| BROADCAST DATE | SUBJECT | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| January 11 | To Be Or Not To Be | A story by Kurt Vonnegut. |
| January 11 | Summer Science Fiction: Shipwreck In The Sky | A story from before the first satellites or human spaceflights. |
| February 1 | Vega History | A history of the development of the Vega space launch system. (Courtesy ESA) |
| February 8 | Science In The Movies | Inaccurate science in the movies. Played in association with Hollywood Meets The Labcoats. (Courtesy GSFC) |
| February 8 | Vega | The historic lineage of the new Vega rocket. (Courtesy ESA) |
| February 15 | Korean Astronaut | A profile of Korea's first astronaut, Soyeon Yi, and a description of her flight to the International Space Station. Listen or download (33 min 25 s - 30.0 MB) Also listen to Interview (16 min 43 s - 15.6 MB) |
| February 22 | Korea From Space | Korea's first astronaut, Soyeon Yi, describes the view of Korea from space. Listen or download (10 min 22 s - 9.5 MB) |
| February 22 | Vega Qualification Flight VV01 | The first flight of Europe's new rocket, the Vega. Included launch commntary from Kourou, a history of the development of the vehicle, how the launcher was manufactured and details of the nine satellites placed into orbit. (Inserts courtesy ESA) |
| February 22 | The Fiscal Year 2013 NASA Budget Request | A explanation of what NASA would do if allocated its 2013 Budget request. (Courtesy NASA) |
| February 29 | Mercury 6 - 50th Anniversary | A look back 50 years at the Mercury 6 spaceflight, in which John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Included a profile of Glenn, and what he did in the decades after Mercury 6, including his return to space aboard STS 95 as a Space Shuttle Payload Specialist. Also a chat between Glenn and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden with the current crew of the international Space Station. (Audio inserts courtesy NASA) |
| March 7 | Nustar | Puzzles astronomers using the soon to be launched NuStar x-ray astronomical satellite will try to solve. (Courtesy MSFC) |
| March 14 | Space Sounds | An explanation of how plasma waves and other electromagnetic waves in space are generated, detected and sonified to allow scientists to understand the space and planetary environment. Included many examples of these "space sounds." Also included an example of a quantum whistle. Listen or download (46 min 36 s - 42.5 MB) |
| March 21 | Gargantuan Galaxy | The Hubble Space Telescope has surveyed a very large galaxy. (Courtesy STScI) |
| March 28 | Edoardi Amaldi | A biography of Italian physicist Edoardi Amaldi, and a detailed description of the European Space Agency's third Automated Transfer Vehicle, the ATV 3, which has been named in his honour. Included commentary of the launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. |
| April 4 | Back In The ISS - Part One | A look at the genesis of the International Space Station and its current status. Included two musical tributes to the ISS, and a description of the science being done aboard. Featured comments by: * Mark Uhran (Assistant Associate Administrator, International Space Station, NASA HQ, Washington, D.C.); * Clarence Sams (Chief Scientist, ISS Medical Projects); * Scott Duchavsky (ISS Investigator and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit); * Nobuyoshi Fujimoto (Senior Engineer, Space Systems and Utilisation, Japan Aerospace Agency, Tokyo); * Jason Crusan (Chief Technologist, Space Operations, NASA); * Marybeth Edeen (Manager, ISS National Lab Office); * Jeffrey Manber (Managing Director, NanoRacks LLC); and * Waleed Abdalati (Chief Scientist, NASA HQ, Washington, D.C.). (Audio inserts recorded in the United States by A Rennie.) Listen or download (51 min 38 s - 47.1 MB) |
| April 11 | Back In The ISS - Part Two | Three reports on the International Space Station. First the International coperation involved; second Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne explained European science being done; and finally a feature on the first 10 years of habitation of the space station. (Reports courtesy ESA and NASA) Listen or download (50 min 50 s - 46.4 MB) |
| April 18 | Back In The ISS - Part Three | The current status of the International Space Station, the scientific work being done aboard, and planned future events surrounding the station. Research into the physiological effects of long duration human spaceflight. Comments by: * Charlie Bolden (NASA Administrator); * Mike Suffradini (ISS Program Manager); * Tara Ruttley (Associate Program Scientist for ISS); and * Mark Uhran (Assistant Associate Administrator, ISS). Listen or download (51 min 18 s - 48.0 MB) |
| April 25 | Intelsat 22 and Its ADF Payload | The Intelsat 22 satellite carries a major communications payload for the Australian Defence Force. Listen or download (4 min 32 s - 4.1 MB) |
| May 2 | Back In The ISS - Part Four | The future of the International Space Station, including preparation to extend its life beyond 2020. Commerial crew was also discussed. Comments by: * Charlie Bolden (NASA Administrator); and * Mike Suffradini (ISS Program Manager). Listen or download (51 min 50 s - 47.3 MB) |
| May 9 | Back In The ISS - Part Five | The status of the International Space Station, including a NASA featurette prepared by NASA to mark ten continuous years of station habitation, with comments by: * Bill Gerstenmaier (NASA Associate Administrator, Space Operations); * Astronauts Peggy Whitson, Jeff Williams, Michele Lopez-Alegera, Sunita Williams, TJ Creamer and Leland Melvin; and * Mike Suffradini (ISS Program Manager). Details of what the astronauts aboard the station will be doing during 2012 explained by Dina Contella (Expedition 32 and 33 Lead Flight Director) An interchange between Congressman Frank Wolf and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden about the science being done aboard the space station. Plans for the flight of the Dragon capsule to be launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX, now rescheduled for 2012 May 19. Included responses to reporter's questions by: |
| May 23 | Scott Carpenter and Aurora Seven | A look at Scott Capenter's Mercury spaceflight on 1962 May 24, an interview with Carpenter and a luncheon speech by him. |
| May 30 | Aurora 7 | Scott Carpenter's Mercury Atlas 7 space mission fifty years ago. (Courtesy NASA) |
| May 30 | Transit of Venus 2012 | The history of the transit of Venus, details of when and how to see it in Melbourne on 2012 June 6, and safety precautions. Also how to see the lunar eclipse on the evening of June 4. |
| May 30 | Dragon 2 | The mission of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Included comments by NASA Administrator Bolden and by the ISS Expedition 31 crew. |
| June 6 | Transit of Venus 2012 June 6 | Comments from astronomers and the public during today's transit of Venus across the face of the Sun. Recorded in the gounds of the Melbourne Observatory. Listen or download (36 min 12 s - 33.0 MB) View photographs 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
| June 6 | Return To Venus | The history of the exploration of Venus and the scientific questions still to be answered. (Courtesy GSFC) |
| June 13 | Nobel Prize In Physics 2012 | The discovery of the acceleration of the Universe and why it earned its three discoverers the Nobel Prize in Physics. |
| June 13 | The Square Kilometre Array | The announcement that the Array will be shared between Southern Africa and Australasia; what the array is; Brian Schmidt explains the decision and its importance to Australia regardless of where it is located. |
| June 13 | NuSTAR | The launch, expected tonight, of the NuSTAR x-ray astronomical satellite, and the scientific objectives of the craft. |
| June 27 | Shenzhou 9 - Part 1 (Held over from last week) | The launch of three astronauts (two men and a woman) aboard Shenzhou 9 to the Tiangong 1 space laboratory. (Audio inserts courtesy CCTV4) |
| June 27 | Shenzhou 9 - Part 2 | The activities of three astronauts (two men and a woman) aboard Shenzhou 9 and the Tiangong 1 space laboratory. (Audio inserts courtesy CCTV4) |
| July 4 | Shenzhou 9 - Part 3 | The landing of three astronauts (two men and a woman) aboard Shenzhou 9 returning from the Tiangong 1 space laboratory. (Audio inserts courtesy CCTV4) |
| July 4 | Soyuz TMA-03M | The landing of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft, returning three astronauts from the International Space Station. |
| July 4 | Death of Alan Poindexter | Reporting the death of astronaut Alan Poindexter in a boating accident. Featured parts of the STS 131 Crew media briefing. See Poindexter lead his STS 131 Crew walk out to Astrovan - animation by A Rennie Listen or download (25 min 38 s - 23.4 MB) |
| July 11 | The Poetry of Story Musgrave - Part 1 | A biography of astronaut Story Musgrave and a reading of some of his poetry. Listen or download (34 min 29 s - 35.1 MB) |
| July 11 | Alan Poindexter and STS 131 | Marking the death of astronaut Alan Poindexter, a look back at comments he and his crew made before and after the STS 131 mission. Included A Rennie's commentary of the landing of STS 131. Listen or download (17 min 22 s - 15.8 MB) |
| July 18 | The Poetry of Story Musgrave - Part 2 | Atronaut Story Musgrave reads of some of his poetry. Listen or download (37 min 41 s - 34.4 MB) |
| July 25 | Sally Ride | A tribute in words and music to Sally Ride, the world's second female astronaut, who died yesterday. Pointed out that Sally Flew on STS-41G, with Australian Paul Scully-Power. |
| July 25 | MAVEN | A description of the MAVEN spacecraft that is being built to orbit the planet Mars. (Courtesy MSFC) |
| July 25 | Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity | What the MSL mission is, and its ojectives are. (Courtesy KSC) |
| August 1 | Curiosity On Finals To Mars | The approach of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity to the rad planet. Description of the spacecraft and its planned landing site in Gale Crater, which was named in honour of Australian astonomer Walter Gale. |
| August 1 | Telstar 1 | Marking the 50th anniversary of the first live trans-Atlantic television broadcasts via the Telstar 1 satellite. |
| August 8 | Curiosity Landing Party | From the Victorian Space Science Education Centre in Strathmore, the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory in Gale Crater. Includes speeches by John McIntosh (President, Victorian Division, Engineers Australia), Adrian Brown (Australian Planetary Scientist, SETI Institute, Mountain View, California) and Marion Anderson (Lecturer and Landing Site Selection Committee Member, Monash University, Clayton). Also commentary of the landing, and party-goer's reaction to the successful landing. Listen or download entire programme (57 min 32 s - 52.5 MB) Listen or download NASA landing commentary with VSSEC ambient party sound (8 min 57 s - 8.4 MB) See also 2012 Interview and 2012 Lecture pages for individual programme elements. |
| August 22 | InSight | InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a cadidate for selection as part of NASA's Discovery programme. If approved it would launch in 2016 March and land on Mars later that year. It is based on Phoenix technology. (Courtesy JPL) |
| August 22 | Radiation Belt Storm Probes | A description of the two RBSP satellites that are scheduled for launch tomorrow evening into an elliptical orbit to study the van Allen radiation belts. (Courtesy GSFC) |
| August 29 | Film Review - LOVE | A review of the science fiction film LOVE, which is - in part - about a solitary astronaut stranded aboard the International Space Station. Listen or download (29 min 20 s - 40.2 MB) |
| August 29 | Curiosity On Mars 1 | Activities of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. Included message from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and song by Will-i-am relayed via the rover. |
| September 5 | Neil Armstrong | NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden pays tribute to Neil Armstrong. Rick Armstrong describes what he was doing on the day his father was launched towards the Moon. |
| September 12 | Kennedy At Rice University | On the fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy's "To The Moon" speech at Rice University, an examination of the context of the speech, broadcast of the entire speech (possibly for the first time on Australian radio), a look at the subsequent decisions, and a partial reading of the Moon speech Kennedy never got to deliver. Listen or download (51 min 29 s - 48.2 MB) |
| September 19 | Memorial Servive for Neil Armstrong | The memorial service held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. to honour Neil Armstrong. Included eulogies or prayers from Charlie Bolden (Administrator, NASA), Eugene Cernan (the last Apollo astronaut to walk on the Moon), John Snow (73rd United States Treasury Secretary), Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde (Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C.), Mike Collins (Apollo 11 crew member); a song by Diana Krall; and other choral music. Listen or download (56 min 42 s - 51.7 MB) |
| October 4 | Curiosity Update | The discovery of gravel on Mars. (Courtesy JPL) |
| October 17 | Curiosity Update | Gathering soil samples. (Courtesy JPL) |
| October 17 | Cassini's 15th Anniversary | Fifteen years after launch the Cassini spacecraft is still making new discoveries about Titan. The planned end-game for Cassini. (Courtesy JPL) |
| October 31 | Curiosity Update | Recent activities of the Mars Science Laboratory. (Courtesy JPL) |
| October 31 | Hubble History | Some of the scientists involved in using the Hubble Space Telescope describe some of its findings. (Courtesy ESA) |
| November 28 | SETI - Anybody Out There? | We look back nearly two decades to when Project Phoenix came to town in search of extraterrestrial intelligent life. Included chats with Seth Shostak (Astronomer, SETI Institute, Mountain View, California) and Jill Tarter (Director, Project Phoenix, SETI Institute, Mountain View, California), an annecdote about the movie Contact by Bryan Gaensler (Astronomer, Sydney). Listen or download (51 min 29 s - 48.2 MB) Listen or download Gaensler's annecdote (1 min 32 s - 1.4 MB) See 2012 Interviews page for Shostak and Tarter interviews. |
| December 5 | Apollo 17 - Part One | To mark the 40th Anniversary of the final Apollo landing on the Moon, a feature that included a talk by scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt. Listen or download (53 min 55 s - 49.2 MB) |
| December 12 | Apollo 17 - Part Two | To mark the 40th Anniversary of the final Apollo landing on the Moon, a feature that included reponses to questions posed by an audience to scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt. Also details of Rotary International's Polio Plus project. Listen or download (46 min 38 s - 49.2 MB) |
| December 26 | Space Music | A programme of songs about space exploration. |
