The BEST episodes of A Year in Space

Every episode of A Year in Space ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of A Year in Space!

Astronaut Scott Kelly's record-breaking year in space -- from launch to landing.

Last Updated: 4/8/2025Network: PBSStatus: Ended

7.67

3 votes

#1 - A Walk in the Abyss

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/13/2016

Fixing the space station can mean venturing outside-no easy feat 250 miles away from Earth.

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7.67

3 votes

#2 - Ride of a Lifetime

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/4/2016

Returning from the ISS is a wild, scary, violent ride-but it's the only way home.

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7.33

3 votes

#3 - Unlikely Allies

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/7/2015

Before leaving Earth, astronaut Scott Kelly heads to a once secret space center outside Moscow that is now the scene of an unprecedented collaboration between former enemies.

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7.33

3 votes

#4 - Quarantine

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/9/2015

Scott Kelly begins his long separation from the rest of humanity well before he leaves Earth, as he and his crewmates enter the curious world of pre-flight quarantine.

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7.33

3 votes

#5 - Launch

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/14/2015

The final hours on Earth are a series of rituals - both technological and personal - as the clock ticks down and the engines ignite.

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7.33

3 votes

#6 - Welcome Aboard

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/2/2015

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly boards the International Space Station and adjusts to life in space.

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7.33

3 votes

#7 - Perseverance

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/11/2016

Danger lurks both on the ground and in orbit as the crew deals with exploding supply rockets and incoming space debris.

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7.33

3 votes

#8 - Connectivity

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/20/2016

So much rides on the slender thread that connects astronauts in space to family on Earth.

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7.33

3 votes

#9 - Gravity

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/11/2016

By air and land, rescue vehicles converge in the Kazakh steppe to catch three men falling from space.

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7.00

3 votes

#10 - Last Days in Space

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/27/2016

Packing to leave can be bittersweet after a year in space.

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7.00

3 votes

#11 - Welcome Home

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/18/2016

After a year in space, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko reunite with their families and begin the long, painful process of readjusting to life on Earth.

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6.75

4 votes

#12 - Leaving Home

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/2/2015

Despite the technological "comforts" of the ISS, a year in space - the longest space mission in American history - has been described as the epitome of extreme, with extraordinarily high physical stakes. Following Scott in space and his identical twin Mark Kelly at home on Earth, the specials will tell the story of what it takes, mentally and physically, to spend a year in space and then, using what NASA has learned from the Kelly brothers, what it means for humanity as we journey to Mars and beyond.

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