Reach for the Sky

Wallace and Gromit explore the mysteries behind man's fascination with flight, from 'homemade' space rockets in Manchester to jetpacks in the UK. There is also a look at some planes that unfortunately don't fly in another Contraption Countdown.

On location in the USA, we explore the most advanced flexible spacesuits being developed by NASA that are designed to allow wearers to perform cartwheels on Mars, and in Germany we look at the life of Gustav Mesmer, a man obsessed with flight, but whose inner inventor was locked inside his own imagination for years, and who finally got to realise his dreams of flying bicycles.

Finally, Wallace's Science Correspondent Jem Stansfield travels to California to investigate the connection between David Beckham and an eerie-looking spherical airship.