Mars

TTL;DR Ambitious space missions are very dramatic on their own and don't need Nat. Geo. injecting more. TL;DR: If you want to watch a semi-factual account of a Mars mission, go watch "The Martian". However, if you aren't very attached to the physics and engineering of it, this is pretty decent as they come. Long version: From someone who actually studies aerospace engineering, it's very unrealistic (at least if the way missions are carried out today is to be any judge). From the outset, the show makes use of horrible representations of orbital mechanics and operating procedures to fulfill a contrived need for drama. Then the astronauts start taking risks that would never be allowed in the present to up the ante some more. This show also throws in virtually meaningless accounts from present day notables (Elon Musk!) that keep saying essentially "Mars is hard. We're working on it." (thanks Captain Obvious, if Mars was easy we'd already be there). This combined with the previous problems makes for a show that dresses itself like a documentary but has as less basis in reality than some soap operas.

It is okay, given much of the content is from a one sided perspective. For example, if we sent semiautonomous robots to begin building an artificial mountain, they could "work" on their own for as long as it takes to build it. The objective is to build a plateau just short of Low Mars Orbit, so visitors can land safely, and leave safely. Eventually a proper mechanized Space Elevator would be installed to enable more efficiency in the comings and goings. Then the danger element would be elimin

From the beginning the "acting" falls like a lead weight into a supermassive black hole. It's atrocious and you couldn't care less about the smug self-satisfied expressions on their faces. Human arrogance at its finest. Twaddle like this is the reason we can justify genocide against our fellow Earthlings who don't happen to share our DNA blueprint, endless natural resource theft, habit destruction, over-hunting and fishing, and limitless human population growth.