13 Minutes to the Moon

By BBC World Service

What's 13 Minutes to the Moon about?

Epic space stories.

Season 1: the first Moon landing, Apollo 11.

Season 2: the near disaster of Apollo 13.

Coming soon: Season 3, the space shuttle.

Theme music: Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg for Bleeding Fingers Music.

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13 Minutes to the Moon episodes:

02.29.2024
Bonus: The Global Story
Why everyone wants to get back to the moon - a special episode with Kevin Fong. The United States has just returned to the moon for the first time in 50 years. But they are not the only country in...
05.17.2023
Update: Live show and season 3!
News about the next season and our live episode recording at The Podcast Show 2023 in London. What would you like to ask space shuttle astronaut and engineer Kay Hire? Kay became the 34th woman to fly in space when...
06.07.2020
S2 Ep.07 Resurrection
“I still have nightmares about this.” Can the crew survive the dangers of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere? An error could see them either incinerated or becoming lost forever in deep space. #13MinutestotheMoon For more Apollo films and photos: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes Presented by Kevin...
04.16.2020
S2 Bonus 02: John Aaron
Special episode with Nasa legend, flight controller John Aaron. This extended interview ranges from John first learning about the explosion, to his doubts and fears during Apollo 13¹s descent through the Earth¹s atmosphere. #13MinutestotheMoon Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg for...
04.14.2020
S2 Bonus 01: Jim Lovell
Special episode with Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell. An extended interview. The true space pioneer talks to Kevin Fong about everything from the shocking moment of the explosion to the enormous relief of the splashdown. #13MinutestotheMoon Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian...
04.12.2020
S2 Ep.06 Earth in view
The crew are off course, 200,000 miles from home and without a guidance computer. Their lives now depend on their flying skills - and Jim Lovell’s wristwatch. #13MinutestotheMoon For more Apollo films and photos: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes Presented by Kevin Fong. Archive: Nasa Starring Chuck...
04.05.2020
S2 Ep.05 Life support
“We were being poisoned by our own exhalation.” Carbon dioxide threatens to kill the crew. Mission control must improvise as the most fragile system of all is under threat: the astronauts themselves. #13MinutestotheMoon For a film about how the crew...
03.29.2020
S2 Ep.04 Power brokers
Power must be brutally rationed after the crew fly around the Moon. As systems are switched off, their cold, dark ship is reduced to little more than a husk coasting in space. #13MinutestotheMoon Watch videos about the Apollo 13 mission: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes Presented...
03.23.2020
S2 Ep.03 Lifeboat
The astronauts are fighting for their lives. As the oxygen level plummets, they must escape to the lunar lander. It's a desperate act of survival for which the crew has never trained. #13MinutestotheMoon See our film about the...
03.16.2020
S2 Ep.02 Death of the Odyssey
“We were in deep, deep trouble.” This is Mission Control like you’ve never heard it before. After the explosion, denial and disbelief turn to dread. #13MinutestotheMoon Watch our videos: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes Presented by Kevin Fong. Archive: Nasa Starring: Jim Lovell Jack Lousma Gene Kranz, courtesy of the...
03.09.2020
S2 Ep.01 Time bomb: Apollo 13
“Houston, we’ve had a problem.” To ignite catastrophe would take just the flick of a single switch. Why NASA’s third bid to land on the Moon was flawed from the start. #13MinutestotheMoon For videos and more space stories: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes Presented by Kevin...
02.19.2020
Countdown to Season 2
Jump on board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story, told by the people who flew it and saved it. Lift off is on 9 March. #13MinutestotheMoon Presenter: Kevin Fong Written by Kevin Fong and Andrew Luck-Baker Theme music by...
12.23.2019
Bonus: The making of the music
Hans Zimmer in a special episode about creating the 13 Minutes to the Moon theme music. The Oscar and Grammy-winning composer talks music, space and the importance of knowing how to make a really good cup of coffee. He says,...
07.19.2019
Ep.12 Live from Houston
“We choose to go.” The season finale comes from where President John F Kennedy made his famous Moon speech to rally the US behind the Apollo programme. The venue is Rice University in Houston, where we reflect on one...
07.14.2019
Ep.11 The 13 minutes
History as it happened, uninterrupted: every word, every crackle, the tension and triumph. Hear how Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to reach the Moon. This is NASA’s archive recording of Capcom Charlie Duke’s communications loop from...
07.14.2019
Ep.10 ‘For all mankind’
History as it happened, explained. Kevin Fong guides us through the descent to the Moon from start to finish, using Capcom Charlie Duke’s communications loop, from NASA’s archive. And we hear memories and reflections on Apollo 11 from: Charlie Duke Poppy Northcutt John...
07.07.2019
Ep.09 Tranquility Base
We are five and a half minutes to the moon. Tension goes “through the roof”. Neil Armstrong takes control and the fuel starts to run out. In Mission Control, flight controllers count down to 60 seconds of fuel remaining –...
06.30.2019
Ep.08 ‘We’re go for powered descent’
The 13 minutes begin. Eagle is going too fast. There are communications problems. We have met the people and heard about the Apollo 11 technology, now the descent is underway. This is the full story and it is a leap...
06.23.2019
Ep.07 Michael Collins: Third man
Without the astronaut who didn’t step on the moon, Apollo 11 wouldn’t have succeeded. As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic landing, Michael Collins was in lunar orbit, playing a crucial role on the mothership. This is his...
06.16.2019
Ep.06 Saving 1968
War, riots, assassinations: “the year that shattered America”. And then NASA took the biggest risk in its history. There was the Vietnam War and the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy but with Apollo 8, astronauts went...
06.09.2019
Ep.05 The fourth astronaut
The computer that got us to the moon. The size of a briefcase, there had never been anything like it. Apollo 11 was “the first time software ran on the moon”. This is the story of the world’s first digital...
06.02.2019
Ep.04 Fire to the Phoenix
"You heard ‘fire’. Then you heard a scream." The Apollo 1 tragedy and what happened 21 months later – Apollo’s first successful manned mission into Earth’s orbit. With Kevin Fong. Starring: George Abbey Walt Cunningham Glynn Lunney Gerry Griffin John Aaron Jerry Bostick Courtesy of the Johnson...
05.26.2019
Ep.03 Long Island Eagle
Ugly, angry, with four legs and wrapped in gold: it was a spacecraft like nothing on Earth. The story of Grumman’s lunar module, with Kevin Fong. Starring: Charlie Duke Dick Dunne John Devaney Alan Contessa Neil Armstrong courtesy of the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project Tom...
05.19.2019
Ep.02 Kids in control
The unsung heroes who saved the day. "Here’s some 26-year-old kid, who could stop the lunar mission." An alarm appears on the on-board computer, but what does it mean? With Kevin Fong. Starring: Steve Bales Charlie Duke John Aaron Glynn Lunney Gerry Griffin Jerry Bostick Gene Kranz courtesy...
05.12.2019
Ep.01 ‘We choose to go’
With no idea how to get there, the race to the moon begins – "we intend to win". To understand how the story ends, we need to start at the very beginning. With Kevin Fong. Starring: Michael Collins Steve Bales Margaret Hamilton Jim Lovell Charlie...
04.29.2019
T-minus 1
The final part of our audio countdown to the launch of 13 Minutes to the Moon, with Kevin Fong. Lift off is on 13 May 2019.
04.26.2019
T-minus 2
Hans Zimmer has composed the 13 Minutes to the Moon theme music. It is the first time the Grammy and Academy Award winner has created music for a podcast.
04.22.2019
T-minus 3
Introducing 13 Minutes to the Moon, with Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham and former Apollo engineer Poppy Northcutt - the first woman to work as an engineer in an operational support role in NASA's Mission Control.
04.12.2019
T-minus 4: Apollo 11
The countdown begins. The story of Apollo 11 – coming soon.