Forty-Five Years of Star-Gazing

When the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, our view of the universe was very different. The far side of the Moon was still unseen, plants were thought to grow on Mars, and no rocket had escaped the gravitational pull of Earth. Since then, Man has walked on the Moon, sent robots to other worlds and probed far beyond the limits of our solar system towards the far reaches of the universe. For 45 years, The Sky at Night has charted science-fiction becoming science fact. In this special programme, Patrick Moore recalls the milestones that have changed our understanding of the Universe and our place within it.