Smithsonian TV Guide — Wednesday, 22 April 2026

Early Morning

00:00 1h

S4 · E9 · Facelifts & Scaffolds Science

Facelifts & Scaffolds

A new museum building bends 1,100-glass tubes to form a facade & tunnels below the water table; an 11-storey glass atrium is built on the former Berlin Wall.

01:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S3 · E10 · Boxes & Birds Science

Boxes & Birds

Host Jay Ellis visits the American Museum of Natural History, an arts center inspired by migrating birds and built on a lake and Boston University.

02:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S3 · E5 · Heights & Balance Science

Heights & Balance

Host Jay Ellis goes to a 1.2 million square foot office building, a building that landed on a parking garage and the world's longest suspension footbridge.

03:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S4 · E10 · Super Stadiums & Extraordinary Elevators Science

Super Stadiums & Extraordinary Elevators

A 70,000-seat stadium defies seismic forces and international flight paths in LA; Zaha Hadid's dramatically twisted 33-story tower rises around ancient vaults.

04:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S3 · E1 · Fantastic & Futuristic Science

Fantastic & Futuristic

Host Mike Davidson goes on a global journey to see the world's mightiest machines and meet the mechanics, engineers and technicians who keep them running.

05:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S3 · E8 · Subways & Sightlines Science

Subways & Sightlines

Featuring a high-rise in Chicago with rippling balconies and the construction of an underground railroad in London that required 26 miles of tunnels.

Morning

06:00 1h

How Did They Fix That?

S4 · E4 · Sky Rides Science

Sky Rides

Host Mike Davidson goes to the Alps to help a team install a new cable on a gondola line, fix a steep cogwheel railway track and visits a family farm.

07:00 1h

How Did They Fix That?

S4 · E6 · Tunnel Vision Science

Tunnel Vision

Host Mike Davidson joins some engineers as they work to build the world's longest railway, fix the gridlock and blast and dig their way through the mountains.

08:00 1h

How Did They Fix That?

S2 · E2 · Deep Space Telescope Science

Deep Space Telescope

Host Mike Davidson goes to the remote Atacama Desert in Chile to work with a team at observatory ALMA to repair some of the world's biggest antennas.

09:00 1h

How Did They Fix That?

S3 · E5 · Fixing For A Fight: US Army Mega Repair Science

Fixing For A Fight: US Army Mega Repair

Host Mike Davidson meets with some U.S. troops in Germany to help them repair some fighting vehicles and joins them for two-week long battle exercises.

10:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S2 · E9 · Mirrors & Marble Science

Mirrors & Marble

The engineering and design story behind the Oslo Opera House, Australia's One Central Park and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

11:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S1 · E1 · Cantilevers & Lifts Science

Cantilevers & Lifts

Designers share what inspired their radical structural ideas, including a Manhattan skyscraper, a museum in Paris and a cliffside elevator in Hunan, China.

Daytime

12:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S4 · E6 · Shipyards & Slender Builds Science

Shipyards & Slender Builds

A wooden skyscraper built from 1,200 bespoke pieces tests fire safety limits in Milwaukee; a decaying Amsterdam crane transforms into elegant glass offices.

13:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S4 · E2 · Medals & Marinas Science

Medals & Marinas

Jay Ellis pays tribute to the U.S. National Medal of Honor Museum, looks at the leaning tower of gambling and explores a building that allows sunshine.

14:00 1h

How Did They Build That?

S4 · E1 · Space Stations & Super Inventions Science

Space Stations & Super Inventions

Host Jay Ellis learns about the construction of the International Space Station and about the engineering marvels that were involved in its assembly.

15:00 1h

Disasters Engineered

S1 · E4 · Aberfan and Corrego Do Feijao Documentary

Aberfan and Corrego Do Feijao

Experts examine the devastating Aberfan mine disaster in Wales and the Brumadinho dam disaster in Brazil.

16:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S19 · E5 · Fuel Trouble True

Fuel Trouble

Crew mismanagement and mechanical failures causing fuel issues.

17:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S5 · E5 · Impossible Landings True

Impossible Landings

With zero margin for error, three catastrophes are narrowly averted by pilots who manage to land their damaged planes-against all odds.

Tonight's Highlights

18:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S1 · E8 · Controversial Crashes True

Controversial Crashes

Some of the most debated airplane accidents are featured, including situations where the pressure is intensified when the victims are famous.

19:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S10 · E4 · Dead Tired True

Dead Tired

A regional airline flight stalled over Buffalo, New York and struck a suburban home five miles from the runway; investigators blamed the crash on pilot error.

20:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S12 · E2 · Fire in the Hold True

Fire in the Hold

A jet airliner leaving Miami crashes into the Florida Everglades when an oxygen generator which was stored in the cargo hold causes a fire.

21:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S2 · E5 · Lost True

Lost

As an American Airlines flight nears Cali, Colombia in 1995, its crew accidentally deletes the waypoints from the flight plan in their Flight Management System.

22:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S23 · E7 · Dream Flight Disaster True

Dream Flight Disaster

Investigators discover a minor maintenance issue that meant death for a UK billionaire and his family in an Australian seaplane crash.

23:00 1h

Mayday: Air Disaster

S14 · E8 · Accident or Assassination Documentary

Accident or Assassination

When a Lear Jet carrying the right-hand man of Mexico's president crashes in Mexico City, initial speculation is that the aircraft was sabotaged.