13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle - The Space Shuttle: 5. Space truck

Download The Space Shuttle: 5. Space truck

President Ronald Reagan declares the space shuttle open for business. It’s Independence Day 1982. And we’re in the sweltering Mojave desert of California.

Carrying commercial satellites into orbit is one of the shuttle’s jobs. But things start to go wrong for the astronauts when a $75-million satellite is lost in space.

And that’s just the start of a series of unfortunate events. Can they fix it and prove the space shuttle’s worth?

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:
Ronald Reagan declares Space Shuttle open for business, Reagan Library, 1982
The story of satellite WESTAR 6 and Palapa, CBS News, 1986
STS 41-B coverage, CBS News and KTRH News, 1984
Mission audio and oral histories, Nasa History Office

Published on Monday, 11th August 2025.

Available Podcasts from 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

Subscribe to 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle webpage.