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January 9, 1998

Season 1

The Super Structures documentary specials celebrate the world's most spectacular engineering challenges and monumental construction projects. The series features the Eurotunnel, the International Space Station, the Panama Canal and many more fascinating structures around the world.

01. Grasberg Mine: Gold Mine in the Clouds

At 14,000 feet, in the remote jungles of New Guinea is the largest gold and copper deposit in the world. Getting to that deposit and building a profitable mine was one of the biggest engineering challenges ever.

51min
January 10, 1998

02. Hibernia GBS

The Hibernia platform has three separate components: Topsides, Gravity Base Structure (GBS),Offshore Loading System (OLS). The completed platform was towed to the Hibernia oil field and positioned on the ocean floor in June of 1997 and began producing oil on November 17, 1997. The platform stands 224 meters high, which is half the height of New York's Empire State Building and 33 meters taller than the Calgary Tower.

51min
January 10, 1998

03. International Space Station

International Space Station is one of the largest projects ever conceived and will take 45 space missions to provide the materials necessary to build the station.

51min
January 10, 1998

04. Kansai International Airport

The Kansai International Airport is just that - and island built to provide the space for an airport - an engineering marvel. Forty-one aircraft can park at the immense terminal - the only man-made structure other than the Great Wall of China visible from space. The only problem is that this amazing airport is slowly sinking!

51min
January 10, 1998

05. London Underground

London Underground, a system of rail lines, is still growing through the present day with the latest line expected to carry an incredible 30,000 people per hour in each direction!

51min
January 10, 1998

06. Norad: Cheyenne Mountain

NORAD: Cheyenne Mountain is an incredible 4.5 acre compound center that monitors the skies for unidentified aircraft, missile launches, space objects, and even falling space debris.

51min
January 10, 1998

07. Panama Canal

Deep in the jungles of Central America, man has battled nature to build an engineering marvel. Its epic story continues to astonish us! Its dimensions defy imagination! It's price...thousands of lives. It's the crossroads of the world's economy. Many have gone to war over it.

51min
January 10, 1998

08. Skyscrapers

These are the icons of success, symbols of power, ambition, and technological prowess. Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers and Chicago's Sears Tower are the focus in this fascinating survey of the history of this marvel of engineering.

51min
January 10, 1998

09. The Eurotunnel

The Eurotunnel paints a vivid and exciting portrait of human ingenuity and the unflagging nature of mankind's pioneering spirit. Join the 1,300 workers in their 6-year effort to complete an almost unimaginable technological feat - the 3.5-mile Euro tunnel.

51min
January 10, 1998

10. Seawolf

Seawolf provides a fascinating insider's look at one of the world's most remarkable structures. Called "the most complex military machine of the 20th Century," the $2.3 billion Seawolf submarine is a prototype for the U.S. Navy's undersea future.

51min
January 10, 1998

11. Snowy River

This edition features the Snowy River Dam in New South Wales, Australia.

51min
January 10, 1998