13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

BBC
History Society & Culture Documentary
en

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 (36)

The Space Shuttle: 8. A major malfunction

The Space Shuttle: 8. A major malfunction

September 01, 2025 51m S3E8
The Challenger tragedy shocks a nation, as millions watch on TV screens across the USA. Something has gone catastrophically wrong with the launch of space shuttle mission STS-51L. As they watch a...
The Space Shuttle: 7. Teacher in space

The Space Shuttle: 7. Teacher in space

August 25, 2025 43m S3E7
Nasa needs to kick-start new interest in the space shuttle. After multiple missions, public attention is waning and funding could suffer. Nasa want to do something about it. And come up with an...
The Space Shuttle: 6. Satellite for sale

The Space Shuttle: 6. Satellite for sale

August 18, 2025 45m S3E6
Can the crew rescue the million-dollar space satellite lost in orbit? Two car-sized satellites, worth $75 million each, are stranded in space. Five astronauts have been selected to bring them back....
The Space Shuttle: 5. Space truck

The Space Shuttle: 5. Space truck

August 11, 2025 43m S3E5
President Ronald Reagan declares the space shuttle open for business. It’s Independence Day 1982. And we’re in the sweltering Mojave desert of California. Carrying commercial satellites into orbit is...
The Space Shuttle: 4. The 35 new guys

The Space Shuttle: 4. The 35 new guys

August 04, 2025 43m S3E4
Nasa recruits women and ethnic minorities for the first time to its astronaut class. In the beginning of American spaceflight, all astronauts selected for the programme came from the same background....
The Space Shuttle: 3. Glass rocket

The Space Shuttle: 3. Glass rocket

July 28, 2025 45m S3E3
Columbia reaches orbit. But astronaut Bob Crippen discovers that the shuttle has been damaged – can he and John Young make it home safely? Parts of the heatshield to protect the shuttle from searing...
The Space Shuttle: 2. The greatest test flight

The Space Shuttle: 2. The greatest test flight

July 21, 2025 43m S3E2
The astronauts count down to flying a brand-new spacecraft for the very first time. If they pull it off, they will earn a place in space history.The rocket is built. The astronauts are trained....
The Space Shuttle: 1. The spaceplane

The Space Shuttle: 1. The spaceplane

July 14, 2025 43m S3E1
Can Nasa build the most complex flying machine in space history? The plan is to create a permanent human presence in space. It’s Spring 1969 - two months before the launch of Apollo 11 – the first US...
Introducing: The Space Shuttle

Introducing: The Space Shuttle

June 25, 2025 3m S3E1
To launch like a rocket and land like a plane. The space shuttle: A sci-fi dream that became reality and changed spaceflight forever. Told by the Nasa astronauts, engineers, scientists and support...
Apollo 13: 7. Resurrection

Apollo 13: 7. Resurrection

June 07, 2020 1h 0m S2E10
Can the Apollo 13 crew survive re-entering Earth’s atmosphere aboard the revived Odyssey spacecraft? After four days in a spacecraft with dwindling power and oxygen supplies, the astronauts face a...
Apollo 13: Bonus 2. John Aaron

Apollo 13: Bonus 2. John Aaron

April 16, 2020 39m S2E9
Nasa flight controller John Aaron talks to Kevin Fong about the ill-fated Apollo mission, from the moment of learning about the explosion to his fears during the spacecraft’s final descent through the...
Apollo 13: Bonus 1. Jim Lovell

Apollo 13: Bonus 1. Jim Lovell

April 14, 2020 41m S2E7
Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell talks to Kevin Fong about the doomed Nasa mission, from the shocking moment of the explosion to the enormous relief of splashdown. Lovell reflects on survival, the...
Apollo 13: 6. Earth in view

Apollo 13: 6. Earth in view

April 12, 2020 31m S2E8
The Apollo 13 spacecraft goes off course. With no computer to guide them, the astronauts must rely on their flying skills to perform a high-stakes manoeuvre, timed with Commander Jim Lovell’s...
Apollo 13: 5. Life support

Apollo 13: 5. Life support

April 05, 2020 34m S2E6
Nasa mission control helps Apollo 13’s cold, exhausted astronauts survive deadly carbon dioxide levels in the spacecraft. The constant troubleshooting to stay alive has taken its toll, and the crew of...
Apollo 13: 4. Power brokers

Apollo 13: 4. Power brokers

March 29, 2020 45m S2E5
Apollo astronauts freeze in darkness, struggling to save power. If the battery dies, so do the space crew. And as the damaged spacecraft loses its navigation systems, they must rely on the Sun for...
Apollo 13:  3. Lifeboat

Apollo 13: 3. Lifeboat

March 23, 2020 44m S2E4
The Apollo 13 astronauts escape to the lunar module, but their problems are far from over. The crew must now survive in a spacecraft never meant for such a journey. Will this fragile refuge be enough?...
Apollo 13:  2. Death of the Odyssey

Apollo 13: 2. Death of the Odyssey

March 16, 2020 45m S2E3
Nasa mission control scrambles to diagnose the Apollo 13 disaster. Aboard the spacecraft, warning lights flash and oxygen leaks into space, plunging Commander Jim Lovell and his crew into chaos. In...
Apollo 13: 1. Time bomb

Apollo 13: 1. Time bomb

March 09, 2020 43m S2E2
Nasa’s third mission to land astronauts on the Moon almost ends in tragedy. Apollo 13 is doomed from the start - it will never touch down on the lunar surface. Even before launch, a last-minute crew...
Apollo 13: Trailer, The Countdown

Apollo 13: Trailer, The Countdown

February 19, 2020 3m S2E1
Jump on board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story, told by the people who flew it and saved it. Lift off is on 9 March.
#13MinutestotheMoon
Presenter: Kevin Fong
Written...
13 Minutes to the Moon: Bonus - The making of the music

13 Minutes to the Moon: Bonus - The making of the music

December 23, 2019 21m S1E17
Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Hans Zimmer reveals how he crafted the iconic 13 Minutes to the Moon theme. In this special episode, Zimmer reflects on the art of storytelling, his creative process,...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 12. Live from Houston

13 Minutes to the Moon: 12. Live from Houston

July 19, 2019 59m S1E16
Fifty years after the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, we’re at Houston’s Rice University, where President John F. Kennedy delivered his iconic “We choose to go to the Moon” speech to reflect on one...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 11. The 13 minutes

13 Minutes to the Moon: 11. The 13 minutes

July 14, 2019 18m S1E15
Nasa archive audio of the astronauts’ dramatic 13 minutes to the Moon, as heard by mission control. All of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s tense moments as they make space history. The recording...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 10. ‘For all mankind’

13 Minutes to the Moon: 10. ‘For all mankind’

July 14, 2019 46m S1E14
The epic story of the final 13 minutes of the Apollo Moon landing, including Nasa archive tape of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s historic space mission. The men and women behind this pioneering...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 9. Tranquility Base

13 Minutes to the Moon: 9. Tranquility Base

July 07, 2019 38m S1E13
Apollo 11 mission is on the edge of failure, minutes away from the Moon landing. Fuel is low, the tech is stretched and astronaut Neil Armstrong is struggling with the rocky lunar surface. He’s flying...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 8. ‘We’re go for powered descent’

13 Minutes to the Moon: 8. ‘We’re go for powered descent’

June 30, 2019 41m S1E12
The 13-minute descent to the Moon begins, and it’s all going wrong for Apollo 11. They’re going too fast, alarms are flashing and the crew loses contact with Nasa mission control. The epic moments...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 7. Michael Collins: The third man

13 Minutes to the Moon: 7. Michael Collins: The third man

June 23, 2019 41m S1E11
The story of Michael Collins, Apollo 11’s third astronaut, in Nasa’s historic spaceflight. He played a crucial role as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. During those final 13 minutes...
13 Minutes to the Moon:  6. Saving 1968

13 Minutes to the Moon: 6. Saving 1968

June 16, 2019 46m S1E10
Nasa astronauts circle the Moon for the first time, capturing an iconic photo of Earth. Back home, the country is rocked by war, riots and the assassinations Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy....
13 Minutes to the Moon:  5. The fourth astronaut

13 Minutes to the Moon: 5. The fourth astronaut

June 09, 2019 47m S1E9
How a briefcase-sized computer, less powerful than a smartphone, pioneered space tech for the first Moon landing. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rely on the software to guide their...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 4. Fire to the Phoenix

13 Minutes to the Moon: 4. Fire to the Phoenix

June 02, 2019 45m S1E8
Nasa’s ambitions for a historic Moon landing by the end of the 1960s are threatened by a deadly launchpad inferno. Three astronauts are killed, and it is one of the Apollo programme’s darkest moments....
13 Minutes to the Moon: 3. Long Island Eagle

13 Minutes to the Moon: 3. Long Island Eagle

May 26, 2019 42m S1E7
The extraordinary story of the ‘Eagle’ spacecraft, which landed astronauts on the Moon. Built by Long Island engineers, it was a spacecraft like no other - one designed to land on another world. The...
13 Minutes to the Moon: 2. Kids in control

13 Minutes to the Moon: 2. Kids in control

May 19, 2019 47m S1E6
Crisis strikes Apollo 11. The Moon landing is threatened when an alarm goes off. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are minutes from the lunar surface when the spacecraft computer flashes error code 1202....
13 Minutes to the Moon: 1. ‘We choose to go’, Apollo 11

13 Minutes to the Moon: 1. ‘We choose to go’, Apollo 11

May 12, 2019 44m S1E5
President John F. Kennedy boldly vows that America will land the first astronaut on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. It’s the height of the Cold War. But with superpower rival the Soviet Union...
13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 1

13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 1

April 29, 2019 4m S1E4
The final part of our audio countdown to the launch of 13 Minutes to the Moon, with Kevin Fong. Lift off is on 13 May 2019.
13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 2

13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 2

April 26, 2019 0m S1E3
Hans Zimmer has composed the 13 Minutes to the Moon theme music. It is the first time the Grammy and Academy Award winner has created music for a podcast.
13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 3

13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 3

April 22, 2019 2m S1E2
Introducing 13 Minutes to the Moon, with Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham and former Apollo engineer Poppy Northcutt - the first woman to work as an engineer in an operational support role in NASA's...
13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 4

13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 4

April 12, 2019 0m S1E1
The countdown begins. The story of Apollo 11 – coming soon.

About this Podcast

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(C) BBC 2025
Language
en
Categories
History, Society & Culture, Documentary