[1] Space Odyssey chronicles a fictional crewed voyage throughout the Solar System, which is used to convey scientific information on spaceflight and on the different planets.

At an unspecified point in the near future, five astronauts, commander Tom Kirby, engineer Yvan Grigorev, medic John Pearson, geologist Zoë Lessard, and exobiologist Nina Sulman depart Earth orbit on a mile-long nuclear-powered spaceship, Pegasus.

Kirby, Pearson, and Sulman descend to the surface of Mars in the lander Ares, landing near Melas Chasma, a part of the Valles Marineris canyon system, where they intend to search for liquid water buried beneath the surface at the bottom of the canyon using a robotic rover (named Charlie) carried by a balloon.

Pegasus then encounters Europa, where they send a robotic probe to the surface to collect sub-surface ice samples.

Leaving Titan, Pegasus is placed in an orbit in the Cassini division, where Sulman performs a spacewalk to collect a fragment of Saturn's rings.

Lessard and Sulman pilot the lander Messier to collect samples, with Kirby, Grigorev and mission control observing increasing seismic readings from within the comet.

Sulman and Lessard liftoff aboard Messier to return to Pegasus, which itself is struck by fragments of debris of the destructing comet and severely damages the spacecraft.

After performing emergency surgery on Grigorev to remove the comet fragment from his lung, the three able astronauts repair Pegasus and commence on the final journey home.

[2] Mission control Space Odyssey entered into pre-production in January 2003[3] and was first announced on 26 March that year,[1] set for a September 2004 release.

[3] The title for the programme was announced to be Walking with Spacemen, set to be produced by Tim Haines and Jasper James of Impossible Pictures.

[1] Walking with Spacemen was also connected to the other series through its creators (Haines and James) and through using scientific knowledge and special effects to create a dramatic yet informative programme.

The press pack released on 10 October that year no longer made any connection between Space Odyssey and the Walking with... series beyond the involvement of Haines and Impossible Pictures.

[8] In order to produce the most realistic and accurate vision possible of human exploration of the different worlds visited in Space Odyssey, the production team used facts collected on hundreds of different robotic missions, including details concerning rock formations, gravity fields and atmospheres.

Numerous scientists and astronauts were consulted for the programme, including the aforementioned David Scott, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, Chris Welch and Kevin Fong, alongside astronaut Reinhold Ewald, space author David Baker, space physicist Michele Dougherty, mathematician and astronomer Carl D. Murray, astrobiologist Charles S. Cockell, SETI coordinator Alan Penny, astronomers David Hughes and Francisco Diego, plasma physicist Andrew Coates, atmospheric physicists Stephen R. Lewis and Peter Read, and Adrian Russell, Head of Concepts at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company.

WonderWorks had previously worked on productions such as Apollo 13 (1995), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Space Cowboys (2000), The Core (2003) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).

[11] Henrietta Walmark gave Space Odyssey a mixed review in The Globe and Mail, writing that the drama portion of the programme was "a cheesy wannabe" but praised the special effects and scientific information, concluding that it "gets most of the science right and the fiction all wrong".

Like Walmark, Day gave some criticism towards the drama, noting that the audience does not get to know the astronauts very well since Space Odyssey is more geared towards the science and criticising that the characters are placed in danger every time they land, a plot device he felt was used too frequently.

[2] The Robot Pioneers was directed by Christopher Riley, edited by Andy Worboys and narrated by David Suchet.

[12] A companion book to the series, also titled Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets was co-authored by Haines and Riley.

[14] The book is based on the fictional diary entries of the ground staff and crew on Pegasus, with supplementary factual information on the planets they visited and the real robotic missions which have explored them through history.

[2] Using BBCi (BBC Interative Television), viewers could during the programme's original airing watch Space Odyssey with interactive features.