# The 21 Best Space Documentaries of All Time

> Space on screen has meant restored Apollo reels, IMAX trips into orbit and patient science series hosted by famous astronomers. Archival purists and big-visuals fans will order these very differently.

*By YPB Team · Published October 26, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-21-best-space-documentaries-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Chasing the Moon** — score 1000/1000
   Robert Stone's 2019 PBS series on the space race, told through rare archival footage.
2. **The Farthest** — score 888/1000
   Emer Reynolds' 2017 documentary on the Voyager probes and the people who built them.
3. **Cosmos: A Personal Voyage** — score 874/1000
   Carl Sagan's 1980 13-part series that brought the universe into living rooms worldwide.
4. **For All Mankind** — score 826/1000
   Al Reinert's 1989 documentary weaving Apollo astronauts' voices over NASA mission footage.
5. **Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine** — score 753/1000
   Netflix's 2023 documentary on the engineers who built and launched the James Webb Space Telescope.
6. **Hubble 3D** — score 668/1000
   The 2010 IMAX film following astronauts on the final Hubble servicing mission.
7. **Good Night Oppy** — score 668/1000
   The 2022 film about the Opportunity rover's 15-year mission on Mars.
8. **Apollo 11** — score 565/1000
   Todd Douglas Miller's 2019 film built entirely from restored large-format NASA footage.
9. **The Universe** — score 565/1000
   History Channel's long-running 2007 series exploring planets, stars and cosmic phenomena.
10. **The Planets** — score 439/1000
   Brian Cox's 2019 BBC series telling the life stories of the solar system's worlds.
11. **Moonwalk One** — score 439/1000
   Theo Kamecke's 1970 film chronicling the Apollo 11 launch and lunar landing.
12. **Mission Control** — score 439/1000
   The 2017 documentary about the flight controllers behind the Apollo program.
13. **Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking** — score 439/1000
   The 2010 Discovery series in which Stephen Hawking imagines aliens, time travel and the cosmos.
14. **Return to Space** — score 439/1000
   Netflix's 2022 documentary on SpaceX's mission to return astronauts to orbit from US soil.
15. **In the Shadow of the Moon** — score 0/1000
   The 2007 film in which surviving Apollo astronauts recount their journeys to the Moon.
16. **When We Left Earth** — score 0/1000
   Discovery Channel's 2008 series charting NASA's missions from Mercury to the Shuttle.
17. **Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey** — score 0/1000
   Neil deGrasse Tyson's 2014 revival of Cosmos with modern visual effects.
18. **Challenger: The Final Flight** — score 0/1000
   Netflix's 2020 series on the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the decisions behind it.
19. **One Strange Rock** — score 0/1000
   Darren Aronofsky's 2018 series that views Earth through the eyes of astronauts.
20. **The Last Man on the Moon** — score 0/1000
   The 2014 portrait of Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last human to walk on the Moon.
21. **A Beautiful Planet** — score 0/1000
   The 2016 IMAX film shot aboard the International Space Station.

Tags: documentary, space, nasa, astronomy