logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2020
51m 47s

Apollo 13: The drama that gripped the wo...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

50 years since the Apollo 13 mission, how millions of TV viewers followed the famous rescue of the three NASA astronauts. Also, the women who led the way in America’s space programme by spending two weeks under water and what happened when Skylab crashed to Earth in 1979. Plus, a collision on board the Mir space station in 1997 and the last men on the Moon.

PHOTO: The crew of Apollo 13 after their rescue (Getty Images)

Up next
Today
Winning the Booker Prize and discovering a lost fairytale
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.This week, the moment when Irish writer Roddy Doyle discovered he'd won one of the most prestigious honours in fiction: The Booker Prize. And our guest, Merritt Moseley, emeritus ... Show More
1 h
Apr 11
Hitler’s teeth and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Sahar Saleem, an Egyptian paleoradiologist specialising in using medical imaging technology to study mummies and ancient artefacts.We start with the story a Jewish ... Show More
1 h
Apr 4
The discovery of the Terra Nova shipwreck and Echo the elephant
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Sarah Ward, a maritime archaeologist from the Australian National University. We start with the discovery of the sunken Terra Nova, Scott of the Antartic's ship. ... Show More
1 h
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2015
The Apollo 13 Space Emergency
In 1970, three American astronauts were heading to the moon when disaster struck. Astronaut Fred Haise describes what happened. Originally broadcast 14 April 2010. 
9m 23s
Feb 2022
Apollo 13
April 13th, 1970. 200,000 miles from Earth, three astronauts are approaching lunar orbit when they hear a noise. Deep in the spacecraft, a tiny wiring fault has caused an entire oxygen tank to explode. Now, it’s a race against time to save the lives of the crew of Apollo 13. It c ... Show More
56m 42s
Jan 2021
The 'strike' in space
The three astronauts on the Skylab 4 space research mission in 1973 got behind schedule when one of them vomited before they'd even got onto the space station. They felt they were being micromanaged by ground control, and that their workload was unreasonable - and one day, all th ... Show More
9m 43s
Apr 2020
"Houston We’ve Had a Problem”
April 14, 1970. Apollo 13 is a quarter million miles from Earth, speeding towards the Moon, when a sudden explosion rocks the ship. Against all odds, the astronauts pull off one of the most remarkable survival missions in NASA history. On the 50th anniversary of this harrowing fl ... Show More
28m 3s
Jun 2019
Introducing NASA Explorers: Apollo
July 20, 1969. The day that changed our place in space ... forever. NASA Explorers: Apollo is an audio series that tells the stories behind the people who helped make Apollo happen and the people who are still discovering things about our Moon today. 
1m 35s
Apr 2021
The first space shuttle mission
On 12th April 1981, the space shuttle Columbia made history becoming the first ever reusable space craft to fly into orbit. It marked the start of a 30-year shuttle programme which revolutionised the history of manned space exploration. Using NASA and BBC archive we tell the stor ... Show More
10m 27s
May 2022
Apollo 11
Cet épisode de Crousti-History est consacré à Apollo 11. - C’est qui ? Le 11e dieu de la beauté ? Dans les années 60, les États-Unis et l’URSS se chamaillent (vous connaissez l’histoire…) et la conquête spatiale devient une compétition. Kennedy crée donc la NASA, une agence spati ... Show More
2m 52s