Naked Astronomy, from 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

On 9 May, Mercury will be seen as a black dot silhouetted against the Sun and this rare event enabled astronomers of the 17th century to work out how vast the universe was. But this transit isn't just phenomenally important historically: it has huge implications in our search for extraterrestrial life, as Graihagh Jackson finds out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham bring news of space sofas, super flat floors and Martian sunsets. They are joined at The Open University by ExoMars mission principal investigator Dr Manish Patel to discuss his work on the NOMAD instrument, which is currently on its way to Mars on board the recently launched spacecraft, and how you prepare for success and failure. Richard also reports from Alabama, gliding across NASA's Flat Floor Facility on a bed of air beneath a giant solar sail. While having fun at NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Centre in Huntsville, he hears about NASA's Near... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

What happens when we turn our astronomical instruments back to planet Earth? With the launch of over 12 satellites, Europe's version of GPS, Galileo, will be operational very soon but why are space scientists getting all excited about it? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson is all about the satellites Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Buzz Aldrin is the legendary Apollo 11 and Gemini 12 astronaut who made history in 1969 when he became one of the first men to walk on the lunar surface. Today, he has his sights firmly on the future - specifically Mars. The visionary tells Space Boffin Sue Nelson about his cycling orbits to the red planet, why he wouldn't go to Mars himself, what he thinks of the ESA director general's plans for a Moon village and which item of jewellery he's wearing was a gift from Mohammed Ali. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists