This chapter focuses on the human story behind the Apollo era and the space race, highlighting the ordinary people doing extraordinary jobs and the heartwarming stories that emerge from their experiences. It discusses the selection process for cosmonauts and astronauts, emphasizing the criteria beyond technical competence, and explores the challenges of competition and camaraderie among astronauts.
Tim Peake was the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station, and is one of only 628 people in human history to have left the Earth’s atmosphere. In Space he tells the human story of space exploration – from launch to landing.
In Samantha Harvey’s latest novel Orbital six astronauts on a space station rotate above the Earth. While their waking lives are spent conducting scientific experiments and maintaining the spacecraft, their attention is constantly drawn back to the Earth – its beauty as they circle it, and the fragility of the human life on it.
The cosmologist Roberto Trotta stands on firm ground and gazes skyward. In Starborn he wonders how different our world would be if our ancestors had looked up and there were no stars. From navigation to time, gravity to the wonder of the universe, the cosmos has profoundly shaped our understanding of the world.
Producer: Katy Hickman