13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
BBC World Service • History
BBC World Service • History
13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
BBC World Service • History
BBC World Service • History

About

Epic space stories. From the first Moon landing, to Apollo 13, to the Space Shuttle. Told by the people who made them happen.

NEW: Season 3: The Space Shuttle. A sci-fi dream that changed spaceflight forever. From the boldest test flight in history to one of Nasa’s darkest days – the Challenger disaster. Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells the awe-inspiring story of the programme that brought triumph and tragedy. Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.

Season 2: Apollo 13. Apollo 13 should have been the third Moon landing, but after an explosion, it almost ended in tragedy. Told by the people who flew it and saved it. Presented and co-written by Kevin Fong.

Season 1: 13 Minutes to the Moon. The first Moon landing. In the final dramatic 13-minute descent to the Moon, the Apollo 11 mission came close to going badly wrong. Communication was breaking down, technology was failing and fuel was running out. This is the story of how the first Moon landing was saved. Presented by Kevin Fong.

13 Minutes is produced by the BBC Audio Science Unit for the BBC World Service.

Season 3 theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.

Episodes

  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 4
    The countdown begins
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 3
    Introducing 13 Minutes to the Moon, with an Apollo astronaut and former NASA engineer
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 2
    Hans Zimmer has composed the 13 Minutes to the Moon theme music. It’s his first podcast
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 1
    The final part of our audio countdown. Lift off is on 13 May 2019
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 1. ‘We choose to go’, Apollo 11
    How Cold War rivalry fuelled Nasa’s race to land the first astronaut on the Moon
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 2. Kids in control
    The Moon landing is threatened when an alarm goes off. Can Nasa save the spaceflight?
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 3. Long Island Eagle
    The extraordinary story of the Eagle spacecraft that landed astronauts on the Moon
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 4. Fire to the Phoenix
    Nasa’s ambitions of a Moon landing are threatened by a deadly launchpad inferno
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 5. The fourth astronaut
    How a briefcase-sized computer pioneered space tech for the first Moon landing
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 6. Saving 1968
    Nasa astronauts circle the Moon as America is rocked by war, assassinations and riots
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 7. Michael Collins: The third man
    The story of Michael Collins, the third Apollo astronaut in Nasa’s historic spaceflight
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 8. ‘We’re go for powered descent’
    The final 13-minute descent to the Moon begins, and it’s all going wrong for Apollo 11
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 9. Tranquility Base
    Apollo 11’s mission is on the edge of failure, minutes away from the Moon landing
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 10. ‘For all mankind’
    The epic story of the final 13 minutes of the Apollo Moon landing
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 11. The 13 minutes
    Nasa archive audio of the astronauts as they make the historic Moon landing
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: 12. Live from Houston
    Ffity years after the Moon landing, space experts consider a return to the lunar surface
  • 13 Minutes to the Moon: Bonus - The making of the music
    A special episode with award winning composer, Hans Zimmer, talking about music and space
  • Apollo 13: Trailer, The Countdown
    Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story
  • Apollo 13: 1. Time bomb
    Nasa’s third mission to land astronauts on the Moon almost ends in tragedy
  • Apollo 13: 2. Death of the Odyssey
    Mission control scrambles to diagnose disaster. The astronauts face desperate action
  • Apollo 13: 3. Lifeboat
    The Apollo astronauts escape to the lunar module. Can Nasa help the space crew survive?
  • Apollo 13: 4. Power brokers
    The astronauts freeze in darkness. Can Nasa find a way to bring them to Earth safely?
  • Apollo 13: 5. Life support
    Nasa help Apollo 13’s cold, exhausted crew survive deadly CO2 levels in the spacecraft
  • Apollo 13: 6. Earth in view
    Apollo 13 goes off course. With no computer, the astronauts rely on their flying skills
  • Apollo 13: Bonus 1. Jim Lovell
    Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell talks to Kevin Fong about the doomed Nasa mission
  • Apollo 13: Bonus 2. John Aaron
    Nasa flight controller John Aaron talks to Kevin Fong about the ill-fated Apollo mission
  • Apollo 13: 7. Resurrection
    Can the Apollo 13 astronauts survive the dangers of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere?
  • Introducing: The Space Shuttle
    To launch like a rocket and land like a plane. The space shuttle: A dream became reality
  • The Space Shuttle: 1. The spaceplane
    Can Nasa build the most complex flying machine in space history?
  • The Space Shuttle: 2. The greatest test flight
    The astronauts count down to flying a brand-new spacecraft for the very first time
  • The Space Shuttle: 3. Glass rocket
    Columbia reaches orbit but the shuttle has been damaged – can they make it home safely?
  • The Space Shuttle: 4. The 35 new guys
    Nasa recruits women and ethnic minorities as astronauts for the first time
  • The Space Shuttle: 5. Space truck
    President Reagan declares the shuttle open for business. Then a satellite goes missing
  • The Space Shuttle: 6. Satellite for sale
    Can the crew rescue the million-dollar space satellite lost in orbit?
  • The Space Shuttle: 7. Teacher in space
    Nasa needs to kick-start new interest in the shuttle. How about a classroom recruit?
  • The Space Shuttle: 8. A major malfunction
    The Challenger tragedy shocks a nation. But could it have been prevented?
  • The Space Shuttle: 9. What is it all for?
    Is human spaceflight worth the risk? After the disaster come tough questions.
  • The Space Shuttle: 10. Return to flight
    The space shuttle is back – and they’re ready for lift off
  • What to listen to next: History’s Toughest Heroes
    If you enjoy 13 Minutes, listen to History’s Toughest Heroes, with actor Ray Winstone