The Space Shuttle: 10. Return to flight
The space shuttle is back. Nasa’s reusable aircraft rises again, after being grounded for more than two years. But the memory of the Challenger disaster won’t leave them.
The space shuttle is back. Discovery stands waiting on launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. It has taken more than two years to get here. Nasa has listened and changed. After all these months of work, this should be one of the safest missions ever flown.
But as Discovery finally rises skyward, the Challenger disaster is on everyone’s mind. There are unspoken questions about the very future of spaceflight.
Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.
13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle is a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Audio Science Unit production for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 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:
Return to flight, Nasa Archives, 1988
Ronald Reagan speaks at STS-4 launch, Reagan Library, 1982
STS-26 coverage, CNN, CBS News, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, 1988
Mission audio and oral histories, Nasa History Office
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