Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists

By The Naked Scientists

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LAST EPISODE

Brits in Space!

10.30.2023

With the announcement of a planned all-UK astronaut mission, hosts Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson chat to ESA reserve astronaut Meganne Christian about astronaut selection, life in Antarctica and commercial space stations. Tim Peake - the possible commander of the ...

Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists episodes:

10.30.2023 Brits in Space! With the announcement of a planned all-UK astronaut mission, hosts Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson chat to ESA reserve astronaut Meganne Christian about astronaut selection, life in Antarctica and commercial space stations. Tim Peake - the possible commander of the ...
10.08.2023 Shuttle Blankets and Space Burials A Shuttle emergency you may not have heard of, sending your DNA into space, and a scientist studying the samples from asteroid Bennu. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham meet Natural History Museum meteorites curator, Natasha Vasiliki Almeida, and talk to ...
08.28.2023 Gui Bluford, and the end of ESA's Aeolus We celebrate the 40th anniversary of the flight of the first black astronaut, Gui Bluford and speak to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortes, directors of The Space Race, which tells the story of the men who should have ...
07.28.2023 Space junk, giant claws and dark skies This month it's all about the space environment - how do you remove space debris from orbit and make space more sustainable? The Earth Space Sustainability Initiative's (ESSI) Stuart Clark discusses missions to remove dead satellites, and Nick Shave of ...
06.19.2023 Space broadcast legend and 20 years at Mars Irish journalist Leo Enright joins us to discuss commentating on Apollo 17, an unfortunate celebrity encounter, the world's first astronomers, 20 years of Mars Express, sun angles on the Moon and the worst-named European mission. Sue continues her reports from ...
05.02.2023 Hitchin to Houston: NASA's new science head NASA's new head of science, Dr Nicola Fox, joins Space Boffins to chat about Mars sample return, solar missions and asteroids. Also, ESA new astronaut recruit, Pablo Alvarez, and experienced astronaut Alexander Gerst on preparations for the Artemis missions to ...
03.22.2023 Juice to Jupiter and forgotten space shuttles European Space Agency Juice mission to Jupiter's Michele Dougherty talks about icy moons, magnetic fields and life elsewhere in the solar system, and the UK Space Agency's Caroline Harper discusses the Juice launch preparations in French Guiana. Also, the hidden ...
03.01.2023 Space Toilets and the New Guys What's the toilet like in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft? ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer reveals what a mission in the Dragon is like, from business class seats and spacious interior, to privacy curtain and dramatic return to Earth. Also, his Cosmic Kiss ...
03.01.2023 Talking about Time Physicist and philosopher Sean Carrol talks to Naked Astronomy's Ben McAllister about the nature of time. Is it something truly fundamental to our Universe, or simply an illusion? Along the way they chat about space, relativity, the various ways to ...
02.06.2023 Mike Massimino and Meet the Minister Hubble astronaut Mike Massimino and UK 'Space Minister' George Freeman MP talk about inspiration from Apollo, Artemis, Hubble and what astronaut legend John Young imparted about going to the toilet on the Moon. We also touch on launches from the ...
01.11.2023 Multiverses, the Big Bang and laws of physics Physicist and science populariser Paul Davies talks to Naked Astronomy's Ben McAllister about some of the toughest questions cosmologist are grappling with: how did the Universe begin and how will it end, what provoked the Big Bang, and are we ...
12.21.2022 NASA's Dr Z Nasa's outgoing head of science, Thomas Zurbuchen talks about saving the James Webb Space Telescope, future missions to the Moon and Mars, and research into UFOs. The team also visit the Science Museum's sci-fi exhibition and talk to its curator, ...
12.05.2022 Cute Mars Rovers Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham celebrate the drama of the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions with NASA rover engineer Doug Ellison and JPL research scientist Abigail Fraeman from the film Goodnight Oppy. Recalling how the robots developed personalities, ...
11.15.2022 Last Man on the Moon: BONUS EPISODE In this special bonus episode - for the first time in full - we play Richard's interview with the last man on the Moon, Gene Cernan. Recorded in summer 2016, it's thought to be the astronaut's last broadcast interview. In ...
10.30.2022 Moon Trees Astronaut Stuart Roosa was a real-life action hero - Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham speak to his daughter about the Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot's life, mission and the seeds he carried with him to the Moon. Sue visits a ...
09.30.2022 Space Tyranny! How do you design a space settlement government without it descending into tyranny? Charles Cockell shares his research with hosts Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham. And as the UK prepares for its first rocket launch in 50 years, the UK ...
08.27.2022 Apollo Remastered In a brave move, the Space Boffins attempt a podcast about pictures without any pictures! Joining them are science writer Andy Saunders, who's spent years remastering images from the Apollo missions to reveal details never seen before, Oxford astrophysicist and ...
07.03.2022 Poppy Northcutt and Launch UK Apollo legend Poppy Northcutt joins Richard and Sue this month The only woman in mission control for the Moon missions, Poppy talks about the challenge of getting astronauts back from the Moon, the drama of Apollo 13 (and why she's ...
05.27.2022 Lessons from an Astronaut Not one but four astronauts feature in this month's Space Boffins. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham chat to astronaut Nicole Stott about her book Back to Earth; we hear about the drama of launch, what to do when things go ...
04.25.2022 Return to the Moon With the first Artemis mission on the launchpad, Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham look ahead to the next footsteps on the Moon. They chat to Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency about Gateway - "a one bed ...
03.01.2022 Do we need astronauts? It's the Space Boffins' most controversial episode yet, as Don Goldsmith talks about his new book written with Astronomer Royal Martin Rees - The End of Astronauts and why robots are the future. Also, we visit one of the cleanrooms ...
01.28.2022 Fiery Worlds and go for Mars In a bumper new year edition, we hear the latest on the Webb space telescope, discuss volcanoes on distant worlds and look ahead to Europe's mission to Mars. ESA's Mark McCaughrean talks about what's next for the James Webb Space ...
12.15.2021 Flowers in Space Gardeners of the Galaxy podcast host Emma Doughty discusses the challenges and joys of growing flowers, chillies and vines (for wine!) in space. Sue and Richard also chat to self-confessed space nerd John Chinner about the Astro Pi computers on ...
11.22.2021 James Webb and astronaut Jessica Meir ESA's senior science advisor Mark McCaughrean joins Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham to enthuse about the most powerful space telescope ever built. And NASA astronaut Jessica Meir discusses coming back from the ISS to a world in the ...
11.01.2021 BepiColombo lobster eyes and Apollo legends After BepiColombo's recent flyby of Mercury, Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson hear from the University of Leicester's Dr Charly Feldman about its onboard lobster eye optics and their increasing use in new spacecraft. They're also joined by the ...
09.29.2021 SETI: Looking for Life across the Universe This month, Naked Astronomy goes in search of the civilisations with which we might share this Universe. Andrew Siemion, Director of Berkeley SETI Research Center, joins Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy to discuss how likely it is that we are ...
09.10.2021 Europe leads the space station ESA astronaut and soon to be Commander of the International Space Station, Samantha Cristoforetti, talks Dragons, Star City, and preparing for leadership. We hear from meteor expert Richard Greenwood on how Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission has returned "the most important ...
08.12.2021 Space Station Commander Shuttle pilot and International Space Station Commander, Terry Virts, chats to Space Boffins about flying the Shuttle, commanding the ISS, photographing the Earth ...and UFOs. And after the triumphant flight of Wally Funk, Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined ...
07.13.2021 Wally Funk Heads for Space On the 10th anniversary of Space Boffins, BBC Science and Space Correspondent Jonathan Amos comes aboard to celebrate Mercury 13 legend Wally Funk as she prepares to launch to space with Jeff Bezos. We also catch up on ten years ...
06.14.2021 Mission to Europa Two astronauts, one space hipster, a writer and a musician all feature in this month's Space Boffins. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined by podcaster and founder of the Space Hipsters, Emily Carney. They also hear from pioneering astronaut ...
05.26.2021 Finding the God Equation This month on Naked Astronomy, we're seeking the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. We're looking at the "God Equation", an equation that could describe everything we know in physics. What would it look like, and what would it ...
05.14.2021 Britain's First Astronaut In a podcast exclusive, Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, joins the Space Boffins 30 years after her 1991 Juno mission. She describes the selection process, training in the Soviet Union and her return. Author of the Martian, Andy Weir, chats ...
04.09.2021 Celebrating 60 years of human spaceflight In an epic edition of the Space Boffins Podcast we ambitiously celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight and the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the Space Shuttle. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by live ...
03.31.2021 Storms on the Sun This month on Naked Astronomy we're setting our sights on the Sun. How do storms form on the Sun? How can they wreak havoc here on Earth? And what can we do to predict them? To find out, Ben McAllister ...
03.11.2021 Perseverance on Mars AS NASA's Perseverance rover makes it safely to Mars, we chat to science writer Elizabeth Howell about the array of missions now studying the red planet. Also the European Space Agency's head of diversity, Ersilia Vaudo, talks about plans for ...
02.26.2021 What might aliens look like? This month on Naked Astronomy, we're waxing lyrical about aliens. What might they look like? Can we apply the principles of biology to other worlds? To do that, Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy were joined by Arik Kershenbaum to chat ...
02.11.2021 Space Zombies This month science journalist Katia Moskvitch joins the Space Boffins to discuss the zombies of the cosmos, neutron stars, as well as the European Space Agency's new astronaut recruitment and Yuri Gagarin's birthplace. They also hear about the new communications ...
01.27.2021 Is There Liquid Water on Mars? This month on Naked Astronomy, we're mulling over Mars. We'll be chatting about the question of liquid water on the surface of Mars. Is it there at all? And if it is, how do we find it? And to do ...
01.13.2021 China on the Moon Space journalist Andrew Jones and his cat join the Space Boffins this month to discuss China's ambitious plans for the Moon and beyond. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham also talk to Nellie Offord from UK company SSTL about their lunar ...
12.25.2020 Lighting up Dark Matter This month we're diving into dark matter, that unknown stuff that makes up a quarter of the Universe. Where is it, what is it, and how do we know it's even there? To find out, Adam Murphy and Ben McAllister ...
12.15.2020 Tim Peake Reveals All In a specially recorded face to (socially-distanced) face interview to mark the fifth anniversary of his mission to the International Space Station, British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake reveals the details of his perilous space station docking, physically challenging ...
11.25.2020 The largest telescope ever made This month on Naked Astronomy, we're taking a closer look at the largest telescope ever to be built, the Square Kilometre Array. The SKA spans continents, with some of it in South Africa, and some of it in Australia, but ...
11.17.2020 Asteroids and Artemis NASA has just collected a sample from an asteroid and work is well underway to land a woman on the Moon. Space journalist David Whitehouse chats about whether President Trump was good for space. Dr Sara Russell discusses the OSIRIS-REx ...
10.25.2020 The End of the Universe In this episode of Naked Astronomy we're taking a look at all the ways that the universe could come to a close. From the dramatic to the slow and ponderous, we're chatting about how space will evolve. Ben McAllister and ...
10.14.2020 Space Station Special To celebrate 20 years of people living on the International Space Station, we feature only ISS astronauts in this special edition of Space Boffins. NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott joins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson and we revisit interviews with Chris ...
09.17.2020 America's first space station Skylab's perilous and dramatic mission, life on Venus, the religion of Cosmism, and Brexit all get discussed this month. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by astronomer and writer Dr Stuart Clark to chat about our relationship with the ...
08.12.2020 Space Boffins celebrate their century Space Boffins celebrate their 100th Naked Scientists' edition with two major guests: NASA's head of science, Thomas Zurbuchen, and the UK Space Agency's head of human space exploration, Libby Jackson. They discuss the future of the International Space Station and ...
07.14.2020 2020 Missions to Mars Mars is the destination of choice for three Mars missions this summer, with the US, China and the United Arab Emirates all preparing for launch. Also, UAE plans for a Mars habitat, the UK engineer working on ways to return ...
06.15.2020 Splashdown! Following the successful Crew Dragon launch, Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman talks about the terrors of splashdown, and Shuttle astronaut and aquanaut Kathy Sullivan describes the choreography of spacewalking. The Boffins are also joined by TV presenter Gareth Jones and ...
05.10.2020 Maiden Flight With astronauts preparing for the first flight in the Dragon spacecraft, space reporter Sarah Cruddas discusses this new era in space travel. Richard and Sue hear about the space industry's response to Covid-19, astronaut Nicole Stott talks about space art ...

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Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists

What's Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists about?

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Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists episodes:

Brits in Space!

Shuttle Blankets and Space Burials

Gui Bluford, and the end of ESA's Aeolus

Space junk, giant claws and dark skies

Space broadcast legend and 20 years at Mars

Hitchin to Houston: NASA's new science head

Juice to Jupiter and forgotten space shuttles

Space Toilets and the New Guys

Talking about Time

Mike Massimino and Meet the Minister

Multiverses, the Big Bang and laws of physics

NASA's Dr Z

Cute Mars Rovers

Last Man on the Moon: BONUS EPISODE

Moon Trees

Space Tyranny!

Apollo Remastered

Poppy Northcutt and Launch UK

Lessons from an Astronaut

Return to the Moon

Do we need astronauts?

Fiery Worlds and go for Mars

Flowers in Space

James Webb and astronaut Jessica Meir

BepiColombo lobster eyes and Apollo legends

SETI: Looking for Life across the Universe

Europe leads the space station

Space Station Commander

Wally Funk Heads for Space

Mission to Europa

Finding the God Equation

Britain's First Astronaut

Celebrating 60 years of human spaceflight

Storms on the Sun

Perseverance on Mars

What might aliens look like?

Space Zombies

Is There Liquid Water on Mars?

China on the Moon

Lighting up Dark Matter

Tim Peake Reveals All

The largest telescope ever made

Asteroids and Artemis

The End of the Universe

Space Station Special

America's first space station

Space Boffins celebrate their century

2020 Missions to Mars

Splashdown!

Maiden Flight