SOME ITEMS BROADCAST DURING 1996

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
compiled by Andrew Rennie

BROADCAST
DATE
SUBJECT DESCRIPTION
January 24 STS 51-L The Challenger disaster 10th anniversary. What happened, the teacher in space, post diaster news conference, President Reagan's and other people's reaction, the Rodger's Commission, and its findings, 10 years and 70 safe flights later.
January 31 Clyde Tombaugh Clyde's 90th birthday. A look at his achievements, including the discovery of Pluto.
January 31 European Southern Observatory Construction of the Very Large Telescope. (Coutesy ESO)
Listen or download (9 min 11 s - 8.6 MB)
February 28 Halley's Comet Documentary on Comet Halley and the space missions to it to mark the 10th anniversry (Edited by A Rennie, not compiled).
February 28 Discovery of Uranus To mark the 215th anniversary of the discovery of Uranus by William Herschell.
March 6 Comet Halley History of Comet Halley, what comets are, space missions to it.
April 10 STS 1 To mark the 15th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle mission. Includes John Young, the mission commander, recorded by A Rennie in Australia. Also pre-mission press conference, launch and flight, landing, post-mission comments.
April 24 Very Large Telescope Mirror The fabrication of the mirror for the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. (Coutesy ESO)
Listen or download (13 min 25 s - 12.5 MB)
May 1 Mercury 3 A documentary to mark the 35th anniverary of America's first manned spaceflight by Alan Shepard. Duration of documnetary was 8 seconds longer than the spaceflight!
May 15 STS 77 Profile of Australian born NASA astronaut Andrew Thomas - his family history, his career, his astronaut training, and plans for STS 77.
May 22 STS 77 Recording of the launch of STS 77 with Australian born NASA astronaut Andrew Thomas aboard. Inluded final 20 minutes of countdown and first 15 minutes of flight, post-launch news conference with Loren Schriver (recorded live from NASA select (the phone bill cost us a fortune!)) Also plans for mission, and further profile of Andrew Thomas.
Listen or Download launch portion of programme (14 min 42 s - 13.7 MB)
May 29 STS 77 NASA Public Affairs Event: Australian media interviews with Andrew Thomas in space, recorded live from NASA as it happened, and played in full. What inane questions! Also, Loren Schriver on preparations for STS 78 in June, and efforts to make shuttle flights routine.
Listen or download (15 min 39 s - 14.6 MB)
May 29 STS 77 Space Show Special at 9 pm: Live broadcast of the landing of STS 77 (with Australian born Andrew Thomas aboard) at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. (Did anyone else in Australia broadcast the landing live?)
July 10 Name to Saturn Instructions on how to get your name aboard the Cassini spacecraft, which will orbit Saturn.
Listen or download (7 min 29 s - 7.0 MB)
Read an article about this.
July 31 Optus B From Sydney a description of the Optus B communications satellites and the Belrose satellite control room. Recorded at Optus' Melbourne Satellite Ground Station at the time of the aborted launch of Optus B1 in 1992 March.
Listen or download (9 min 54 s - 9.2 MB)
July 24 Viking A feature to mark the 20th anniversary of the landing on Mars of the Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers.
July 24 "Return To Jupiter" A preview of the Australian children's television series "Return To Jupter."
July 24 Name to Saturn Instructions on how to get your name aboard the Cassini spacecraft, which will orbit Saturn.
Listen or download (6 min 28 s - 6.1 MB)
August 7 Life On Mars The evidence tendered by David McKay and team for fossil life on Mars, using audio from the announcement press conference (20 minutes). Also a refutation by Dr William Schopf (15 minutes).
August 14 Life On Mars A programme examining the conditions necessary for the origin of life, and how life may have begun on Earth and Mars. Also Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, scientists and Carl Sagan, and Melbourne school girls. (25 minutes)
Listen or download Girls Comments (3 min 43 s - 3.4 MB)
August 21 Life On Mars An examination of the claim of finding ancient life on Mars. Used material from NASA, and other sources. (27 Minutes)
August 28 Soyuz T-6 15th anniversary of the launch of Soyuz T-6 carrying Frenchman Jean-Loup Chrétien.
November 13 Mars Global Surveyor Launch Delayed commentary of launch
November 13 Mars - The Search Begins Documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the Mars orbit insertion of the Mariner 9 spacecraft on 1971 Nov 14. (20 minutes)
December 4 Pathfinder Launch A live broadcast from Cape Canaveral of the launch of the Pathfinder mission to Mars. Countdown, launch, stage separation. Commentary by Andrew Rennie and Brendan Scott using NASA Select feed via Tidbinbilla.
Listen or download (19 min 40 s - 18.4 MB)
December 4 Pathfinder Interplanetary Injection A live broadcast from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the third stage burn of the Delta rocket launching the Pathfinder mission to Mars. Also, live from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the capture of the ORPHEUS-SPAS 2 satellite by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS 80. Commentary by Andrew Rennie using NASA Select feed via Tidbinbilla.
Listen or download (31 min 47 s - 29.8 MB)