has taken creative liberties to celebrate the feat, part of the space race against the Soviet Union. Projects include the Damien Chazelle film First Man, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Al Reinert’s For All Mankind. 

Moon landing enthusiasts (or disbelievers) can celebrate Apollo 11’s landing by watching such Hollywood projects, but multiple television networks including National Geographic, Smithsonian and Discovery will air their own special coverage throughout the month. 

The channels will commemorate the lunar landing with programs such as new episodes of Smithsonian’s Apollo’s Moon Shot, Chasing the Moon from PBS and BBC America’s Wonders of the Moon. 

Suit up and read on for a list of Apollo 11-inspired TV programs. 

July 5
Apollo: Back to the Moon (6 p.m. ET/PT, National Geographic)

July 6
Lost Tapes, The: Apollo 13 (3 p.m., Smithsonian)

July 7
Apollo’s Moon Shot: Rocket Fever (6 a.m., Smithsonian)
Apollo’s Moon Shot: Triumph and Tragedy (7 a.m., Smithsonian)
Apollo’s Moon Shot: One Giant Leap (8 a.m., Smithsonian)
Apollo: Missions to the Moon (9 p.m., National Geographic)
The Day We Walked the Moon (9 p.m., Smithsonian) 

July 8
The Armstrong Tapes (9 p.m., National Geographic)
Challenger Disaster: The Final Mission (10 p.m., National Geographic)
Chasing the Moon (9 p.m., PBS)

July 9
Apollo: Back to the Moon (9 p.m., National Geographic)

July 10
Nova: Back to the Moon (8 p.m., PBS)

July 14
Moon Landing: The Lost Tapes (10 p.m., History)

July 15
Mysteries of Apollo – Episode 8 (7 p.m., Science Channel)

July 16
Nova: Apollo’s Daring Mission (10 p.m., PBS)

July 17
8 Days: to the Moon and Back (9 p.m., PBS)

July 18
When We Were Apollo (8:30 p.m., PBS)
Apollo’s Moon Shot: Brink of Disaster (9 p.m., Smithsonian)

July 19
NASA’s Giant Leaps: Past and Future – Celebrating Apollo 50th as We Go Forward to the Moon (1 p.m., Science)
Wonders of the Moon (10 p.m., BBC America)

July 20
Apollo’s Hidden Figures (7:48 p.m., CNN)
Apollo: The Forgotten Films (8 p.m., Discovery)
Moon Landing Live (9 p.m., BBC America)
Confessions From Space: Apollo (10 p.m., Discovery)

July 21
Apollo: The Forgotten Files (5 p.m., Science Channel)