What is the future of space flight? With a successful Nasa landing on Mars and more commercial space travel in development than ever before, astronautical engineers are taking us into a new age. From lift off to landing, rapid innovations are radically changing what's possible and bringing us much closer to outer space. Presenter Kevin Fong meets Adam Steltzner, Nasa's chief engineer for the 2020 Mission to Mars, Anuradha TK, Geosat programme director for the Indian Space Research Organisation a...
Jul 13, 2019•50 min
Taking place over just eight months, four perilous and eventful space missions laid the foundations for a successful Moon landing. Each pushed the boundaries of technology and revealed new insights into our own planet. As we count down to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, astronaut Nicole Stott tells the story of the build-up to mankind’s giant leap.
Jul 11, 2019•50 min
Governing moon miners, asteroid hunters and space junk sounds pretty tricky, but we better get our act together. This year the majority of space launches included commercial enterprises. Space is no longer just the playground of governments but companies; companies that want to mine the moon for water that they could sell as rocket fuel, companies that want to mine the moon for helium -3 which could be sold and used as energy back on earth and companies that want to mine asteroids for platinum t...
Jan 11, 2018•24 min
If history had been kinder, aviator Wally Funk might have become the first woman on the Moon. In the early 1960s, she was one of 13 female pilots who passed the same physical tests as the Mercury 7 astronauts. Unfortunately her chance never came and no one has walked on the Moon since 1972, after the cancellation of the Apollo space programme. But today, space agencies and commercial companies around the world are preparing to return to the lunar surface and Wally meets the scientists and entrep...
Nov 20, 2017•50 min
Voyager 1 and 2: Still operating after 40 years in the depths of space. Voyager 1 is currently some 20 billion kilometres from Earth travelling at 15.5 kilometres a second. It takes 19 hours for a signal from the spacecraft's 20 watt transmitter to reach home. Voyager 2 is 17 billion kilometres away and will soon leave the Solar System. Launched in 1977, the twin spacecrafts have explored the giant planets and their strange moons, investigated the boundary of the Solar System and changed how we ...
Aug 20, 2017•49 min
The plans to set up human colonies in space and spaceships that will take us to the stars. Richard Hollingham travels to the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop in Chattanooga, Tennessee to meet scientists, engineers, doctors and anthropologists who are working on it. These are not dreamers - although they all have an ambitious dream - but well qualified experts. Several work at Nasa, others have day jobs at universities and research institutes. Richard hears of proposals to build giant space...
Jan 14, 2017•26 min
Why African nations are so keen to journey into the future as a space-going continent. Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock visits Nigeria, the birthplace of her father, to explore the passionate desire among some to fly against the continent’s impoverished stereotype and join the space race. And, what of the financial commitment required to achieve these dreams in countries where it is sometimes a struggle to keep the lights on? "Quite a few false starts have been made in Africa," wrote the Uga...
Jan 12, 2017•26 min
The first footsteps on the Moon were one giant step for 'man', but from the early days of aeronautics women have also been involved in space travel. Presenter, pilot and aspiring astronaut Wally Funk pays tribute to the pioneers, meets some of those involved within today’s space industry, and hears from the woman who might be among the crew for the first human mission to Mars. Wally has first hand experience of the early days of space travel in America. She undertook secret tests to become an as...
Jul 17, 2016•50 min
On Christmas Day 2003, a British space craft was due to land on Mars and begin searching for signs of life. The late Professor Colin Pillinger describes the daring mission. Originally broadcast December 2015.
Jan 06, 2016•9 min
In 1979, the American space station, Skylab, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Large fragments hit SW Australia instead of the Indian Ocean. Originally broadcast 11 July 2013.
Jan 01, 2016•9 min
How science, engineering and medicine come together to get fragile human life safely into space. Where should our ambitions lie? Originally broadcast 31 December 2015.
Dec 31, 2015•27 min
How science, engineering and medicine are trying to understand the limits of human physiology to ensure survival in space. Originally broadcast 30 December 2015.
Dec 30, 2015•27 min
In 1970, three American astronauts were heading to the moon when disaster struck. Astronaut Fred Haise describes what happened. Originally broadcast 14 April 2010.
Dec 27, 2015•9 min
Why has the moon fascinated humans for so long? The moon in culture, how it affects life on Earth and what the moon is really like. Originally broadcast 21 July 2014.
Dec 26, 2015•18 min
Take a sonic tour of the universe - this time, deep into the cosmos. Some sounds are recorded sound, others are data that have been sonified. Originally broadcast 7 July 2015.
Dec 23, 2015•27 min
Salute Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. In June 1963, she boarded Vostok 6 at Baikonur cosmodrome and went into orbit. Originally broadcast 21 June, 2013.
Dec 21, 2015•9 min
In 1990 the Hubble Telescope was launched into space, but the first pictures it sent back to earth were out of focus. Originally broadcast 23 April 2010.
Dec 20, 2015•9 min
The previously silent world of outer space is getting noisier. Listen in to sounds recorded on board spacecraft and sonifications of space data. Originally broadcast 30 June 2015.
Dec 18, 2015•27 min
The skin suit that combats the effects of microgravity, pushing human physiology and psychology to the limit, and the 'Overview' effect.Originally broadcast on 16 December 2015
Dec 18, 2015•27 min
Saturn’s moon Enceladus has giant geysers blasting water into space at supersonic speeds. Does it also harbour life beneath its crust? Originally broadcast on 14 Dec 2016.
Dec 17, 2015•27 min
For the first time, America sends two monkeys into space and brings them back alive. It's a watershed moment for the US space agency, Nasa. Originally broadcast on 22 May, 2012.
Dec 16, 2015•9 min
Astronaut Luca Parmitano was performing maintenance on the International Space Station when he noticed water leaking into his helmet. Originally broadcast on 14 Dec 2015.
Dec 14, 2015•16 min
