Back down to Earth

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since November 2000, humans have been living in space on the International Space Station (ISS). Although the ISS is a remarkable engineering achievement, human space exploration has proven dangerous and costly. There is no air, gravity or food, and water has to be recycled from sweat, stale breath and urine. As we return to the Moon and aim for Mars, some argue that space colonisation is also immoral, psychologically and socially damaging and unnecessarily expensive. Beatriz De La Pava talks to astronauts, anthropologists, scientists, doctors and philosophers to investigate if it is time to abandon the dream of human space travel and come back down to Earth.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Since 1961 we've been blasting people into space.
0:05.0	What a beautiful view!
0:07.0	Astronauts have walked in space.
0:09.0	This is the greatest experience that it's just tremendous.
0:12.0	And on the moon.
0:13.0	For the past 20 years, there have always been humans living in orbit on the moon one day.
0:16.0	For the past 20 years, there have always been humans living in orbit on the International Space Station.
0:23.3	I have you loud and clear.
0:24.8	Welcome aboard the International Space Station.
0:26.9	And it's been thrilling to watch.
0:28.9	And ignition and lift-off as SDS 7 in America's first women astronaut and the shuttle has
0:38.6	pulled the tower. But human spaceflight has also proved costly,
0:43.4	and men and women have lost their lives.
0:46.7	We have a report from the flight dynamics officer
0:49.2	that the vehicle has exploded.
0:50.6	I miss the earth so much. I miss my wife.
0:58.0	It's lonely out in space.
1:02.0	So have we ever stopped to question why we're sending people into space?
1:07.0	I am Véatrice de la Pais and I've been fascinated by space since I was a child and dreamed of becoming an astronomer.
1:14.0	spoiler alert and that didn't happen.
1:17.0	But for the BBC World Service, I'm asking whether it's time to abandon dreams of human space travel and come back down to earth.
1:27.0	In 1957, shortly after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the BBC broadcast a live TV show
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.