Doc Vault · CH 6

Free Documentaries, streaming free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

History, science, space and nature: NASA mission films, WWII documentaries and pioneering nonfiction.

About Doc Vault

Doc Vault is a channel for history as it was filmed. Much of the line-up comes from the U.S. government's own film units: World War II documentaries made for the armed forces and for audiences at home, and NASA films covering the Apollo moon landings, Skylab and the early Space Shuttle flights. Because works made by U.S. federal employees as part of their duties are not protected by copyright, these films belong to the public.

The prime-time headliners include William Wyler's The Memphis Belle (1944), shot aboard B-17 bombers in combat; John Ford's Oscar-winning The Battle of Midway (1942); Frank Capra's Prelude to War; and Apollo mission films such as The Eagle Has Landed. The channel also airs pioneering independent nonfiction like Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Grass (1925) and Chang (1927).

Some wartime films reflect the propaganda and attitudes of their time; we show them as historical documents. Each title's page explains where it comes from and why it can be shown freely.

Schedule update: Man with a Movie Camera now airs on Silent Pictures.

Film guides on Doc Vault

Background, cast and fun facts for the channel's biggest titles.

Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 1 - Passing Apollo 13 2026 · 103 min
Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 2 - Behind the Moon 2026 · 120 min
Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 3 - Eclipse from the Moon 2026 · 100 min
The Battle of Midway 1942 · 18 min
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress 1944 · 42 min

Guides & collections for Doc Vault fans

If you like Doc Vault, try Space Live and Silver Screen too.

TV series on Doc Vault

NASA 360 17 free episodes · NASA TV series on space and aeronautics technology
Hubblecast 22 free episodes · ESA/Hubble video series (CC BY 4.0)
The Big Picture 5 free episodes · the U.S. Army's TV series (color episodes)

All free classic TV shows →

On Doc Vault now

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All 90 titles on Doc Vault

Prime time (7-11pm Pacific) features the channel's headliners, rotating nightly; the rest of the library rotates through the day, so every title comes around again. All programming is public domain or openly licensed in the U.S. - see Content & Rights.

25 Years of Progress: Shuttle Era 1983 · 28 min
25 Years of Progress: Space Shuttle Matures 1983 · 28 min
Apollo 10: To Sort Out the Unknowns 1969 · 26 min
Apollo 12: Pinpoint for Science 1970 · 29 min
Apollo 13: Houston, We've Got a Problem 1970 · 28 min
Apollo 14: Mission to Fra Mauro 1971 · 29 min
Apollo 15: In the Mountains of the Moon 1971 · 29 min
Apollo 16: Nothing So Hidden 1972 · 29 min
Apollo 17: On the Shoulders of Giants 1973 · 28 min
Apollo 4 & Apollo 5 Missions 1968 · 33 min
Apollo 8: Go for TLI 1969 · 22 min
Apollo 9: Three to Make Ready 1969 · 17 min
Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 1 - Passing Apollo 13 2026 · 103 min
Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 2 - Behind the Moon 2026 · 120 min
Artemis II: Around the Moon, Part 3 - Eclipse from the Moon 2026 · 100 min
December 7th 1943 · 82 min
Divide and Conquer 1943 · 56 min
Duck and Cover 1951 · 9 min
Hemp for Victory 1942 · 14 min
Hubblecast: Episode 100 - Best of Hubblecast 2017 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 101 - Our Place in Space 2017 · 7 min
Hubblecast: Episode 102 - Taking the fingerprints of exoplanets 2017 · 4 min
Hubblecast: Episode 104 - Illustrating Hubble's discoveries 2017 · 8 min
Hubblecast: Episode 105 - Best of Hubble 2017 2017 · 2 min
Hubblecast: Episode 106 - Flying through the Orion Nebula 2018 · 1 min
Hubblecast: Episode 113 - Nancy Roman - The mother of Hubble 2018 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 114 2018 · 4 min
Hubblecast: Episode 116 - Henrietta Leavitt - ahead of her time 2019 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 118 - How the first stars transformed the Universe 2019 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 121 2019 · 6 min
Hubblecast: Episode 126 - From Ultraviolet to Infrared: Comparing the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes 2019 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 131 - Showcase of Hubble's 30th Anniversary Artistic Creations 2020 · 5 min
Hubblecast: Episode 133 - Spectroscopy with Hubble 2020 · 8 min
Hubblecast: Episode 90 - The final frontier 2016 · 6 min
Hubblecast: Episode 91 - The future of Hubble, part 1 2016 · 7 min
Hubblecast: Episode 93 - Telescope Teamwork 2016 · 8 min
Hubblecast: Episode 94 - The future of Hubble, part II 2016 · 10 min
Hubblecast: Episode 95 - The impact of astronomy on our technological world 2016 · 11 min
Hubblecast: Episode 97 - Hubble, exoplanets and the hunt for life 2016 · 6 min
Hubblecast: Episode 98 - Hubble's biggest discoveries, part 1 2017 · 7 min
Hubblecast: Episode 99 - Hubble's biggest discoveries, part 2 2017 · 7 min
Let There Be Light 1946 · 58 min
Mercury: Exploration of a Planet 1976 · 29 min
NASA 360: Desert Rats and Analog Testing 2010 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 1 2008 · 24 min
NASA 360: Episode 10 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 17 2010 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 2 2008 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 3 2008 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 4 2008 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 5 2008 · 24 min
NASA 360: Episode 6 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 7 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 8 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Episode 9 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Inspiration 2010 · 25 min
NASA 360: NASA and Pro Athletes 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: NASA and the Future of Aeronautics 2010 · 25 min
NASA 360: NASA in Your Home 2009 · 25 min
NASA 360: Sensory Overload 2009 · 25 min
Power and the Land 1940 · 38 min
Prelude to War 1942 · 41 min
Report from the Aleutians 1943 · 44 min
Shuttle: A Remarkable Flying Machine 1981 · 30 min
Skylab: Space Station I 1973 · 28 min
Skylab: The Second Manned Mission - A Scientific Harvest 1974 · 37 min
Space Shuttle Columbia: Second Flight 1982 · 29 min
Target for Today 1944 · 92 min
The Autobiography of a Jeep 1943 · 10 min
The Battle of Britain 1943 · 52 min
The Battle of China 1944 · 63 min
The Battle of Midway 1942 · 18 min
The Battle of Russia 1943 · 83 min
The Battle of San Pietro 1945 · 33 min
The Big Picture: D-Day Anniversary 1969 · 29 min
The Big Picture: Fort Bliss - Heart of Army Air Defense 1972 · 28 min
The Big Picture: Our Heritage 1976 · 29 min
The Big Picture: The Army in Space and Under the Sea 1971 · 29 min
The Big Picture: The Twenty-Fourth Infantry Division 1971 · 29 min
The Eagle Has Landed: The Flight of Apollo 11 1969 · 29 min
The Flight of Apollo 7 1968 · 14 min
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress 1944 · 42 min
The Nazis Strike 1943 · 41 min
The Negro Soldier 1944 · 40 min
The Plow That Broke the Plains 1936 · 23 min
Thunderbolt 1947 · 42 min
Time of Apollo 1975 · 29 min
To the Shores of Iwo Jima 1945 · 30 min
War Comes to America 1945 · 62 min
With the Marines at Tarawa 1944 · 19 min

Full list with years, runtimes and rights: Free classic documentaries online · All free collections

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