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American Experience
Space Men
Season 28
Episode 6
In the 1950s and early '60s, a small band of high-altitude pioneers exposed themselves to the extreme forces of the space age long before NASA's acclaimed Mercury 7 would make headlines. Though largely forgotten today, balloonists were the first to venture into the frozen near-vacuum on the edge of our world, exploring the very limits of human physiology and human ingenuity in this lethal realm.
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Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
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Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement.
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How a horrific incident of racial violence became catalyst for the civil rights movement.
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The fiery campaign that led to passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the vote.