Bonus. 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 mission to land humans on the moon. But meanwhile, hidden away from public view, Nasa is thinking the unthinkable.

This is the epic story of the space shuttle, a dream to make spaceflight routine. Told by the astronauts and team who made it happen.

You can listen to episode 1 here. For more, search for 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

This is a BBC Audio Science Unit production for the BBC World Service.

Hosted by space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

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

Archive: Richard Nixon launches Nasa’s space shuttle programme, CBS News, 1972 Mission audio and oral histories, Nasa History Office

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:05.8	Hi, I'm space scientist Maggie Adairn Pocock, and I'm the host of 13 Minutes Presents, the Space Shuttle.
0:13.9	It's the inside story of the dream to transform spaceflight with a reusable spacecraft,
0:19.7	and it's told through the men
0:20.9	and women who were there.
0:23.3	We're sharing episode one with you
0:24.8	right here. To listen to more
0:26.9	of the 10 episodes, search
0:28.7	for 13 Minutes Presents
0:30.5	the Space Shuttle, wherever you
0:32.7	get your BBC podcasts.
0:35.6	Some scenes in this series
0:37.0	use recreated sound effects.
0:38.3	This is shuttle launch control at T-minus 9 minutes, 30 seconds and counting.
0:49.3	It's the 12th of April, 1981.
0:53.3	Dawn.
0:55.2	Just a few seconds away now from our final build-in hold at the T-minus nine-minute point in our
1:01.8	countdown.
1:02.9	A machine, as tall as a 14-floor apartment block, stands bathed in beams of brilliant
1:09.9	white light.
1:10.8	It is dramatic if you go out before sunrise.
1:14.6	It kind of looks unreal. It really does.
	...

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.