I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by their

own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The Long History of Heroism with me, Rory

Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Before we start, don't forget, there are two previous seasons of 13

minutes, the home of epic space stories.

They're available right now.

This episode contains strong language.

Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.

Five astronauts are preparing for an audacious mission that will attend something that has never been done before.

It's November 6, 1984.

Eight months earlier, two satellites, together worth $150 million, were stranded in the wrong orbit after their launch from the Space Shuttle Challenger.

And it looked like that was it. They were lost in space with no chance of rescue.

But in two days' time, these astronauts will set off on board shuttle discovery to do exactly

that.

If they're successful and it's a very big if, it will be a space first. But right now, there's a meeting in the calendar.

With an associate administrator of NASA, an individual newly named to the job of the head

public affairs office at NASA. Mission specialist Joseph Allen, or Joe, is a nuclear physicist turned astronaut.

He joined NASA during the Apollo era.

In came the associate administrator.

Very nice gentleman, introduced himself all around.

...