Excitement and anticipation surrounds the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S. This momentous endeavour would mark the first time that any civilian has been flown into space. On 28 January, 1986, school children and others watch eagerly on the ground and on television, as school teacher Christa McAuliffe prepares to become the first civilian to join the astronauts. At 11:38 AM, Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off, barrelling towards the atmosphere. However, a mere 73 seconds later, onlookers and the nation watch in horror when the shuttle is suddenly engulfed in flames and breaks apart in the sky. A full-scale enquiry of the crash is launched with NASA officials searching for clues to the shuttle's explosion, desperate to answer the most agonizing question: could this tragedy have been prevented?

The tranquillity of Montserrat, an island paradise in the Caribbean, is shattered in 1995 when the Soufriere Hills erupt for the first time in recorded history. The eruption takes the population of Montserrat by surprise. Scientists flock to the island and closely monitor the volcano over the next two years. Evacuations take place and an exclusion zone is mapped out. Then at 12:45pm on June 25th 1997 two years after the first eruption a massive tremor rocks the mountain. A plume of hot ash and steam soon spews into the air; reaching 45,000 feet in a matter of minutes and shrouding half the island in darkness. There follows 25 minutes of violent activity. When the ash finally settles many hours later, a scene of total devastation is revealed; many villages are buried and 19 people are dead. Many others are lucky to be alive. Montserrat is scandalised by the deaths and an investigation gets underway to discover how and why the deaths occurred.

Over two days in spring of 1996, 9 climbers died on the descent from Mount Everest. A fierce storm, hubris and ambition and a series of errors contributed to make this the deadliest day in the history of the mountain.

The 1972 Munich Olympics holds significant promise, offering a chance to showcase a new Germany to a post-WWII world. However, this hopeful beginning meets a tragic end on September 5 at just after 4:00 AM when Palestinian terrorists kill two Israeli athletes and capture 9 others. As police struggle to handle the crisis, the terrorists anticipate their every move. By 1:30 AM on 6 September, the fighting finally stops, and all of the athletes, five terrorists and one German police officer are dead. With the circumstances behind the police's actions shrouded in mystery, one athlete's wife vows to uncover the truth. An anonymous source begins sending her copies of a classified German report investigating the police protocol. With the help of a hostage crisis expert who analyzes more than 3,000 files, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. Supplemented by expert testimony, eye-witness and family member interviews, this gripping one-hour recount answers the most critical questions: How did the terrorists break into the Olympic village; how did the police's rescue plot go so terribly wrong; and how could this have been prevented?

In March 2011, as Japan reels from the most powerful earthquake in its history, a 14 metre-high tsunami surges over the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, knocking out its power supply and essential cooling systems. With the plant blacked out, engineers face nuclear meltdown. The reactors begin to overheat leading to two huge explosions that tear the plant apart and dispersing radiation. As Japan faces the worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl, an international nuclear expert will investigate exactly what happed at Fukushima and see what, if anything, could have been done to prevent it.

Is a "zombie apocalypse" simply a concept of fiction or could an infectious disease REALLY turn humanity into a race of vicious, seething monsters? The truth just might shock you! NGC examines one all too real scenario -- a pandemic caused by a mutated rabies virus. Experts from the fields of medicine, biology and the social sciences explain what could happen if humanity faced a deadly contagion for which there was is no cure. Through stunning dramatizations, watch as the virus makes its way from the depths of the ocean to every corner of the Earth turning humans and animals alike into individual vehicles of brutal destruction.

Do amazing breakthroughs in technology bring terrifying new levels of danger to humanity? We this deadly question by exploring some of the dangers posed by one of the most promising new technologies: nano-robotics. This one-houir program postulates an environmental clean-up robot the size of a molecule, which is hacked by a rogue engineer and turned into a spreading, flesh-consuming monster. In this scenario, it becomes clear that the only technology fit to fight back against this nano-robot is another robot a near-microscopic nano-aircraft built by the American military. The nano-weapon does handle the initial threat but when it spins out of control and begins attacking cities around the world, the cure becomes more deadly and world-threatening than the disease. Only by resorting to an improvised weapon radar used to fuse and melt the tiny inner workings of these military robots does humanity escape this gruesome fate.

Fleets of unique ships brought Chinese people and goods from Quanzhou around the world, although the emperors nearly destroyed all maritime trade.

Quanzhou marked the end-point of the Maritime Silk Road. Goods, cultures and faiths melded here, and its fame spread as far as mediaeval Europe.

Yiwu- the world's largest small commodities market. In 2014, as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, the city became home to a new freight train network to Europe. Today, it takes only 16 days to reach Madrid on the longest freight train route in the world as compared to over a year on the ancient silk road 2000 years ago. Historian Sam Willis teams up with journalist Li Qiuyuan to dig into Yiwu's trading past and explore how this modern-day rail link is changing how China trades with the west.

2000 years ago, in the time of the ancient Silk Road, the journey between China, Central Asia and Europe often took an entire year. Today, goods can be transported overland in just 14 days thanks to the world's longest rail service, a 13,000 KM route that connects China and Europe. Now, with ancient connections being revived for the 21st century, historian Sam Willis and journalist Li Qiuyuan travel to Chengdu, to explore how a new era of trade is shaping the city.

Embark on an adventure through incredible Guizhou, China with National Geographic explorer and photographer Ben Horton. Discover mystical wilderness, iconic attractions and hidden marvels in "Best of the World's Destinations - Guizhou." Where every moment and encounter is a story waiting to be told.

The summer of 2003 brought a devastating heatwave to France that shook the whole country. Using archive images and unpublished testimonies, we look back at how first responders fought day after day to mitigate its damage. The lessons learned are being applied today as the country and all of Europe face new risks from rising temperatures.

An in-depth look at how Italy's largest cruise ship ran aground off the Italian coast.

The tranquillity of Montserrat, an island paradise in the Caribbean, is shattered in 1995 when the Soufriere Hills erupt for the first time in recorded history. The eruption takes the population of Montserrat by surprise. Scientists flock to the island and closely monitor the volcano over the next two years. Evacuations take place and an exclusion zone is mapped out. Then at 12:45pm on June 25th 1997 two years after the first eruption a massive tremor rocks the mountain. A plume of hot ash and steam soon spews into the air; reaching 45,000 feet in a matter of minutes and shrouding half the island in darkness. There follows 25 minutes of violent activity. When the ash finally settles many hours later, a scene of total devastation is revealed; many villages are buried and 19 people are dead. Many others are lucky to be alive. Montserrat is scandalised by the deaths and an investigation gets underway to discover how and why the deaths occurred.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 nosedives after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing everyone on board. This is the second fatal accident involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8 in just five months. When investigators conclude the same piece of software caused the plane to pitch down repeatedly in both accidents, the entire MAX 8 fleet is grounded until a fix can be found.

With flames emerging through the cockpit floor, the pilots of Pilgrim Airlines 458 are desperate to land. Amid smoke, extreme heat and zero visibility, they somehow manage to touch down on a frozen Rhode Island reservoir. Within minutes, the inferno destroys any evidence of how the fire started. And with no data recorder, it's a surviving pilot who ultimatley gives investigators the break they need.

A state-of-the-art helicopter carrying oil workers to a drilling platform crashes into the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. Remarkably one man survives and within hours, a major recovery effort has begun to retrieve the victims, the flight recorder, and the mangled wreckage from the ocean floor. Investigators piece together the clues and ultimately reveal a fatal flaw in the S-92's design.

Excitement and anticipation surrounds the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S. This momentous endeavour would mark the first time that any civilian has been flown into space. On 28 January, 1986, school children and others watch eagerly on the ground and on television, as school teacher Christa McAuliffe prepares to become the first civilian to join the astronauts. At 11:38 AM, Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off, barrelling towards the atmosphere. However, a mere 73 seconds later, onlookers and the nation watch in horror when the shuttle is suddenly engulfed in flames and breaks apart in the sky. A full-scale enquiry of the crash is launched with NASA officials searching for clues to the shuttle's explosion, desperate to answer the most agonizing question: could this tragedy have been prevented?

The tranquillity of Montserrat, an island paradise in the Caribbean, is shattered in 1995 when the Soufriere Hills erupt for the first time in recorded history. The eruption takes the population of Montserrat by surprise. Scientists flock to the island and closely monitor the volcano over the next two years. Evacuations take place and an exclusion zone is mapped out. Then at 12:45pm on June 25th 1997 two years after the first eruption a massive tremor rocks the mountain. A plume of hot ash and steam soon spews into the air; reaching 45,000 feet in a matter of minutes and shrouding half the island in darkness. There follows 25 minutes of violent activity. When the ash finally settles many hours later, a scene of total devastation is revealed; many villages are buried and 19 people are dead. Many others are lucky to be alive. Montserrat is scandalised by the deaths and an investigation gets underway to discover how and why the deaths occurred.

Over two days in spring of 1996, 9 climbers died on the descent from Mount Everest. A fierce storm, hubris and ambition and a series of errors contributed to make this the deadliest day in the history of the mountain.

The 1972 Munich Olympics holds significant promise, offering a chance to showcase a new Germany to a post-WWII world. However, this hopeful beginning meets a tragic end on September 5 at just after 4:00 AM when Palestinian terrorists kill two Israeli athletes and capture 9 others. As police struggle to handle the crisis, the terrorists anticipate their every move. By 1:30 AM on 6 September, the fighting finally stops, and all of the athletes, five terrorists and one German police officer are dead. With the circumstances behind the police's actions shrouded in mystery, one athlete's wife vows to uncover the truth. An anonymous source begins sending her copies of a classified German report investigating the police protocol. With the help of a hostage crisis expert who analyzes more than 3,000 files, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. Supplemented by expert testimony, eye-witness and family member interviews, this gripping one-hour recount answers the most critical questions: How did the terrorists break into the Olympic village; how did the police's rescue plot go so terribly wrong; and how could this have been prevented?

The summer of 2003 brought a devastating heatwave to France that shook the whole country. Using archive images and unpublished testimonies, we look back at how first responders fought day after day to mitigate its damage. The lessons learned are being applied today as the country and all of Europe face new risks from rising temperatures.

An in-depth look at how Italy's largest cruise ship ran aground off the Italian coast.

In March 2011, as Japan reels from the most powerful earthquake in its history, a 14 metre-high tsunami surges over the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, knocking out its power supply and essential cooling systems. With the plant blacked out, engineers face nuclear meltdown. The reactors begin to overheat leading to two huge explosions that tear the plant apart and dispersing radiation. As Japan faces the worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl, an international nuclear expert will investigate exactly what happed at Fukushima and see what, if anything, could have been done to prevent it.

In this episode we learn how many ways there are to injure and humiliate yourself unicycling off-road, mounting a segway or arm-wrestling.

Quanzhou marked the end-point of the Maritime Silk Road. Goods, cultures and faiths melded here, and its fame spread as far as mediaeval Europe.

Fleets of unique ships brought Chinese people and goods from Quanzhou around the world, although the emperors nearly destroyed all maritime trade.

Yiwu- the world's largest small commodities market. In 2014, as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, the city became home to a new freight train network to Europe. Today, it takes only 16 days to reach Madrid on the longest freight train route in the world as compared to over a year on the ancient silk road 2000 years ago. Historian Sam Willis teams up with journalist Li Qiuyuan to dig into Yiwu's trading past and explore how this modern-day rail link is changing how China trades with the west.

2000 years ago, in the time of the ancient Silk Road, the journey between China, Central Asia and Europe often took an entire year. Today, goods can be transported overland in just 14 days thanks to the world's longest rail service, a 13,000 KM route that connects China and Europe. Now, with ancient connections being revived for the 21st century, historian Sam Willis and journalist Li Qiuyuan travel to Chengdu, to explore how a new era of trade is shaping the city.

Embark on an adventure through incredible Guizhou, China with National Geographic explorer and photographer Ben Horton. Discover mystical wilderness, iconic attractions and hidden marvels in "Best of the World's Destinations - Guizhou." Where every moment and encounter is a story waiting to be told.

With all the emergency agencies involved in a simulated plane crash exercise, real problems place airport operations in jeopardy. Dangerous winds close 2 runways, followed by an electrical outage that blanks flight information boards. The worst case scenario becomes a real prospect when the alarm is raised from an explosion inside a passenger terminal.

Fresh from nine months training at the Border Force Academy, Labrador Warner faces his first day on the job as a drug sniffer. Security managers test their screening teams by trying to smuggle a fake bomb past them. Annie faces her moment of truth. Will she pass the test and become a qualified Screening Officer?

Federico Fanti travels to the United Kingdom, the birthplace of paleontology, to explore its origins and the site of the first dinosaur discovery.

Federico Fanti is in Canada to discover the "dinosaur mummies". We discover skeletons, fossilized skin and, above all, a perfectly mummified fossil.

Before humans ruled the world, planet Earth was a land of giants. But of all the beasts that ever lived…which is the biggest? Now experts take us on a journey to uncover the top ten largest of their kind. From bugs the size of hawks, to snakes the size of buses, to sharks that could bite a truck in half, we count down from ten. We investigate the latest discoveries, explore remote sites and follow the science behind the mind-blowing size of these creatures. And using photo-real CGI and dramatic demonstrations we reveal the true scale and awesome abilities of these creatures.

Today, all that's left of the dinosaurs are fossilized bones. But using modern technology we can now go beyond the bones, using fossils to answer 5 eye-opening questions about dinosaur appearance, behavior and lifestyle.

How did prehistoric land mammals evolve into top ocean predators? This episode examines a unique dig site in Egypt that could help solve the mystery.

How did the legendary giant megalodon shark take over the oceans? This episode explores a unique dig site to investigate the mystery.

Executive Produced by James Cameron, "Atlantis Discovered" is a 1x120 detective thriller that seeks out, uncovers and explores artifacts such as archaeological finds, satellite photographs, manuscripts hiding in plain sight, underwater exploration, etc. and attempt to "decode" the artifacts as springboards to further the investigation to get to the bottom of the story.

The deadly volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii in AD79 also claimed another victim: Herculaneum. Positioned closer to the Vesuvius crater, this seaside town was covered in ash five times as thick as Pompeii, yet miraculously is even better preserved. Now, the discovery of an intact skeleton here, the first excavated in 25 years, helps investigators piece together the final hours of Herculaneum and unravel why Vesuvius stuck so violently here.

The Acropolis: Ancient Greece's most magnificent architectural work, perched on top of a rocky hill in Athens was built around 2000 years ago. Thanks to aerial footage, field investigation from the world's leading experts and 3D reconstructions, travel back in time and unravel the secrets of the construction of the Acropolis.

An investigative journey set in the heart of the Aegean Sea. A team of archaeologists unveil what may be the world's oldest maritime sanctuary.

Throughout human history, architecture has served to showcase power and express meaning. But buildings also keep secrets. By accident, and by design, whole cities were written in invisible ink, kept safe from the prying eyes of outsiders. This program explores why ancient people riddled their most impressive creations with secrets, and how modern scientists are learning to uncover them.

In the heart of the Jordanian desert, the ancient city of Petra is full of mysteries. How was this architectural prowess achieved more than 2,000 years ago?

Executive Produced by James Cameron, "Atlantis Discovered" is a 1x120 detective thriller that seeks out, uncovers and explores artifacts such as archaeological finds, satellite photographs, manuscripts hiding in plain sight, underwater exploration, etc. and attempt to "decode" the artifacts as springboards to further the investigation to get to the bottom of the story.

How did the Tasmanian Tiger become extinct? This episode explores a unique dig site in Australia that could help solve the mystery.

How did the legendary giant megalodon shark take over the oceans? This episode explores a unique dig site to investigate the mystery.

How did the Tasmanian Tiger become extinct? This episode explores a unique dig site in Australia that could help solve the mystery.

At JFK, CBP discovers a passenger smuggling thousands of dangerous stimulant pills. In Miami, officers uncover a cache of illegal weapons headed outbound. When COVID-19 hits, CBP responds to the latest smuggling trends. In Nogales, AZ, officers make the largest meth seizure in the port's history. At Newark Seaport, CBP examines a shipment of potential narcotics arriving onboard a large vessel.

HSI tails a truck loaded with narcotics to a meth compound near Los Angeles, and CBP discovers fentanyl and meth in cars using trusted traveler lanes.