13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle - The Space Shuttle: 4. The 35 new guys

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Nasa recruits women and ethnic minorities for the first time to its astronaut class. In the beginning of American spaceflight, all astronauts selected for the programme came from the same background. They were all male, all white – all test pilots.

But now, with a revolutionary new spacecraft, and changing views in society, Nasa needs to change. They’re not just looking for people to pilot the shuttle, but engineers, scientists, and medical doctors.

Can Nasa change its culture?

This episode contains strong language.

Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle 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:
Mercury seven press conference, Nasa Archives, 1959
Nichelle Nichols Nasa advertisement, Nasa Archives, 1977
Where dreams come true, Nasa Archives, 1979
First female and African-American astronauts train at Nasa, ABC News, 1978
Ronald Reagan declares Space Shuttle open for business, Reagan Library, 1982
Sally Ride interview, ITN, 1983
Mission audio and oral histories, Nasa History Office

Published on Monday, 4th August 2025.

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