13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle Podcast
Epic space stories. From Nasa’s first Moon landing to Apollo 13 and the Space Shuttle. Told by the people who made them happen. NEW SEASON: 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle.
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 ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Audio Science Unit for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service.
Season 3 theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.
Episodes to download
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The Space Shuttle: 1. The spaceplane—The Space Shuttle
Monday
1/10 Can Nasa build the most complex flying machine in space history?
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Introducing: The Space Shuttle—The Space Shuttle
Wed 25 Jun 2025
1/10 To launch like a rocket and land like a plane. The space shuttle: A dream became reality
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Apollo 13: 7. Resurrection—Apollo 13
Mon 8 Jun 2020
Can the Apollo 13 astronauts survive the dangers of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere?
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Apollo 13: Bonus 2. John Aaron—Apollo 13
Thu 16 Apr 2020
Nasa flight controller John Aaron talks to Kevin Fong about the ill-fated Apollo mission
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Apollo 13: 6. Earth in view—Apollo 13
Wed 15 Apr 2020
Apollo 13 goes off course. With no computer, the astronauts rely on their flying skills
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Apollo 13: Bonus 1. Jim Lovell—Apollo 13
Tue 14 Apr 2020
Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell talks to Kevin Fong about the doomed Nasa mission
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Apollo 13: 5. Life support—Apollo 13
Wed 8 Apr 2020
Nasa help Apollo 13’s cold, exhausted crew survive deadly CO2 levels in the spacecraft
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Apollo 13: 4. Power brokers—Apollo 13
Wed 1 Apr 2020
The astronauts freeze in darkness. Can Nasa find a way to bring them to Earth safely?
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Apollo 13: 3. Lifeboat—Apollo 13
Wed 25 Mar 2020
The Apollo astronauts escape to the lunar module. Can Nasa help the space crew survive?
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Apollo 13: 2. Death of the Odyssey—Apollo 13
Wed 18 Mar 2020
Mission control scrambles to diagnose disaster. The astronauts face desperate action
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Apollo 13: 1. Time bomb—Apollo 13
Wed 11 Mar 2020
Nasa’s third mission to land astronauts on the Moon almost ends in tragedy
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Apollo 13: Trailer, The Countdown—Apollo 13
Wed 19 Feb 2020
Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story
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13 Minutes to the Moon: Bonus - The making of the music—13 Minutes to the Moon
Mon 23 Dec 2019
A special episode with award winning composer, Hans Zimmer, talking about music and space
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 12. Live from Houston—13 Minutes to the Moon
Sat 20 Jul 2019
Ffity years after the Moon landing, space experts consider a return to the lunar surface
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 11. The 13 minutes—13 Minutes to the Moon
Sun 14 Jul 2019
Nasa archive audio of the astronauts as they make the historic Moon landing
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 10. ‘For all mankind’—13 Minutes to the Moon
Sun 14 Jul 2019
The epic story of the final 13 minutes of the Apollo Moon landing
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 9. Tranquility Base—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 10 Jul 2019
Apollo 11’s mission is on the edge of failure, minutes away from the Moon landing
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 8. ‘We’re go for powered descent’—13 Minutes to the Moon
Mon 1 Jul 2019
The final 13-minute descent to the Moon begins, and it’s all going wrong for Apollo 11
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 7. Michael Collins: The third man—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 26 Jun 2019
The story of Michael Collins, the third Apollo astronaut in Nasa’s historic spaceflight
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 6. Saving 1968—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 19 Jun 2019
Nasa astronauts circle the Moon as America is rocked by war, assassinations and riots
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 5. The fourth astronaut—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 12 Jun 2019
How a briefcase-sized computer pioneered space tech for the first Moon landing
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 4. Fire to the Phoenix—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 5 Jun 2019
Nasa’s ambitions of a Moon landing are threatened by a deadly launchpad inferno
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 3. Long Island Eagle—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 29 May 2019
The extraordinary story of the Eagle spacecraft that landed astronauts on the Moon
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 2. Kids in control—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 22 May 2019
The Moon landing is threatened when an alarm goes off. Can Nasa save the spaceflight?
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13 Minutes to the Moon: 1. ‘We choose to go’, Apollo 11—13 Minutes to the Moon
Wed 15 May 2019
How Cold War rivalry fuelled Nasa’s race to land the first astronaut on the Moon
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13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 1—13 Minutes to the Moon
Mon 29 Apr 2019
The final part of our audio countdown. Lift off is on 13 May 2019
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13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 2—13 Minutes to the Moon
Fri 26 Apr 2019
Hans Zimmer has composed the 13 Minutes to the Moon theme music. It’s his first podcast
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13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 3—13 Minutes to the Moon
Mon 22 Apr 2019
Introducing 13 Minutes to the Moon, with an Apollo astronaut and former NASA engineer
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13 Minutes to the Moon: Trailer, T-minus 4—13 Minutes to the Moon
Fri 12 Apr 2019
The countdown begins