Based on the success of the film Apollo 13, Tom Hanks was able to raise $ 68 million to film a television mini-series covering the entire Apollo program. The Apollo 13 episode marked the third fictionalised telling of the tale, this time concentrating on the media handling of the flight and the changing nature of television news.

The twelve episodes covered different aspects of the Apollo program:

- "Can We Do This?" portrayed the origins of Apollo and its Mercury and Gemini predecessors
- "Apollo 1" told the story of the tragic fire and the subsequent finger-pointing
- "We Have Cleared the Tower" portrayed the intense preparation for Apollo 7
- "1968" put Apollo 8 into historical context against the events of that turbulent year
- "Spider" followed the design, building, and testing of the lunar module up through the flights of Apollo 9 and 10,
- "Mare Tranquilitatis" illustrated the deeper considerations behind the Apollo 11 moon landing
- "That's All There Is" portrayed the camaraderie of the Apollo 12 crew
- "We Interrupt This Program" showed an indifferent media galvanized by the events of Apollo 13
- "For Miles and Miles" followed Alan Shepherd's return to the manned program
- "Galileo Was Right" showed the geology training of the Apollo 15 astronauts and the effect it had on their lunar exploration
- "The Original Wives Club" provided the program as seen through the wives of the second group of astronauts
- "La Voyage Dans La Lune" contrasted Georges Méliès' 1902 film with Apollo 17

Based on a summary written by Kathy Li