Naked Astronomy, From The Naked Scientists

This month, Space Boffins highlights the unsung heroes of the space programme - mission controllers. Featuring the director of a new documentary film on mission control, David Fairhhead, we hear from a man at the heart of the Apollo 13 drama, Sue meets the voice of the Space Shuttle and we catch up with Dan Dare... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

SpaceX and NASA compete to get people back to the Moon, Richard meets a man who grows space tomatoes in human urine, and heads to a lab where volunteers are being paid to stay awake. This month, Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by rocket scientist David Wade, and space scientist Helen Fraser to discuss how ice in space could form planets and celebrate the 80th birthday of Valentina Tereshkova. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins are at Astrofest in London in front of a live audience. Guests include an Antarctic meteorite hunter, the scientist tracking down the Solar System's missing planet and the flight director who's landed a spacecraft on a comet. It's also a chance to hear again from last man on the Moon, Gene Cernan... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This time, we're journeying to the Ruby Red Planet, Mars. Elon Musk thinks he'll have people there by 2024; NASA will be following closely behind with a touchdown expected in the 2030s. That means that in our lifetime, we will become an interplanetary species. But what will it be like for those brave individuals? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Broadcaster Dallas Campbell joins the Space Boffins at the British Interplanetary Society to discuss the giant new replacement for Hubble, hypersonic spaceplanes and balloon flights to the edge of space. They hear from astronaut Ron Garan about President-elect Trump and talk to one of the witnesses of the Apollo 1 fire, which killed three astronauts in 1967. Plus, discussions on urinating on the astronaut bus and books on sex in space. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As we enter the darkest depths of winter, the days get shorter and the nights get longer. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be. But since the invention of the light bulb, we've long been working towards the end of night. But does this matter? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In a bumper end of year special, Space Boffins features Buzz Aldrin, last man on the Moon Gene Cernan, the nurse to the astronauts, a cosmic piano and a space sofa. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined by space journalist Sarah Cruddas to celebrate 2016 in space exploration, commemorate John Glenn and look forward to the year ahead. Where will President Trump take NASA? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Most astrophysicists would agree that it's highly likely that there's life beyond Earth. But then why haven't we found any? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson tackles one of the fundamental questions of mankind with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jim Al-Khalili and Dallas Campbell. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins' Sue Nelson was at ESA mission control recently when the ExoMars spacecraft arrived at Mars after a seven month journey. She hears from ExoMars and Open University scientist Dr Manish Patel on the highs and lows of the orbiter and lander and Richard Hollingham reports from Arizona on the X15 space plane. Author Michelle Evans reveals the space plane's extraordinary history and, over at the Pima Air and Space Museum outside Tuscon, James Stemm is with the B52 bomber - undergoing restoration - that carried the X15 during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The podcast comes from the Royal... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Gaia launched back in 2013 and has been mapping the Milky Way ever since. In fact, it aims to give us the most detailed survey of our galaxy, ever. But is that all its set to do? Graihagh Jackson explores why scientists are going gaga over Gaia... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are on Mars - which turns out to be behind a blue door in the Hertfordshire town of Stevenage. With guest Airbus head of science, Ralph Cordey, they discuss the final moments of Rosetta, Europe's latest mission to Mars - due to land in October - and Elon Musk's plans for martian colonisation. Sue reports from ESA's mission control in Germany and Richard hears about the fastest man on Earth. They also catch-up with J Willgoose Esq from the band Public Service Broadcasting. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins meet the Mercury 7 nurse, Dee O'Hara, recalling what it was like to work with America's first astronauts. SETI's Seth Shostak explains why we should target AI to discover ET, and - in this US themed podcast - Spaceflight's David Baker reveals what role space plays in the forthcoming presidential elections. Studio guest is astronomy writer, novelist and broadcaster Dr Stuart Clark. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Fellow Naked Scientist Connie Orbach won a meteorite and so Graihagh Jackson made it her mission to find out as much as possible about this hunk of space rock, including how she might go about finding one of her own... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins are at the Blue Dot music festival at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire where they hear live music from Cern's cosmic piano and chat to Rosetta project scientist (and space celebrity) Matt Taylor about the end of the mission. Richard also meets the band that bounced a guitar riff off the Moon and Sue reports from the Farnborough Airshow, where she asks Tim Peake about his body and learns about plans for a new lunar mission. In another first, they even have a producer: Izzie Clarke. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

NASA's Juno probe has reached Jupiter after a five year battle through our solar system and is orbiting the gas giant. But now it's completed this death-defying stunt, what now? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson is colluding with the king of the planets to find out what it's really all about... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jupiter's Juno mission, the magical world of Pluto and spacewalking feature in this special fifth anniversary edition of the podcast. ESA's head of the neutral buoyancy facility, Herve Stevenin, explains how a giant pool helped astronaut Tim Peake obtain his space station spacewalk, and New Horizons scientists Lesley Young and Joel Parker from America's Southwest Research Institute share their extraordinary findings from Pluto. Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined in the studio by Robert Massey, from the Royal Astronomical Society, and space journalist Sarah Cruddas. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's nearly been 5 decades since Neil Armstrong took one small step for mankind... But will we return again? As things heat up, Graihagh Jackson brings together the cosmically curious to unpick our the drivers behind the marathon to the moon Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Last man on the Moon, Captain Gene Cernan, and Apollo 9 lunar module pilot Rusty Schweickart join Space Boffin Richard at Spacefest in Tucson, Arizona. Apollo 17 commander Cernan expresses his frustration about the state of the space programme and Rusty Schweickart warns of the asteroid threat to Earth. We also hear from astronomer Nick Howes, spaceblogger Emily Carney, Thomas Zurbuchen on how small satellites could be the future for big science missions and the going rates for astronaut autographs. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Graihagh Jackson is getting all starry eyed over our Sun. Where did it come from? Where is it going? And what it's taught us about the universe? Plus, the mission that's taking us the closer to the Sun than we've ever been before... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month the Space Boffins get to grips with relativity, watch as British astronaut Tim Peake manoeuvres a Mars rover in a cave, and go inside a section of NASA's new giant rocket. With their guest, writer and poet Simon Barraclough, they also discuss space station alarms (with appropriate sound effects) and celebrate the flight of America's first manned mission, Mercury 3. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists