1
00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,480
Hello, and welcome to Cape
Canaveral in Florida.

2
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,760
This is Kennedy Space Center,
where, 50 years ago,

3
00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,960
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin
and Michael Collins

4
00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:18,040
blasted off aboard Apollo 11.

5
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,840
And on July 20th, 1969,
Neil and Buzz became

6
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,280
the first humans to walk on the
moon.

7
00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,200
It's very pretty out here.

8
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,040
Tonight, we're celebrating
that anniversary.

9
00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,000
But also looking forward.

10
00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:39,080
Because right now, here,
new spacecraft are being designed,

11
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,920
built and launched,
with the ultimate aim of bringing

12
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,640
astronauts back to the moon,
to Mars, and even beyond.

13
00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:52,400
Over the next 90 minutes,
we'll be revealing the future

14
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,040
of human space travel.

15
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,440
I'm Brian Cox, he's Dara O Briain,
and this is Stargazing.

16
00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,000
"Come to Florida," they said!

17
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,440
"It's the Sunshine State!"

18
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:11,920
We're in a gale.

19
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,080
It's the curse of Stargazing
weather, isn't it?

20
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:15,680
We just bring...
We're like rain gods,

21
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:17,120
we bring the bad weather with us.

22
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,480
This is Cape Canaveral
launch complex 41.

23
00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,000
The reason it's so windy
is we're right at the very top

24
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,840
of the crew's access tower,
and if you have the nerve to look

25
00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,280
down there, which I do not,
you'll see the launchpad itself,

26
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,760
a launchpad with
a glorious history.

27
00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,360
This launchpad is part of
the Cape Canaveral spaceport

28
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,040
in eastern Florida.

29
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,480
It's spread across
over 200 square miles.

30
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,960
In the centre are the rocket
factories and science labs,

31
00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,600
while the launchpads are scattered
along the coastline about four miles

32
00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,600
to the east.

33
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,840
From here, over 400 people
have blasted into space,

34
00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,000
and 24 to the moon.

35
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,440
Well, the other benefits, by the
way, of being at this height,

36
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,320
we can see the entire Florida coast.

37
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,480
We can see the North Atlantic,
and all around us in the distance,

38
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,560
you can see more
and more launchpads.

39
00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,440
There are five active pads here.

40
00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,360
This is America's busiest spaceport.

41
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,600
Yeah, and I must say,
this is probably the second most

42
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,000
iconic launchpad here,
because the most iconic has got

43
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,320
to be that one. Can you see that?
The black tower in the distance.

44
00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,360
That is where Apollo 11
launched 50 years ago.

45
00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,240
On tonight's programme

46
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,720
we'll explore the three key
stages of a space mission.

47
00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,560
Blasting off from planet Earth...

48
00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,040
RADIO: Houston, we see you, over.

49
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,240
..living in the hostile
environment of space...

50
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,440
..and finally, landing
on an alien world.

51
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,000
RADIO: That's one small step
for man...

52
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,200
We'll be joined by Apollo
legend Charlie Duke.

53
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,840
We are go, sit tight, we are go.

54
00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,680
He'll tell us what it was like
to guide Neil Armstrong

55
00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,320
and Buzz Aldrin
to the lunar surface.

56
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,000
And as Nasa once again
prepares for crewed missions,

57
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,040
we'll look at the exciting
future of space exploration.

58
00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,320
Medic and astrophysicist
Doctor Kevin Fong

59
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,520
attempts the latest
in spacewalking technology.

60
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,240
I've just fallen off
the Space Station.

61
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,680
And mathematician
Doctor Hannah Fry

62
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,760
test-drives a future Mars buggy.

63
00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,160
Crab out of a crater!

64
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,520
One of the things about
being at the top of the tower

65
00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,720
like this is you get
a real sense of what it

66
00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:45,600
must be like for an astronaut
to take those final earthbound steps

67
00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,840
before entering a tiny capsule

68
00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,280
sitting on top of
a 50 metre rocket

69
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,320
with enough power in it to lift
them off the planet

70
00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,560
and into the blackness of space.

71
00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,640
And during the first
part of this programme,

72
00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,040
we will be examining that monumental
effort that's required to create

73
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,400
a successful liftoff.

74
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,120
Could you see yourself doing that?

75
00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,360
Honestly, I couldn't fit into
the capsules on Apollo.

76
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,680
They're made for the small...
All astronauts are, like, that tall.

77
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,760
But now, interesting, yeah, maybe,
maybe there's been...

78
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,280
Maybe they're built
for the bigger man now.

79
00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:20,720
Well, the most famous launch
of all, I suppose, was 50 years ago,

80
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,360
Apollo 11.

81
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,640
Apollo 11, this is launch
operations manager.

82
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,560
The launch team wishes you
good luck and Godspeed.

83
00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:37,000
At 6:52 on the morning
of the 16th of July, 1969,

84
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,240
Commander Neil Armstrong,

85
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,760
lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin

86
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,920
and command module pilot
Michael Collins...

87
00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,080
..took the lift to the top of
the Saturn V rocket to climb

88
00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,280
aboard their Apollo spacecraft.

89
00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:58,320
RADIO COMMS: Roger, they're running
on idle power. OK.

90
00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,200
Whilst the world waited, the
astronauts and ground control

91
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,240
teams ran through systems checks.

92
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,480
RADIO COMMS: Stand by for S4V.

93
00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,520
Stand by for S4V, the COI
capability.

94
00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:17,000
It had taken nine years,
400,000 engineers,

95
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,680
scientists and technicians
and an estimated £88 billion

96
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:25,480
to get to this point.

97
00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,320
RADIO COMMS: T -15 seconds, guidance
is internal.

98
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,440
12, 11, 10, 9...

99
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,920
At exactly 9:31am,
the main engines ignited.

100
00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,160
Zero! All engines running.

101
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,680
Liftoff, we have a liftoff!

102
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,640
Burning nearly 3 million
litres of hydrogen and oxygen,

103
00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:02,240
the 111 metre Saturn V rocket
broke free of Earth's gravity.

104
00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,960
RADIO COMMS: Neil Armstrong
reporting the roll and pitch

105
00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,200
programme, which puts Apollo 11
on a proper heading.

106
00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:15,680
The first key step in
Neil, Buzz and Michael's

107
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:17,160
historic journey to the moon.

108
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,720
Today, this launchpad is home
to commercial space company

109
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,520
United Launch Alliance.

110
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,120
From here, they launch satellites
and space probes

111
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,400
on uncrewed rockets.

112
00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,200
Well, this pad has now been upgraded
for human space flight,

113
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,200
and I think it is very exciting
to imagine that at some point

114
00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,800
later this year, astronauts
may be stood in this very spot,

115
00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:01,200
about to board Boeing's new CST-100
Starliner spacecraft.

116
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,040
I'm going to show you slightly
more of a geographical rundown,

117
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,440
because we very rarely get
this level of access.

118
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,080
It's fairly straightforward.

119
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,160
There's a lift,
a solid, shockproof lift.

120
00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,200
There's a toilet, not
so much for the astronauts,

121
00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,640
because that is quite a palaver
to get them out of the suit.

122
00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,800
This walk is the iconic slow-motion
to music walk that astronauts make.

123
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,520
They'd walk through this,
and there's an arm that would swing

124
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,400
from here out to the capsule.

125
00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,720
That arm now is swung inside,
so we can actually go into it.

126
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,840
This is the equivalent,
I suppose, of the jetway,

127
00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,560
when you board your plane.

128
00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,200
This is the equivalent of it
in space terms,

129
00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,680
and it leads to an incredibly
special place called The White Room.

130
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,760
The White Room is the last
room the astronauts will see,

131
00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,120
the last place on Earth
the astronauts will see

132
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,000
before they take off.

133
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,040
Some of the information
here is very, very fundamental.

134
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:54,640
This is the countdown, obviously.

135
00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,840
That shows how long
until the liftoff occurs.

136
00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,600
This red phone is a direct
line to launch control.

137
00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,360
The yellow phone, in a slightly
more kind of touching way,

138
00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,400
is for the astronauts to ring their
families one last time.

139
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,280
And then they get suited up,
or finished their preparations,

140
00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:09,760
and placed into their capsule.

141
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,360
The man who'd be looking after
all of that is Dane Dreftly.

142
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,400
You are the chief of the tower crew.
Am I right?

143
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,040
Yes. Yes. Tower Chief, Blue Team
Lead is my official title.

144
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,680
This White Room is very,
very important, because this,

145
00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,400
this is it, this is the last
contact we have with them.

146
00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,600
Yes, it is.
How long is the process?

147
00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,920
It's a four-hour process
from the time we get the rocket

148
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,240
fully fuelled and ready
for the process to begin loading

149
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,880
the astronauts, and my team
will be the first to arrive,

150
00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:37,120
we'll be the first ones in.

151
00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,720
We will configure this whole room
to get ready for the crew.

152
00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,720
And the last to arrive
will be the astronauts?

153
00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:44,800
Correct, yes.

154
00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,240
So there'll be five people
here inside the White Room,

155
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,680
helping the astronauts
get into the capsule,

156
00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:53,360
configuring everything,
and then my crew, including myself,

157
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,960
will be three. We'll be
standing by outside, overseeing

158
00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:58,160
the entire operation.

159
00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:05,560
Before launch, the astronauts take
turns to wee on the bus,

160
00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:08,000
the back wheel of the bus.
You're familiar with this tradition?

161
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,000
I am familiar with
that tradition, yes.

162
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,720
Is there the opportunity to
establish brand-new traditions?

163
00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,120
Yes. We are, you know,
the steely-eyed missile men,

164
00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,480
we're kind of superstitious
in many ways. Yeah.

165
00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,760
And the rituals
that we've established

166
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:25,840
I still do every time.

167
00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,080
So the last thing I do
is I give it a little,

168
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,800
you know, pat on the very top
of the nose cone and say,

169
00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,560
"Let's go, people." Yeah, so...

170
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,600
Does it have any bearing on reality?

171
00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,360
No, absolutely not, but it certainly
makes me feel better.

172
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:39,840
Lovely. Very, very good.

173
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:41,400
Dane, thank you very much.

174
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,720
Five and a half miles
from Dane's launch tower,

175
00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,200
on the other side of
the Cape Canaveral site,

176
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:49,800
lies a building that houses
one of the most famous

177
00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:51,640
rockets ever built -

178
00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,080
the machine that propelled
astronauts to the moon,

179
00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:56,320
the Saturn V.

180
00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,600
Nothing prepares you for
the scale of this thing.

181
00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,560
This is the only rocket ever
to have taken astronauts

182
00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,480
beyond Earth orbit.

183
00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,240
These five F1 engines are the most
powerful rocket engines ever flown.

184
00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:15,600
They burn through 15 tonnes
of rocket fuel every second
at liftoff.

185
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,880
The fuel pumps alone
are more powerful than a 747 flying

186
00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,960
down the runway, and that's
what you need to lift this

187
00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,560
3,000-tonne spacecraft
off the ground.

188
00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:31,040
Now, in this fuel tank,
there are 2,000 tonnes of

189
00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,280
rocket fuel, and those F1 engines

190
00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,320
burn through it in about two
and a half minutes,

191
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:41,000
at which point, the spacecraft is
at an altitude of around 38 miles.

192
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,280
The fuel is exhausted,
so you don't need the first stage

193
00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:46,840
any more, and so it's jettisoned,

194
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,960
falls away, leaving the
second stage of the Saturn V.

195
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,760
In this case, five engines again,
but a little bit smaller.

196
00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,520
It's their job to take
the spacecraft from an altitude

197
00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:04,800
of 38 miles to around
114.5 miles.

198
00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:10,120
And they do that by burning through
a second tank of rocket fuel.

199
00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:16,560
Now, after about six minutes or so,
the fuel in this tank is also

200
00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:20,200
exhausted, and so the second
stage is no longer necessary,

201
00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,840
and so it too falls away.

202
00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:27,560
The spacecraft is then almost
in orbit, but not quite.

203
00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:32,400
And so a single engine
on the third stage takes over.

204
00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,280
Now, this engine burns to take
the speed of the moon ship,

205
00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,520
which is this piece,
for about 17,500 miles per hour,

206
00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,320
at which point this is in orbit.

207
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,720
Then the spacecraft continues
to orbit the Earth until everybody's

208
00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,640
convinced it's working properly,
and then the single engine ignites

209
00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:56,360
one last time to take the moon ship
to 24,500 miles per hour,

210
00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,880
and it's on its way to the moon.

211
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:03,240
So, this is what you need to launch
this, which is pretty much

212
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:05,720
the smallest ship you can imagine.

213
00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,600
The minimum spaceship, if you like,
to take three astronauts

214
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,320
to the moon, and bring
them back again.

215
00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:18,920
But what would it have been like
to sit on top of this?

216
00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:22,160
Well, luckily, we're joined by a
man who can tell us exactly that,

217
00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,600
the lunar module pilot for Apollo
16 and tenth man to walk

218
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,240
on the moon, General Charlie Duke.

219
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,240
Thank you very much.
Charlie, lovely to meet you.

220
00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,920
Nice to see you, hi. All right. How
are you? Nice to see you, Charlie.

221
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:35,160
What, how was the ride,
basically, in a vehicle like this?

222
00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,640
Well, at liftoff, it was real shaky,
which surprised me.

223
00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,680
I didn't remember anybody telling me
it was supposed to shake
as much as it did,

224
00:12:42,680 --> 00:12:46,520
but you can imagine,
the vehicle is 110 metres long.

225
00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,960
You are sitting on that far end,
and these engines that you see here

226
00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:55,840
are moving, and as they move,
that vibration goes up the launch,

227
00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:57,720
the stack, if you will.

228
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:02,000
And when it hits the spacecraft,
it's a real big vibration.

229
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,160
I found out later at liftoff,
I was so excited, my heartbeat

230
00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,320
was 144 at liftoff.

231
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,320
And I was really excited, man,
I'm on my way.

232
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,360
You know, we trained for two
years for this moment.

233
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,120
I can't believe that nobody
mentioned, you're Apollo 16,

234
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:19,840
nobody mentioned the shaking?

235
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:24,960
Well, it's... Each vehicle had its
own character, if you will.

236
00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,960
And I think ours was a little bit
more, and I can't tell you why,

237
00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,640
and I'm sure that we talked
about it, but it didn't register.

238
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:37,000
Right. Apollo 16 was your first
flight into space.

239
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,160
So, when all that drama is over,
after only, what is it,

240
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,560
12 or 13 minutes, and you're
in orbit, what is that like?

241
00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:47,960
Well, let me say, we orbited the
Earth one and a half times,

242
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:52,320
and over Australia, we left Earth
orbit to go ahead to the moon.

243
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,400
And then after that,
we turned our spaceship around,

244
00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,880
and there was the Earth,
just suspended in the blackness
of space out there.

245
00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:05,760
You could see the Arctic Circle
and those white-brown of the land,

246
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,520
and the blue of the ocean,
suspended in the blackness of space.

247
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,200
It's breathtaking to see that
for the first time.

248
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,760
Yeah, that must be very powerful,
because there are very few people

249
00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:18,160
who've seen the whole Earth.
Only 24 of us!

250
00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,680
The 24 men who went to the moon in
Apollo

251
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:25,280
have seen it with our own eyes, that
whole circle of the Earth.

252
00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,040
Astronauts in Earth orbit see a lot
of beautiful curvatures,

253
00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,760
but they can't see
the whole of the Earth.

254
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,080
Charlie's trip to the moon
started from here,

255
00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:41,680
in Cape Canaveral.

256
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,040
RADIO: We have a liftoff.

257
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,640
The Saturn V lifting off
the ground ploughs ahead,

258
00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,400
building up thrust.
We've cleared the tower.

259
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:54,280
But in 2011, Nasa retired the last
of its spacecraft that could
carry people into orbit.

260
00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,680
Since then, astronauts
have had to fly from a Russian base.

261
00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,720
But now, Nasa and a group
of commercial companies

262
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,840
have been working to change that.

263
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:14,000
Aerospace company Boeing is
building the Starliner spacecraft,

264
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,840
right here on site.

265
00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,280
It will fly on top of
an Atlas V rocket,

266
00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,600
which currently takes satellites
and space probes into orbit.

267
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,840
When finished, it will fly
up to seven astronauts per flight

268
00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:32,240
to the International Space Station,

269
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,320
a laboratory in space
that has been continuously occupied

270
00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:39,000
for 18 years by astronauts
and cosmonauts.

271
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:45,640
Another commercial company,
Elon Musk's SpaceX, is also working

272
00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,920
to take people there
by the end of the year.

273
00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,520
They have developed pioneering
self-landing rockets.

274
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,840
This make them re-usable,
and means they have slashed the cost

275
00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,720
of getting cargo into space.

276
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,440
RADIO: Two, one, zero, ignition,
liftoff!

277
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,720
In March 2019, the company
successfully tested their

278
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,880
Crew Dragon spacecraft,
which flies on top of their

279
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:13,720
self-landing Falcon rocket.

280
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,600
RADIO: Mission copy, vehicle is
centred.

281
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,080
This unmanned test proved
it could dock with

282
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,480
the International Space Station,
a major milestone.

283
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:29,080
But in April, disaster struck,
when during an unmanned test,

284
00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,880
the Crew Dragon spacecraft
exploded on the launchpad.

285
00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:34,840
MISSION TESTERS GASP

286
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,280
No, no!

287
00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,520
Investigating the cause
will mean delays.

288
00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,120
While commercial companies
are looking to take people

289
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:51,320
to the Space Station,
Nasa's focus is deep space.

290
00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,360
It's building the Orion spacecraft
to take people back to the moon,

291
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,400
and eventually onto Mars.

292
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,680
Orion will be carried
by a new rocket, known as

293
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,160
the Space Launch System, or SLS.

294
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,000
It's being assembled
at Nasa's Michoud base

295
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:13,520
and, once completed, will tower to
a height of 111 metres.

296
00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:21,760
Its engines will propel four
astronauts to over 25,000 mph -

297
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:26,640
the speed needed to escape
Earth's gravity.

298
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,200
Right now, those engines are being
tested at a unique Nasa facility.

299
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,320
Doctor Kevin Fong
has been to investigate.

300
00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,240
I'm on my way to Hancock
County in Mississippi,

301
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,280
in search of Nasa's
most secluded site.

302
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,880
It's buried in the forest,
far away from any town,

303
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,960
because it really has to be.

304
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,960
At John C Stennis Space Center,
a team of engineers is preparing

305
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:09,080
to test fire an engine that will
power the space launch system SLS
rocket.

306
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,880
Despite the fact it will be
the biggest rocket ever built,

307
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,120
they're planning to use
second-hand engines.

308
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,360
This is an RS25 engine,
and it's a marvel of engineering.

309
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:31,480
The job of this engine is to move
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen,

310
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:35,400
burning it, developing enough
temperature and pressure to eject

311
00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:41,480
from this nozzle at 9,600 mph, and
that generates enough thrust

312
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,760
to get the next generation
of exploration vehicle

313
00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,680
into deep space.

314
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:52,400
Standing at 4.3 metres tall,
and weighing around four tonnes,

315
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,560
the RS25 has been Nasa's workhorse
for more than 30 years.

316
00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,680
RADIO: We are go for main engine
start.

317
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,600
We have main engine start.

318
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,800
It powered every one
of the 135 space shuttle launches.

319
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,960
But its next job
will be far tougher.

320
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:22,160
To lift the SLS' enormous weight,
Nasa's engineers have two solid

321
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,920
rocket boosters working
alongside the RS25 engines.

322
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:33,320
And they'll need to push the RS25s
beyond anything they've done before.

323
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:37,920
The aim of today's test is to run
the engine

324
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:44,160
past its proven maximum thrust,
to 113% for 510 seconds.

325
00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:50,040
This is how long four RS25 engines
will have to burn in unison

326
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,880
to put the SLS safely into orbit.

327
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:59,600
But pushing a rocket engine
this hard is risky.

328
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,840
The early history of uncrewed
rockets shows just how easily

329
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:05,680
things can go wrong.

330
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,720
The test is being carried out
on Stennis' A1 test stand.

331
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,200
Towering at 60 metres tall,
there's a further 60 metres

332
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:29,680
of concrete and steel below ground
to anchor the stand firmly in place,

333
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,920
and stop the engine
launching into the air.

334
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,200
So we're on the build-up
to the test now.

335
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,040
In the background there is
a team of engineers,

336
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,880
making sure that it's running
correctly, and at any moment,

337
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:46,960
if anything looks wrong,
if any of the pressures

338
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,360
are out of range,
if any of the flows look wrong,

339
00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:51,200
they will stop this test.

340
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,240
SIREN BLARES

341
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,280
That was a 60-second siren,
so let's just stand by and watch

342
00:20:58,280 --> 00:20:59,720
what's going to happen.

343
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,000
Here we go!

344
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:19,040
So, I've seen several shuttle
launches from two miles away.

345
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,400
I've never been this close
to a rocket firing,

346
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,120
and it really is quite something!

347
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:31,400
I can feel that in my chest.

348
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,840
We are half a mile away from this...

349
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,840
..and you just can't help but get
a sense of

350
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,360
the enormous power involved here.

351
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,720
The engineers are looking for
anything out of the ordinary,

352
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,200
like small deformations in this,
the engine nozzle,

353
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,240
that could lead to
the engines exploding.

354
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Just imagine what it
would be like to be an astronaut,

355
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,480
sitting on top of four
of those engines!

356
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,280
The only fuel is hydrogen
and oxygen,

357
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,520
so those clouds
are superheated water vapour.

358
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,080
Nearly there. We are within seconds
of a successful test.

359
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,560
And the silence is
suddenly deafening.

360
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,600
That is the end of the test.

361
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:42,440
We've had official word that that
was 510 seconds of good firing.

362
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,360
This is an RS25 engine working
the way that it should work.

363
00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:51,960
All-essential step on the road
to the next generation of mission.

364
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,960
At the start of the moon programme,
Nasa faced a problem,

365
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,080
because the giant Saturn V
rockets are assembled

366
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,600
in that building,
the vehicle assembly building,

367
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,880
and they have to be carried
from there to the launchpad,

368
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,800
which is over there,
about three and a half miles

369
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,480
in that direction,
over Florida swampland.

370
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,840
And the solution they came up with
was to construct the largest

371
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,360
self-powered vehicle ever
constructed at the time.

372
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,440
And it's this.
It's called the crawler.

373
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,520
After Apollo,
the crawlers were refitted...

374
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,400
..to continue their iconic role
of transporting the space shuttle.

375
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:47,120
A task they've performed
for 135 missions.

376
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,240
And in a couple of years,
they are due to begin work again

377
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,880
carrying the SLS rocket
on the first step of its eventual

378
00:23:57,880 --> 00:23:59,760
journey back to the moon.

379
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,080
I'm under the belly of the beast
with crawler project manager

380
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,240
John Giles.
Hello, John, how are you?

381
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:11,560
I'm fine.
This is an incredible machine.

382
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,320
Do you think of this as a car
or a tank or what?

383
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,360
A cross between a tank,

384
00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:20,120
a ship, a locomotive.

385
00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,200
It's a lot of pieces
of equipment involved.

386
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,280
It's a fairly unique piece of
hardware. It's very unique.

387
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,480
But it is slightly complicated,
the fact that even though this looks

388
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,760
lovely and flat, most of the journey
isn't done completely flat.

389
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,000
That's true.

390
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,040
It would be wonderful
if it was flat the whole way,

391
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,520
but these river rock
that we ride on are very uneven,

392
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,200
and then once we go up
the elevation to the pad,

393
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,240
then we're obviously
going up a five degree incline.

394
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,640
OK, so hang on, I'm sorry,
a five degree incline with a rocket

395
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,160
on top is pretty severe.
That's absolutely correct.

396
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,240
So, what we do is we have
a levelling system on board,

397
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,760
and any time the crawler
gets out of level,

398
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:57,360
and it senses that,
we will automatically send

399
00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,800
hydraulic fluid to one of the
corners there,

400
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,240
one of our jacking equalisation and
levelling cylinders,

401
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:03,880
and we'll bring that side
up and down,

402
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,520
so we stay level all the time.

403
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,760
How much of a give
can you possibly have?

404
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,800
How much can you be off? Oh, it's...
it's in the very small inch range.

405
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,680
An inch? Yes. I'm sorry, in this
entire area here, will no more,

406
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,440
at any time, be an inch higher
on one side than the other?

407
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,960
An inch or two is what we strive
for. Wow, that's incredible.

408
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,760
And the other thing, of course,
often it isn't the rocket

409
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,240
itself that it's carrying,
but it's also carrying the rocket

410
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:28,320
and the launchpad. So, yes.

411
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,480
We'll either carry,
like, during the shuttle days,

412
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,080
we would carry a mobile launch
platform, with a shuttle on top.

413
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,360
But for the new programme,
for the new SLS programme,

414
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,400
we'll have a mobile launch tower.
Yes, and that would be on top of us.

415
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,080
Weighs in 10-11 million pounds.

416
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,560
And then we will throw an SLS launch
vehicle on top of that.

417
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,320
On top of that, right?

418
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,960
Is this the easiest way to do this?

419
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,240
Or is this a piece of engineering
that felt like the easiest way

420
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,480
back in the 1950s and '60s?

421
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,560
We have been doing it
for over 50 years,

422
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,120
and if there was something better,
we would've tried it.

423
00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:02,440
As big as we do things here, we
need to do it in a very large way.

424
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,680
Yes, you do. When you go to the SLS,
will this still be enough,

425
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,880
or do you need to...?
This is it right here.

426
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:10,720
We actually upgraded this.

427
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,600
When this was designed back
in the 1960s for Apollo,

428
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,240
we only had to lift
12 million pounds.

429
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,040
So, when they decided we were
going to go and transform

430
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,600
to SLS, they said, "Well,
we have a new requirement for you,

431
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,320
"it has to work for
18 million pounds."

432
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:29,600
So we spent three to four years
modifying the bearings,

433
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,760
our hydraulic cylinders,
our gel system.

434
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,720
We put a new onboard generator,
we put new brakes on it.

435
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,200
We strengthened the steel
inside of our trucks.

436
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,400
We did quite a few mods,
to make sure it can handle

437
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,840
18 million pounds. OK, fair enough.

438
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:45,440
Thank you very much, John.

439
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,760
On July 16th, 1969,

440
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,840
just 12 minutes after liftoff,

441
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,120
Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin

442
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:06,160
and Michael Collins entered
a new phase of their journey...

443
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,960
..as they manoeuvred into Earth
orbit.

444
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,760
After one and a half
laps of the Earth,

445
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,160
they turned the Apollo 11
spacecraft towards the moon,

446
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,280
and began their journey
to this alien world.

447
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:30,760
RADIO: Roger, Houston, Apollo 11.

448
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:37,840
They navigated by the stars,
in a spacecraft that had less
computing power than a mobile phone.

449
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,520
For three days,
the astronauts lived,

450
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:47,760
worked and ate within the six cubic
metres of their Apollo capsule.

451
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:49,840
We've got all kinds of good stuff.

452
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,120
We've got chicken stew here.

453
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:55,000
All you have to do is three ounces
of hot water

454
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,560
for five or ten minutes.

455
00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:01,840
Neil, Buzz and Michael's lives
were entirely in the hands

456
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,280
of the Apollo spacecraft's
life-support systems.

457
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:12,360
In the next part of the programme,
we'll explore what it takes

458
00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,280
to survive in the vacuum of space.

459
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:21,920
Roger, Houston. Apollo 11, calling
in from about 130,000 miles out.

460
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,240
And we'll reveal the latest
spacecraft being built right now,

461
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,680
to make life in space a reality.

462
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,600
We've moved now to the very heart
of the Kennedy Space Center.

463
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,520
Just behind us is the very famous
vehicle assembly building.

464
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,480
From floor to roof,
the highest single storey

465
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:46,920
in any building in the world.

466
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,440
At one stage, so huge that clouds
would form in the higher

467
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,600
parts of it, and it would
rain down onto it.

468
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,200
But it had to be
that big, didn't it?

469
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,280
You know, you don't get a sense
of the scale of it on telly,

470
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,960
but when I tell you you could fit
four Saturn V rockets in there,

471
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,200
and also the space shuttles
were assembled in there,

472
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,960
you get some sense of
the scale of the thing.

473
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,280
Behind us now is a building
that was originally used

474
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,600
for the refurbishing
of shuttles between flights.

475
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,400
You can see that from
the shape of the door.

476
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,200
You can see where the wings
would be, coming out of there.

477
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,040
In there, however, now,
they're building the next generation

478
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,080
of American spacecraft, and we have
been given unprecedented access to
look around.

479
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,320
Yeah, as the first capsule
neared completion,

480
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:29,600
I was allowed in there to
a spacecraft assembly line.

481
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,000
How cool is that?!
I'm going to say it again.

482
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,880
A spacecraft assembly line,
to see production in action.

483
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,240
For almost 40 years,
Nasa has been concentrating

484
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,840
on missions close to home,

485
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,320
like building and running
the permanently occupied

486
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,280
International Space Station.

487
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,840
Now Nasa's focus is on
deep space missions -

488
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,720
flying to the moon and Mars,
and hopefully beyond.

489
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,160
And the strategy is to subcontract
out near-Earth orbit operations

490
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,800
to commercial companies,
and that's why Boeing has built

491
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,640
this spacecraft factory
here at Kennedy.

492
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,280
With a contract worth
over $4.7 billion,

493
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,200
they've been designing a brand-new
spacecraft from scratch

494
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,880
to fly on top of an Atlas V rocket.

495
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,800
This is Starliner -

496
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,960
Boeing's vision of a new age
of space travel.

497
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,200
Lewis.
Hi, how are you doing?

498
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:37,400
I'm very good, thank you.

499
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,280
Lewis Aitchison is the chief
engineer for Starliner's

500
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,560
launch and recovery systems.

501
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,440
It's an incredibly
exciting time here.

502
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:50,040
We have two of our test vehicles
coming together right now.

503
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,240
Over here, this is our
paddleboard test vehicle,

504
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:53,760
also known as Spacecraft 1.

505
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,320
Spacecraft 2, which isn't here,
is out in the factory right now

506
00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,200
getting tested in El Segundo,
and that's Spacecraft 3.

507
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,200
That'll actually be the first
vehicle

508
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,680
that we have on the Starliner
programme that'll fly in space.

509
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,520
The three Starliner spacecraft
currently in production

510
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,400
all have different roles.

511
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,800
Spacecraft 1 is a stripped-down
vehicle that will be used

512
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:19,400
to test the abort engines that will
fire to pull astronauts to safety

513
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,840
if there is a problem during launch.

514
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:26,160
Spacecraft 2 is a proving ground
for construction techniques,

515
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,600
and will eventually fly
the first astronauts.

516
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,680
And Spacecraft 3
is nearing completion -

517
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,840
it's due to be the first
to fly on a mission to

518
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:39,560
the International Space Station on
an uncrewed test flight in August.

519
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,280
So this is a great view
of the capsule, actually,

520
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,280
because I suppose not many people
see it without the outer skin.

521
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,760
You can see the bits,
the functioning objects

522
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,160
in the capsule.
Yeah, absolutely.

523
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,440
So, what's the...? Can you talk us
through it?

524
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,880
What is the black square there,
and the...?

525
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,600
Sure, so what you're kind of
looking at right now is our window.

526
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,960
Off on the other side
of the vehicle would be the hatch.

527
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,360
You'll see quite a bit of harness
for both either avionics

528
00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,640
or plumbing
for the propulsion system.

529
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,280
Up towards the top, what we would
have is our Nasa docking system.

530
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,800
Once you get on orbit, you'll be
docking to the Space Station

531
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,880
up through the top, and that's
called the IVA hatch.

532
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:24,280
And that's how the astronauts will
get in and out of the International
Space Station.

533
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:28,080
Their plan is the astronauts
will be using that hatch

534
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:29,920
within the next 12 months.

535
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,440
Boeing's contract with Nasa
is to deliver four astronauts

536
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,680
per flight to the International
Space Station.

537
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,520
Preparations are already advanced.

538
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,000
And to find out what it's like
to fly the Starliner,

539
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,440
we sent Doctor Hannah Fry
to Houston, Texas.

540
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,240
Deep within Johnson Space
Center is building nine,

541
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:02,920
where astronauts prepare for space.

542
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:08,160
Since the 1980s, every single
Nasa astronaut has walked

543
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:13,720
along this floor and climbed into
one of these mock-up space vehicles.

544
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,200
And the thousands of hours
that they spend in these trainers

545
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,920
is absolutely essential.

546
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,720
Every procedure has to be practised
and perfected

547
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,120
until it's second nature.

548
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,840
And today, I get to have a go.

549
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:34,360
One of the first people to fly
Starliner when it launches in 2020

550
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,600
will be astronaut Sunita Williams.

551
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:43,200
She's a veteran of the space
shuttle, and Soyuz capsule.

552
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,160
I was interested to see
if she had a preference.

553
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:48,760
Both are different, right?

554
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,760
The shuttle is like a pick-up truck.

555
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,040
You know, we were in the middle
of the construction of the space

556
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,880
station, and then the Soyuz
is more like a little sports car.

557
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,280
This will be our newer sports car,
so it'll be a lot of fun

558
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:00,480
to fly this one.

559
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,200
So, first open the hatch.

560
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,280
Right here, and there it is.

561
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,960
Put your hands, put your legs,
and then put your butt...

562
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,960
..right over here. OK.

563
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:15,600
And then scoot yourself right in.

564
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,240
Now just keep coming over.
Wow.

565
00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:21,480
It's actually bigger
on the inside than it looks.

566
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:28,640
The Starliner can carry up to seven
astronauts in relative comfort.

567
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,960
How does this compare to the Soyuz
when you're inside it?

568
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,480
It's nice to have a big
old window right here.

569
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,320
Do you not have one in Soyuz?

570
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,520
We have little windows on the side,
but this is a nice window

571
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:41,680
where you can actually
look at the Space Station

572
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:43,440
as you're coming close to it.

573
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,600
Soyuz is an amazing
spacecraft, but this is a step up.

574
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,120
You feel like, also,
everything is right in front of you,

575
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:52,640
right where you can reach it.

576
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,080
It's not spread way
out around the cockpit

577
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,040
like the shuttle is.
It was extremely huge,

578
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,480
and one person couldn't drive it.

579
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,040
This one actually,
one person is supposed to be able

580
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,960
to do everything, that's
all because of the automation that's

581
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:08,800
involved into this very
modern spacecraft.

582
00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,320
And how does it feel knowing
that you're going to be one

583
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:16,520
of the first people
to fly this thing?

584
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:18,920
It's cool. It's really exciting.

585
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,000
I mean, I feel very vested in it,
and I feel, you know,

586
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,400
talking to all the engineers
and people and technicians

587
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,560
who are putting it together,
I feel super confident with it, too.

588
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,760
So I'm psyched.

589
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:34,480
I'm about to find out
what it will be like to fly

590
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,480
Starliner, in a
craft used to train the astronauts.

591
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,120
One of the critical procedures
they must all learn

592
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,800
is how to dock with the ISS.

593
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:50,480
Simulator designer Jim Keil
will put me through my paces.

594
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,880
The first thing we will do
is turn on manual control.

595
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:54,480
That's this one up here? Up?

596
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,720
Yes. It is a live joystick now.

597
00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:59,040
You will push it in the direction
you want the spacecraft to go.

598
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,400
So if you want to move forward,
you're going to push it straight in.

599
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,240
So let's go ahead and
push it straight in.

600
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,400
During a real-life docking,
both Starliner and the ISS

601
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:14,760
will be hurtling around the Earth
at 17,500 miles per hour.

602
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,680
Under normal circumstances
it would be computer-controlled,

603
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:24,800
but astronauts must be able to take
over if something goes wrong.

604
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:30,080
This pink circle is your target. OK?

605
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:34,040
So, actually, this is quite like you
are getting these discrete bursts.

606
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:35,800
Yes, it is pulses of the thrusters,

607
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,320
as opposed to pushing the gas pedal
on a car. OK.

608
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:46,280
In the past, astronauts were
confronted with a mind-boggling
array of switches.

609
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,720
Apollo and Soyuz had hundreds,

610
00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:54,240
and the Space Shuttle had about
3,000.

611
00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:59,720
Starliner's cockpit has been
simplified,

612
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:02,560
reducing the number to around 50.

613
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:09,480
Fewer buttons means fewer switches
that a crew member has to memorise
and know how to use.

614
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:14,520
That is fewer distractions while
they are actually trying to get
their job done.

615
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:18,200
The streamlining of Starliner's
cockpit means that I am able

616
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:22,440
to control the entire docking
process through a single hand
controller.

617
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,840
And the screens in front of me don't
just show me where I am now -

618
00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,520
they also show me where I'll be
in a few seconds' time...

619
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,080
..making the docking process
more intuitive.

620
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:42,200
OK, so, we are getting close.
Coming up to the 1m mark.

621
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:47,280
Although you are hurtling around
the Earth around 17,500 mph,
20,000 kph.

622
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,840
Relative to the Space Station,
we want about, you know, that 4cm,
a few inches per second.

623
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,160
That's absolutely mad. Yeah,
it's a highly choreographed dance.

624
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,680
But we'd like to keep both
the Space Station and Starliner

625
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,200
intact when we dock. OK.

626
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,440
All right, when you get
to the middle point,

627
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,880
let's go ahead and give it
upward pulse. Upward.

628
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,200
We have got contact. Ooh!

629
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,560
And capture!
Hey, successful docking.

630
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,000
So, how far off was I?

631
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:13,080
You were under a centimetre
from the centre.

632
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,240
I think that's just an excellent
display of skill, then.

633
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:18,920
I think so.

634
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:23,440
Parking's generally not my forte,
but I did just manage to dock

635
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,240
at the ISS successfully
without mucking it up.

636
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:28,880
So, pretty pleased with myself.

637
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:34,760
Although I suspect it says
a lot more about how well

638
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,840
they've streamlined the controls,
and simplified the process to make

639
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,680
it instinctive, than it does my
skills as an astronaut.

640
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:55,080
Not only have Boeing worked to make
sure that the Starliner is as easy

641
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:58,840
as possible to pilot,
Lewis Aitchison and his team

642
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,200
have also put a huge effort
into designing this spacecraft

643
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,480
to be much cheaper to fly
than anything that has gone before.

644
00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:12,760
I think one of the big differences
between this and Apollo is
reusability.

645
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,440
The Apollo capsule, once it flew
one time, that was it.

646
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,880
You typically see the Apollo
capsules in museums after they
were flown.

647
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,120
This particular vehicle is designed
to fly up to ten times.

648
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,160
So, what are the design choices
that mean that you can re-use it?

649
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,280
The biggest thing is where we land.

650
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,640
So, one of the neat things
about this programme,

651
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,120
is this will be the first US
capsule to land on land.

652
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,080
That's a really important design
choice, because as you can imagine,

653
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,160
saltwater wreaks havoc
on electronics, metal,

654
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:41,520
anything it touches, really.

655
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:48,240
The challenge of landing on solid
ground instead of water

656
00:39:48,240 --> 00:39:49,880
is how to soften the impact.

657
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:51,680
RADIO: And touchdown.

658
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,320
The Russian Soyuz capsule
uses explosive retro rockets,

659
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,480
that fire just before touchdown

660
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:00,680
to reduce the speed at impact.

661
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,160
But Starliner is taking
a different approach,

662
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:09,080
using a system we're familiar
with in cars - airbags.

663
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,120
But it's not as simple
as just pumping them up.

664
00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:19,280
So, here is the Starliner,
and it's going to land,

665
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,880
and here are two airbags,
both at the same pressure

666
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,640
at the moment, and no air
can escape.

667
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,920
The bungs - the stoppers -
are in, if you like.

668
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,160
And so let's drop the spacecraft
and see what happens.

669
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:34,200
You see?

670
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:37,480
If both airbags are inflated,
and the gases,

671
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:42,120
which are the oxygen and nitrogen
in this case, can't escape,

672
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,200
then the spacecraft bounces.

673
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:48,960
So, the solution to that was
have this rather more subtle system,

674
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,680
and the key point
is the outer airbag,

675
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,400
the slightly lower-pressure one,
is vented.

676
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,280
So now, see what happens
when we drop the spacecraft.

677
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,360
It lands, and it doesn't bounce.

678
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,160
And that is why this double
airbag system is employed.

679
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,400
Starliner's new landing system
has been tested rigorously.

680
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:17,800
It's been dropped from cranes...

681
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:18,880
Release!

682
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:22,760
..dropped into water...

683
00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:28,240
..dropped at angles...

684
00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:31,200
..even dropped from helicopters

685
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,160
in an attempt to make every landing

686
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:35,960
as safe as possible.

687
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,440
This spacecraft has only got a few
months of assembly left.

688
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,080
They said it comes together
very quickly, actually.

689
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:46,920
They just have to bolt the panels
on and then it will launch

690
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,200
from here at Kennedy, will fly to
the International Space Station,

691
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,280
it will dock,
then it will return to Earth,

692
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:57,280
it will be refurbished, and its next
flight will carry a crew into space.

693
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:07,040
Outside the capsule, space is a
forbidding, hostile environment.

694
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,160
Everything is constantly bombarded
by radiation from the sun.

695
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,600
The tiniest leak in
a suit could be fatal.

696
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,640
Temperatures veer wildly from 138
degrees in sunlight,

697
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:20,040
to -173 degrees in the shade.

698
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:21,800
It is a tough place.

699
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,080
Yet, here on Earth,
we're surrounded by air.

700
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,040
It's like sitting in a hot bath.

701
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:28,360
And that protects us
from these temperature swings.

702
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,600
If the sun goes behind a cloud,
we don't immediately freeze.

703
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,080
But in space, we're not
surrounded by anything.

704
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:38,120
So if you go into the shade,
the solar panel, or a space station
module,

705
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,440
the temperature swing can be
anything up to 300 degrees Celsius.

706
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,720
Venturing outside the protection
of a spacecraft is

707
00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:52,360
one of the riskiest parts
of any mission.

708
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:56,400
But for routine maintenance,
or in case of an emergency,

709
00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:59,800
it's something astronauts
must prepare for.

710
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:06,120
So, before their mission, they
must all undergo around 400 hours

711
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,080
of spacewalk training in places
like the neutral buoyancy tank,

712
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:14,680
which can get them close to the near
weightless conditions of space.

713
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:21,000
But at Johnson Space Center
in Houston,

714
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,840
they've devised a new way
to simulate spacewalks.

715
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,880
Doctor Kevin Fong
has been trying it out.

716
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,960
This is Nasa's most advanced
astronaut training device.

717
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:37,040
Argos.

718
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:42,320
The Active Response
Gravity Offload System.

719
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:45,360
It can create the sensation
of weightlessness,

720
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:49,680
so astronauts can practise complex
manoeuvres like spacewalks.

721
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,640
All right, Stell, let's go ahead
and enable vertical.

722
00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:55,920
Wow, here we go.

723
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,080
Now we have liftoff.

724
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:01,240
It's an array of computers,
sensors and motors

725
00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:04,480
that work together to dial out
Earth's gravity.

726
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:10,320
It's much, much more
difficult to control

727
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,520
than I imagined.

728
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:14,840
So, you're now in microgravity.

729
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,440
To give you a taste of what a
real spacewalk might be like,

730
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,080
I'm going to give you a little bit
of a circuit, and your mission

731
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:21,720
is to eventually get back here,

732
00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:24,480
and fix this electrical junction
box.

733
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:28,280
A tiny finger movement like that,
I'm going to push on that finger,

734
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:31,280
and that's me going,
and I'm nearly off that handle.

735
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,360
So, let's try and get over there.

736
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,760
As I try to make my way down
the length of the training rig,

737
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,920
every movement I make
is picked up by the sensors.

738
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:44,080
Motors change the tension
of the cables I'm attached to,

739
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:45,720
neutralising my weight,

740
00:44:45,720 --> 00:44:51,280
so I'm interacting with my
surroundings as though I'm in space.

741
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,360
So, all these handrails
are very similar to the ones

742
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,920
you'll see up on
the Space Station.

743
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,280
Right. Now I need to get back down.

744
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,960
And so, you're expecting
gravity to help you here,

745
00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:07,840
but there is no gravity.
You've cancelled it out, so...

746
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,880
You just... Every movement
is you, it's all you.

747
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,720
Adjusting to weightlessness
is difficult.

748
00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:18,920
And it's all because of
Newton's laws of motion.

749
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,720
His first law says that a moving
object will keep moving,

750
00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:25,360
unless something stops it.

751
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:28,480
On Earth, friction quickly
slows things down.

752
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:32,440
But in the vacuum of space,
there is no friction.

753
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:36,480
So unless there's something
to stop me, I just keep moving.

754
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,800
OK, I'm going to get down.

755
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:40,480
Stop messing around.

756
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,600
Just as critical is
Newton's third law.

757
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:48,480
For every action, there is an equal
and opposite reaction.

758
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:51,480
We don't usually notice
this effect when we're moving

759
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:53,960
around here on Earth.

760
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,400
But in microgravity, even the
tiniest action

761
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,920
has a knock-on effect on my body.

762
00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:03,600
Let's get across.
OK, I am at the business end.

763
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:06,160
Now I'm torn between letting go
of the hose,

764
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,320
and letting go
of the Space Station,

765
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,440
both of which are pretty
catastrophic. There you go.

766
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,280
So, I think all the electricity
is working again.

767
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,920
Good. All right, well, the Space
Station is safe.

768
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,160
On a real spacewalk,
the greatest fear is becoming

769
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,800
separated from the Space Station

770
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:27,040
and being lost in space.

771
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:34,240
It might be difficult to understand
how easy this is to get wrong,

772
00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:36,440
but if I stop now, I'm gone.

773
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:40,600
And the thing is about space is,
you fall off, and you fall forever.

774
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:42,240
Just keep floating.

775
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:46,760
Making mistakes
has huge consequences.

776
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:48,480
For me, I'm lucky.

777
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:52,640
My friends over there can
turn gravity on any time I like.

778
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:57,320
But on a real spacewalk,
it's a different story.

779
00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:01,560
Astronauts are equipped
with a small jetpack,

780
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:04,440
but its limited fuel means
they only have one chance

781
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:05,920
to get back.

782
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:10,040
If that failed,
they would keep drifting,

783
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,960
until their spacesuit's
life-support systems shut down,

784
00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:17,200
and their oxygen ran out.

785
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:25,120
Space is a brutal and
unforgiving environment.

786
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,000
But we have built a home there.

787
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:32,040
The International Space Station
is one of the greatest engineering

788
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:34,120
achievements of all time.

789
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:44,240
This laboratory has been bringing us
new science for over 18 years.

790
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:50,320
On board, they've studied the effect
of microgravity on everything,

791
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,760
from growing plants...

792
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:54,800
..to the human body.

793
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,400
Vital knowledge,
if we are to explore

794
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:03,360
the solar system.

795
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:07,400
But the Space Station wouldn't exist
without one of the most complex

796
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:10,400
spacecraft ever built -

797
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:15,000
Nasa's space shuttle,
which first launched in 1981.

798
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:23,800
Five shuttles flew to space,
including this - Atlantis.

799
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:29,120
And the presentation
of Atlantis here, is,

800
00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:31,560
for a machine this size,
is nothing short of poetic.

801
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:34,040
Floating here as if in orbit.

802
00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:37,240
But still, with all the bumps,
scrapes and scorch marks

803
00:48:37,240 --> 00:48:40,720
that it would've gained
over its 33 exits from Earth,

804
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:44,000
and moreover its 33 re-entries
into Earth's atmosphere.

805
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,400
Yeah, if you think about
what this spacecraft did,

806
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:49,240
it re-entered the Earth's
atmosphere at about 17,000 mph.

807
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:51,760
Those black tiles there would
have glowed

808
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:57,160
about 1,600 degrees Celsius,
as the frictional heating from the
atmosphere slowed it down.

809
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:01,400
And we are joined by Nicole Stott,
and Nicole spent 104 days in space.

810
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,440
And you flew on this ship
as well, didn't you?

811
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:05,880
I did. It was my ride home from
my first flight.

812
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:08,480
What's the primary difference
between this, obviously

813
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:12,800
the scale of it, but flying on a
shuttle compared to flying
on a capsule?

814
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:16,280
So, the difference is
that on Soyuz or some

815
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,440
of the new capsules coming along,
you're not going to have this, like,

816
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:22,960
ginormous cargo capacity that you
did on the space shuttle.

817
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:26,840
There are two rubber arms
on this shuttle. Yeah.

818
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:30,280
Yeah, so this one here,
the Canada arm,

819
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:34,160
is the one we used
as like the primary robotic system.

820
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:36,720
So, like the big crane
on the space shuttle,

821
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:38,800
and it could grab things
and move stuff around.

822
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:41,760
We would have a special attachment
that you could stick your feet in

823
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,840
and move around, and that was
one of the most surreal things

824
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:47,560
that I got to do on my mission
was I got to grab this,

825
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:50,160
what, on the ground, would have
been like 800lb,

826
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,200
you know, box, off the end
of the station,

827
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:56,080
and then I got flown down into the
payload bay,

828
00:49:56,080 --> 00:50:00,360
kind of the back end of the space
shuttle, to put it in there.

829
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,440
I never felt like I was moving.
It was like I was standing still

830
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:06,720
on the ground, and the shuttle
moved out of view,

831
00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:08,600
Earth moved into the view,
station...

832
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:12,760
I mean, it was like everything was
revolving around me, as it does,
but...

833
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:18,240
Just the most peaceful, try
not to fall asleep, kind of thing.

834
00:50:18,240 --> 00:50:21,640
What was it like landing in this?
Because it's very different.

835
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:23,880
Capsules obviously come down, they
burn up,

836
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:26,880
and then there's a big thunderous
impact at some point. Yeah.

837
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:30,360
It was just this graceful, peaceful,

838
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,560
like, movement back to the ground,

839
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,480
and then, you know, I always joke,
that the way human beings

840
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:38,360
should land coming home from space,

841
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:41,800
with that little chirp on
the runway, and the roll-out to
wheel stop.

842
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:46,760
You know, it's just this really
peaceful, graceful thing,
coming home.

843
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:51,160
Nasa's plan now looks
to me like the moon,

844
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:52,960
and then perhaps onward to Mars.

845
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:56,640
I'm a moon person. I love the fact
that we're looking at the moon,

846
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,040
this, you know, kind of
naturally purpose-built

847
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,640
space station in space for us
already,

848
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:04,920
as a destination that's not
just a destination,

849
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,520
but a place where we'll have
a permanent settlement there.

850
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,000
So, the moon, it may be the
moon next.

851
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,360
I would love to go to the moon,
yeah!

852
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:14,960
Who wouldn't love to go to the moon?
I mean, really!

853
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:17,520
Mars not so much, I think,
but the moon, yeah, yeah.

854
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:20,000
I mean, I'm just saying,
I'm very busy...

855
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,000
LAUGHTER
Yeah. Mars is a bit of a
commitment!

856
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:24,640
Nicole, a pleasure,
thank you very much.

857
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:26,440
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

858
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,320
Now, one thing that hasn't changed
since the Apollo missions

859
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:32,360
is the need to keep astronauts
in peak physical condition,

860
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,400
and food is a huge part of that.

861
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:38,600
But what's served to them and how
it's served has changed
dramatically.

862
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:42,080
We sent Kevin Fong to Houston
to find out what's on the menu.

863
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:50,000
The Space Food Systems Laboratory
at Nasa's Johnson Space Center

864
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,280
is possibly the most exclusive
kitchen in the world.

865
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:58,120
Here, they use unique cooking
methods to prepare meals

866
00:51:58,120 --> 00:51:59,560
for just six people,

867
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:03,920
that cost over £5,000 each.

868
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,480
Ryan Dowdy is the Food Systems
Manager

869
00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,120
for the International Space Station.

870
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,600
We can't do any cooking
like this in space.

871
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:15,600
Tell me why.

872
00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:18,880
There's no cooking in space,
and the reason for that is

873
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:21,080
because space is a very
controlled environment.

874
00:52:21,080 --> 00:52:23,120
If they have hot water
floating around inside

875
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:25,840
the International Space Station,
someone's going to get burned,

876
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:28,400
or the electronics equipment
is going to get messed up.

877
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:31,040
That's why all the cooking we do
for space happens right here.

878
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:38,560
They've been preparing food for
space here in Houston for
well over 50 years.

879
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:43,880
John Glenn became the first American
to dine in orbit in 1962.

880
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:46,480
His modest meal was a sugar tablet,

881
00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:49,920
water, and a tube of apple sauce.

882
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:55,440
The duration of Glenn's mission
was less than five hours,

883
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:57,840
so his life didn't depend upon it.

884
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:01,200
Oh, excellent.

885
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:05,840
But today's missions to the Space
Station can last up to a year.

886
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:09,920
And that means astronaut food
needs to be nutritious,

887
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,280
and made safe to eat in space.

888
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,320
So, Ryan, very noisy in here.

889
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:19,600
And inside this machine,
you've got the most elaborately

890
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:22,680
prepared porridge and raisins
I've ever seen.

891
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:24,880
This is where we freeze-dry food
to send up

892
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:27,160
to the International Space Station.

893
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:29,920
First we freeze it,
and then we pull a vacuum on it,

894
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,280
so all the water molecules
are a solid,

895
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:34,480
and they evaporate out into a gas.

896
00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:37,160
So it pulls all the moisture
out of the foods in about

897
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:38,640
a week-long process.

898
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:40,520
Foods are about 90% water,

899
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:43,720
so you see about a 90% weight
reduction in the food

900
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:45,200
as it's freeze-dried.

901
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:48,640
And so this isn't fundamentally
about making the food cold,

902
00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:51,880
it's about making it dry
and removing the moisture,

903
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:53,920
so that doesn't allow
any bacteria to grow.

904
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:55,680
It's pulling the water out of it,

905
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:58,800
so the food can last a long time
at room temperature.

906
00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:02,640
So, the key to stabilising food
for space is reducing the risk

907
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:06,920
of bacterial growth,
while keeping its nutritional value.

908
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,160
ASTRONAUT: Coming out pretty well,
there. There we go.

909
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:12,640
In space, the amount of weight
that the bones must support

910
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:17,080
is reduced to almost zero,
and this causes them to weaken.

911
00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:22,320
So a diet containing calcium
and vitamin D is even more important

912
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,800
than on Earth, to help maintain
bone strength.

913
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:29,360
Low gravity can also reduce
the number of astronauts'

914
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:33,480
oxygen-carrying red blood cells,
so they don't need as much iron

915
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:35,160
in their diet.

916
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:38,080
Excess iron can cause
nausea and vomiting,

917
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:42,520
and, if left unchecked,
could damage the liver and heart.

918
00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:48,960
So, carefully tailored
nutrition is essential.

919
00:54:48,960 --> 00:54:51,640
But what about the flavour?

920
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:54,480
One of the crew-member favourites
is the shrimp cocktail.

921
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:58,720
Let's give it a try.
OK... OK.

922
00:54:58,720 --> 00:55:03,800
So, what we're going to do
here is take 75 ml of cold water,

923
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:08,480
so the freeze-dried shrimp
will take the water,

924
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:10,520
become reconstituted.

925
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:13,960
Let's give it a go.
So, scissors across here.

926
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:17,600
There's a bit of me that's
a little bit hesitant about this!

927
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:23,280
Mmm!

928
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:25,400
That is actually pretty good.

929
00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:29,400
Tastes like shrimp cocktail.
Mmm. It has got a bit of a kick.

930
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:32,040
You can taste the horseradish
in that. Mm-hm.

931
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,520
I remember the astronaut crews
saying that they like stuff

932
00:55:34,520 --> 00:55:38,480
with a bit of heat,
because they have trouble tasting

933
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:41,000
anything, really, in orbit,
because the fluid shifts

934
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:44,040
into their head, makes
their noses a bit stuffy,

935
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,400
you know, makes you feel the way
you do when you have a cold,

936
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:49,080
so, sometimes tasting
the food is a bit difficult.

937
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:52,160
That's right. Hot sauce, wasabi
and horseradish

938
00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:54,680
are all perennial favourites.

939
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:56,640
These are great,
because they interact

940
00:55:56,640 --> 00:55:58,680
with the trigeminal nerve
in the mouth,

941
00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:01,480
and they don't have to pass
into the nose to be perceived.

942
00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:04,760
I am impressed with your cooking
skills. This is really good stuff.

943
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:06,080
Glad you like it.

944
00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:18,560
Food might seem like a very
small consideration

945
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:21,560
when you're looking at rockets
and radiation,

946
00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:24,360
but if we're going to go to the
moon and beyond to Mars,

947
00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:26,560
we're going to have to
get this right,

948
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:28,400
because the comfort
that it brings,

949
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:31,360
the boost to the crew's morale
is all-important.

950
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:35,240
If we want to keep our astronauts
healthy in body and mind,

951
00:56:35,240 --> 00:56:38,400
getting the science of this right
is going to be as essential

952
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:40,520
as any other life-support system.

953
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,120
Over the course of the programme,
we have examined the difficulties

954
00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:50,840
of lifting off from Earth

955
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:54,280
and the perils of travelling
through space.

956
00:56:54,280 --> 00:56:57,760
But for the Apollo 11 astronauts,
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin,

957
00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:01,040
the most challenging part of the
mission was yet to come -

958
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:03,840
exploring a world no-one
had ever set foot on.

959
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:11,400
RADIO: Eagle, everything looks good.

960
00:57:11,400 --> 00:57:14,200
Eagle, Houston, everything's
looking good here, over.

961
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:21,240
At 5:44 on the afternoon of
the 20th of July 1969,

962
00:57:21,240 --> 00:57:23,760
the lunar lander, carrying
Neil and Buzz,

963
00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:27,400
undocked from the Apollo
command module.

964
00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:29,640
Leaving Michael Collins in orbit,

965
00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:32,080
the lander began its journey
to the moon's surface.

966
00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:34,560
Roger, copy.

967
00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:38,440
Back in mission control in Houston,

968
00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:43,680
Charlie Duke was helping guide the
Apollo 11 team in his role
as Capcom.

969
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:46,320
Go ahead, copy, over.

970
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:53,600
Capcom is an acronym -
capsule communicator -

971
00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:56,480
and it's the only person in mission
control

972
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:59,000
that can actually talk to the crew.

973
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:02,960
We are go flight. OK, we are go.
We are go, same type, we are go.

974
00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:08,440
And it's always an astronaut,
because the idea is you are thinking

975
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:13,560
in this same kind of operational
vein that the crew is.

976
00:58:13,560 --> 00:58:15,240
Can you talk to us about
that landing?

977
00:58:15,240 --> 00:58:19,000
Because it is safe to say it
was more complicated,

978
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:21,440
the Apollo 11 landing, than it
was expected to be.

979
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:24,680
Correct. There was a lot of
problems developed.

980
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:26,920
And when they started descent,

981
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:30,160
it seemed like the wheels came off,
if you will.

982
00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:33,440
First, we had communication
problems,

983
00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:37,320
then all of a sudden, we had
computer warnings,

984
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:39,320
computer overloads.

985
00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:40,560
Programme alarm.

986
00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:45,600
Give us a reading on the 1202
programme alarm.

987
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,040
When I saw that, I said,
"We're dead in the water.

988
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:49,840
"We are not going to make it."

989
00:58:49,840 --> 00:58:52,520
Roger, we got you,
we are go on that alarm.

990
00:58:52,520 --> 00:58:55,320
Then we pitched over at 7,000 feet,

991
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:58,160
and they saw the surface
for the first time,

992
00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:05,320
and apparently we had them targeted
into a big boulder field,
let's call it.

993
00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:10,720
And so Neil had to level off at
400 or 500 feet above the surface,

994
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:14,880
and skim along the surface
for a mile or two.

995
00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:17,280
Holding out. 30 seconds, over.

996
00:59:19,560 --> 00:59:22,120
And so now, we're approaching
minimum fuel,

997
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,240
they still weren't on the ground,

998
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:28,880
and you can imagine
the tension was through the roof
in mission control.

999
00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:30,560
I'd never heard it as quiet,

1000
00:59:30,560 --> 00:59:33,360
and I felt like we were all
holding our breath.

1001
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:36,200
I heard Buzz say,
"Contact engine stop."

1002
00:59:36,200 --> 00:59:38,000
And we knew they were on the ground.

1003
00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:42,280
We copy you down, Eagle.

1004
00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:46,440
It's like punching a balloon,
and all the air goes out.

1005
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:49,400
And that's the way it felt
in mission control.

1006
00:59:49,400 --> 00:59:53,200
Houston, Tranquillity Base here,
the Eagle has landed.

1007
00:59:53,200 --> 00:59:56,720
Roger, Tw... Tranquillity,
we copy you on the ground.

1008
00:59:56,720 --> 00:59:58,560
You've got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue,

1009
00:59:58,560 --> 01:00:00,560
we're breathing again.
Thanks a lot.

1010
01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:06,080
And I was so excited, I couldn't
even say "Tranquillity",

1011
01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:08,760
it came out "Twang".
LAUGHTER

1012
01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:13,480
You do all sound very calm,
but were you going,

1013
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:15,000
"What is he doing?"?

1014
01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:17,840
Because this was an unexpected
manoeuvre at the very last minute.

1015
01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:24,120
Well, I'm convinced now that had
we said, "Eagle abort,"

1016
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:27,160
there would have been dead silence
on the other end,

1017
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:31,080
and it would've later on,
"Say again, Houston?"

1018
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:33,640
He was going to land.

1019
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:35,120
And I don't blame him.

1020
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:37,560
No, and you would've
all done the same.

1021
01:00:37,560 --> 01:00:38,760
Yeah, yeah. That's it.

1022
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:46,880
Neil and Buzz spent six hours
prepping their spacecraft

1023
01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:48,600
and getting into their spacesuits.

1024
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,840
Then came one of the most famous
moments in history.

1025
01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:02,680
Over half a billion people around
the world watched and waited

1026
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:05,360
for Neil to emerge from
the lunar lander.

1027
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:17,320
That's one small step for man...
one giant leap for mankind.

1028
01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:27,640
Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins
and Neil Armstrong had made history.

1029
01:01:32,360 --> 01:01:35,440
It was nearly three years later
when Charlie Duke

1030
01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:40,120
and Apollo 16 commander John Young
followed in Neil and Buzz's
footsteps.

1031
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:44,760
How was your landing on the moon?

1032
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:48,120
A landing on the moon,
in any flight, is dynamic.

1033
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:51,680
John had to really manoeuvre it,
it was a very rough landing area.

1034
01:01:51,680 --> 01:01:55,960
Not boulders-wise, but just
undulating terrain.

1035
01:01:55,960 --> 01:02:01,040
And so, about 4-5 feet off the moon,
he shut the engine down,

1036
01:02:01,040 --> 01:02:05,920
and boom, we hit the ground,
and six hours behind schedule,

1037
01:02:05,920 --> 01:02:09,160
we were on the moon,
and I was so excited,

1038
01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:12,560
and I just screamed out, "Oh, Orion
is finally here, Houston!

1039
01:02:12,560 --> 01:02:14,080
"Fantastic!"

1040
01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:18,080
And that was probably the first
fantastic of 900 fantastics

1041
01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:20,120
during the next three days.

1042
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:22,160
You loved being up on that moon.

1043
01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:24,000
Oh, yeah, John and I both did.

1044
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:29,960
We had practised and trained with
a camaraderie and a fun personality,

1045
01:02:29,960 --> 01:02:32,720
he had a great sense of humour.

1046
01:02:32,720 --> 01:02:36,360
And so, we just continued that
on the moon.

1047
01:02:36,360 --> 01:02:41,040
You begin to come alive
with the beauty of the moon,

1048
01:02:41,040 --> 01:02:44,880
and the pristine nature of the moon,
never touched.

1049
01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:48,560
The thought kept occurring to me,
nobody's ever stepped here before.

1050
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:50,400
Very, very exciting.

1051
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:52,040
And you got to drive the rover.

1052
01:02:52,040 --> 01:02:55,880
I got to ride the rover.
John was the driver,

1053
01:02:55,880 --> 01:02:57,680
and my job was to navigate.

1054
01:02:57,680 --> 01:03:00,520
Riding on the moon is rough.

1055
01:03:00,520 --> 01:03:02,040
The car bounced a lot.

1056
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:06,240
And the back end kept, I call
fishtail, like this,

1057
01:03:06,240 --> 01:03:07,680
and one time we spun out -

1058
01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:12,000
we went into a little crater,
and the car spun around 180 degrees.

1059
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:15,160
How did you cope in the
lower gravity?

1060
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:17,840
My balance wasn't as good as John's,

1061
01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:21,000
I had to be a little bit
more careful.

1062
01:03:21,000 --> 01:03:25,800
I could run right, John could
actually jump up,

1063
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:29,640
do a split, and go down,
and pick up a rock.

1064
01:03:29,640 --> 01:03:32,800
And his balance was really good.

1065
01:03:32,800 --> 01:03:35,920
I tried that a couple of times,
I never did grab the rock,

1066
01:03:35,920 --> 01:03:39,360
and I fell down a couple of times,
so I decided maybe I ought to use

1067
01:03:39,360 --> 01:03:42,600
the shovel to get my rocks up.

1068
01:03:42,600 --> 01:03:45,240
Can the training prepare you
for that experience?

1069
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:47,680
Is it radically different
to what you'd expected?

1070
01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:50,720
The training gave you
the mechanics of it,

1071
01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:53,960
but not the wonder of it.
Not the excitement of it.

1072
01:03:53,960 --> 01:03:56,400
Not the awe of it.

1073
01:03:56,400 --> 01:04:00,080
I mean, you're standing on the moon,
and you are looking at the horizon,

1074
01:04:00,080 --> 01:04:02,960
and you look up in this
blackness of space,

1075
01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:05,560
you can't do that on Earth.

1076
01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:10,840
And it was incredibly
awesome to me.

1077
01:04:10,840 --> 01:04:14,080
One of the most beautiful deserts
you can imagine.

1078
01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:17,160
And you kept thinking,
"I'm on the moon." Yeah.

1079
01:04:17,160 --> 01:04:20,000
Charlie, thank you very
much for coming out.

1080
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:23,040
Whilst pioneers like Charlie
have stood on the moon,

1081
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:26,280
no human being has set foot
on another planet.

1082
01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:28,920
But that's Nasa's long-term aim.

1083
01:04:28,920 --> 01:04:32,560
And it hopes to use the moon
as a staging post.

1084
01:04:32,560 --> 01:04:35,640
The moon has one sixth of
the gravitational pull of Earth,

1085
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:39,880
so launching from the moon is
estimated to be 20 times cheaper

1086
01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:42,280
than launching from Earth.

1087
01:04:42,280 --> 01:04:45,320
And there are teams investigating
now how we can use the moon

1088
01:04:45,320 --> 01:04:47,400
to help us send people to Mars.

1089
01:04:52,120 --> 01:04:55,320
Nearly five miles south of
the rocket factories,

1090
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:57,960
in the corner of Kennedy
Space Center,

1091
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:01,840
is a lab in which they've recreated
a piece of the moon's surface.

1092
01:05:03,960 --> 01:05:07,880
I've been invited here to try out
the prototype of a fleet of robots

1093
01:05:07,880 --> 01:05:09,840
designed to mine the moon.

1094
01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:17,880
The idea is the autonomous robots
would extract fuel and building

1095
01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:22,560
materials, working ahead of
any human mission.

1096
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:25,000
One stick drives one side
of the wheels,

1097
01:05:25,000 --> 01:05:27,480
and the other stick drives the
other side of the wheels.

1098
01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:29,800
Robotics engineer Ajay Nick

1099
01:05:29,800 --> 01:05:31,960
is letting me take one out
for a spin.

1100
01:05:33,160 --> 01:05:35,520
So, we could turn on this button,
and you can go ahead

1101
01:05:35,520 --> 01:05:37,760
and raise this arm over here.

1102
01:05:37,760 --> 01:05:40,200
And keep driving.

1103
01:05:40,200 --> 01:05:43,240
You know, there's a real feeling
of stability there.

1104
01:05:43,240 --> 01:05:44,480
Ah!

1105
01:05:45,760 --> 01:05:47,920
You're confident I can't break this?

1106
01:05:47,920 --> 01:05:51,120
I have done way worse to this robot.

1107
01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:53,800
I suppose the obvious question is,
if you want to mine this,

1108
01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:56,040
why don't you just get a shovel
and dig it up?

1109
01:05:56,040 --> 01:05:58,720
Why is the robot so complicated?

1110
01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:00,960
The first problem is we're trying
to make everything

1111
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:03,760
as lightweight as possible,
fit inside of a rocket.

1112
01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:05,720
Then you get there on the
lunar surface,

1113
01:06:05,720 --> 01:06:08,440
and you have reduced gravity
once you get there,

1114
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:10,680
so now the thing that was
already really light,

1115
01:06:10,680 --> 01:06:12,920
because you had to make it light
to fit in the rocket,

1116
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:15,120
is even lighter while
it's there on Earth.

1117
01:06:15,120 --> 01:06:18,000
This is really some rock.
Really shocked.

1118
01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:20,440
With one sixth of Earth's gravity,

1119
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:23,280
operating on the moon creates
a challenge.

1120
01:06:23,280 --> 01:06:26,080
OK, Houston, I'm digging exploratory
trench right here.

1121
01:06:26,080 --> 01:06:28,240
OK, we copy that.

1122
01:06:28,240 --> 01:06:31,200
While the Apollo astronauts could
move around with ease,

1123
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:35,560
they found simple tasks like digging
and collecting rocks difficult.

1124
01:06:39,920 --> 01:06:43,360
Current Earth terrestrial excavators
actually get their excavation

1125
01:06:43,360 --> 01:06:45,560
force, their ability to cut through
the soil,

1126
01:06:45,560 --> 01:06:47,440
from their weight of their vehicle.

1127
01:06:47,440 --> 01:06:51,520
Here, since we don't have a lot
of weight, it's very difficult.

1128
01:06:51,520 --> 01:06:54,560
Ajay and his team have come up
with a unique design

1129
01:06:54,560 --> 01:06:58,000
that will allow their robots to work
in the moon's weak gravity.

1130
01:07:00,600 --> 01:07:02,480
So now, I'm digging.

1131
01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:07,160
The scooping drums at either end
rotate in opposite directions.

1132
01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:10,200
This has the effect of pinning
the robot to the ground,

1133
01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:14,400
allowing it to dig without
floating off into space.

1134
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:18,240
As one drum on the front is digging,
the other drum is rotating

1135
01:07:18,240 --> 01:07:20,360
the opposite direction from the
other drum,

1136
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:23,200
and so, that allows the excavation
forces to be cancelled,

1137
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:24,360
as it's digging.

1138
01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:29,680
This is the only vehicle in
the world that can dig

1139
01:07:29,680 --> 01:07:32,000
more than its own weight.

1140
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:34,400
If I took it into this trench
the wrong way...

1141
01:07:34,400 --> 01:07:36,400
Right. ..it may well fall over.

1142
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:39,160
Mm-hm. Can I do that?
Yeah. Oh, yep.

1143
01:07:41,000 --> 01:07:43,280
Unlike other planetary rovers,

1144
01:07:43,280 --> 01:07:46,760
these robots are meant to be robust,

1145
01:07:46,760 --> 01:07:49,560
designed to get themselves
out of problems,

1146
01:07:49,560 --> 01:07:52,840
even if they're flipped
upside down.

1147
01:07:52,840 --> 01:07:55,280
It's really easy to drive,
and really manoeuvrable,

1148
01:07:55,280 --> 01:07:56,640
and really powerful.

1149
01:07:56,640 --> 01:07:59,520
And it does seem like you can get
out of a lot of trouble.

1150
01:07:59,520 --> 01:08:02,920
Once the lunar dirt has been dug up,

1151
01:08:02,920 --> 01:08:06,720
it needs to be transformed into a
building material.

1152
01:08:06,720 --> 01:08:08,680
Show you some materials here.

1153
01:08:08,680 --> 01:08:13,200
Senior technologist Robert Muller
has been sintering the lunar dust,

1154
01:08:13,200 --> 01:08:16,160
heating it until it solidifies.

1155
01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:20,680
So, the result, a well-centred
regolith, is this,

1156
01:08:20,680 --> 01:08:24,320
and that's essentially turning
crushed rock back into solid rock.

1157
01:08:24,320 --> 01:08:26,800
That's really quite heavy, actually.
That feels quite dense.

1158
01:08:26,800 --> 01:08:28,840
So that is just this material
in an oven, essentially.

1159
01:08:28,840 --> 01:08:30,440
That's right.

1160
01:08:30,440 --> 01:08:34,240
By mixing the regolith with plastic,
Rob can create something

1161
01:08:34,240 --> 01:08:36,320
far more versatile -

1162
01:08:36,320 --> 01:08:39,040
a material which can be
used in a 3D printer.

1163
01:08:40,400 --> 01:08:42,880
And we use the big robot arm,
we have a print head on it,

1164
01:08:42,880 --> 01:08:45,040
and then we're able to make
objects like this,

1165
01:08:45,040 --> 01:08:46,920
this is a blast deflection wall.

1166
01:08:46,920 --> 01:08:50,960
Or this is an ogive dome, it could
be used for the roof

1167
01:08:50,960 --> 01:08:54,280
of a habitat when it gets really
big, and in fact it's quite strong.

1168
01:08:54,280 --> 01:08:57,000
If you look down at it,
it's very strong.

1169
01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,080
You could kick it all day long,
and it won't break.

1170
01:08:59,080 --> 01:09:02,600
That's quite remarkable. So that is
built by that robot? Yes.

1171
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:05,760
Using essentially the regolith that
you would find on the moon?

1172
01:09:05,760 --> 01:09:08,800
That's correct. So, you never bring
any materials from Earth.

1173
01:09:08,800 --> 01:09:11,840
You go mine them on the moon,
and then you build whatever

1174
01:09:11,840 --> 01:09:16,840
you need to create your local moon
base out of local materials.

1175
01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:18,280
All you have to bring is the robot.

1176
01:09:18,280 --> 01:09:20,000
Everything is there, is the point.

1177
01:09:20,000 --> 01:09:21,400
Everything is there.

1178
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:26,480
The only two things missing are
technologies and imagination.

1179
01:09:26,480 --> 01:09:28,480
If we can put those two
things together,

1180
01:09:28,480 --> 01:09:31,800
and harness the materials and the
energy we have in space,

1181
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:34,200
we have all the resources
in space we need.

1182
01:09:34,200 --> 01:09:36,960
We just need to be clever enough
to learn how to use them.

1183
01:09:39,880 --> 01:09:42,920
Mars is an ambitious goal.

1184
01:09:42,920 --> 01:09:47,280
And one of the greatest challenges
is the enormous amount of fuel

1185
01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:49,640
needed to propel a spacecraft
to the red planet.

1186
01:09:54,320 --> 01:09:56,880
But this fuel could be
created on the moon.

1187
01:10:00,960 --> 01:10:03,280
Now, you might think that
synthesising rocket fuel

1188
01:10:03,280 --> 01:10:06,720
from material you can find on the
moon or Mars is difficult,

1189
01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:08,320
but actually, it isn't.

1190
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:11,600
It's very easy indeed, because
all you need is water.

1191
01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:15,040
And water is made out of
hydrogen and oxygen.

1192
01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:19,160
And they are also the first and
third most abundant elements

1193
01:10:19,160 --> 01:10:20,720
in the entire universe.

1194
01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:23,320
So, water is all over the place.

1195
01:10:23,320 --> 01:10:27,480
We found it in the rocks
of the moon's crust.

1196
01:10:27,480 --> 01:10:31,080
And all you have to do to split the
water into hydrogen and oxygen

1197
01:10:31,080 --> 01:10:35,240
is put some energy in, which
I can do by connecting

1198
01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:37,920
a battery to these two electrodes.

1199
01:10:37,920 --> 01:10:41,240
And I think you can see there,
already, you see those bubbles

1200
01:10:41,240 --> 01:10:45,720
starting to form? Well, on this one,
where the electrons are going in,

1201
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:48,760
those bubbles are hydrogen.
That's hydrogen gas.

1202
01:10:48,760 --> 01:10:52,200
And on this one, where the electrons
are coming back out again, the anode,

1203
01:10:52,200 --> 01:10:54,520
those are bubbles of oxygen.

1204
01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:56,880
So, we've put energy in to
split the water,

1205
01:10:56,880 --> 01:10:59,720
to make the hydrogen and oxygen,
then if you put these into big

1206
01:10:59,720 --> 01:11:03,840
tanks, and bring them back together,
and light them, you get that energy

1207
01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:06,760
back out again. And that
is a rocket.

1208
01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:20,360
So, how likely is that to work?

1209
01:11:20,360 --> 01:11:22,800
Well, I think it's certainly
going to work, it sounds

1210
01:11:22,800 --> 01:11:25,240
like science fiction, but I think
for the first time,

1211
01:11:25,240 --> 01:11:28,400
we have the technology to begin
to be able to make that happen.

1212
01:11:28,400 --> 01:11:30,800
OK, any idea how long before
we can do that?

1213
01:11:30,800 --> 01:11:32,320
See, I dodged that.

1214
01:11:32,320 --> 01:11:34,440
But I would say that we have
the technology now,

1215
01:11:34,440 --> 01:11:36,880
we have the reusable rockets,
we have the robots that can do it.

1216
01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:38,120
We now need the will.

1217
01:11:38,120 --> 01:11:40,200
But if we want to start mining
asteroids, or the moon,

1218
01:11:40,200 --> 01:11:42,600
tomorrow, then we have the
technology to do it.

1219
01:11:42,600 --> 01:11:45,440
So it could be now.
In reality, what,

1220
01:11:45,440 --> 01:11:47,200
20 years? If we're lucky.

1221
01:11:47,200 --> 01:11:48,920
That's still within our lifetime.

1222
01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:56,120
Nasa's next deep space mission is
planned for summer 2020.

1223
01:11:56,120 --> 01:12:00,120
They're going to send a new rover
to Mars to search for evidence

1224
01:12:00,120 --> 01:12:03,960
of life, and to help them get rock
samples back to Earth.

1225
01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:09,920
Hannah went to California
to find out more.

1226
01:12:12,480 --> 01:12:17,520
Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
has sent out over 100 robotic

1227
01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:20,480
spacecraft across our solar system.

1228
01:12:22,480 --> 01:12:28,080
Voyagers 1 and 2 have flown
past Jupiter and Neptune,

1229
01:12:28,080 --> 01:12:31,320
and are currently travelling
through interstellar space.

1230
01:12:33,760 --> 01:12:39,760
And the famous Cassini mission
imaged Saturn and its moons.

1231
01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:44,680
Now, Nasa's readying its next one,

1232
01:12:44,680 --> 01:12:47,800
which will land on our
nearest neighbour.

1233
01:12:47,800 --> 01:12:51,880
This is the Mars 2020 Rover.

1234
01:12:51,880 --> 01:12:56,320
The rover's primary mission is to
explore the Martian surface,

1235
01:12:56,320 --> 01:12:58,320
and this is the chassis that they're
going to use

1236
01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:01,000
to test out all the various
pieces of equipment.

1237
01:13:01,000 --> 01:13:05,240
It's all been planned with a future
human mission in mind,

1238
01:13:05,240 --> 01:13:07,920
which means that all the information
that this is going to send back

1239
01:13:07,920 --> 01:13:12,520
will be absolutely crucial to
getting people onto the red planet.

1240
01:13:12,520 --> 01:13:15,800
And more importantly, back
home again safely.

1241
01:13:17,800 --> 01:13:22,160
While this rover will be a first
step to understanding how to get

1242
01:13:22,160 --> 01:13:28,000
back from Mars, its key mission is
to study the geology and climate

1243
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:29,640
of the red planet

1244
01:13:29,640 --> 01:13:32,360
and determine whether
life existed there.

1245
01:13:35,640 --> 01:13:39,000
In JPL's clean room, construction
of the rover

1246
01:13:39,000 --> 01:13:41,400
is reaching a critical stage.

1247
01:13:43,880 --> 01:13:47,480
And leading the flight systems
team is Dave Gruel.

1248
01:13:49,160 --> 01:13:51,200
When is this thing
going to be ready, then?

1249
01:13:51,200 --> 01:13:55,640
Launch date is in July of 2020, and
then we are scheduled to land

1250
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:57,760
on the surface of Mars in 2021.

1251
01:14:00,280 --> 01:14:03,440
The rover's landing site
is Jezero crater.

1252
01:14:05,080 --> 01:14:09,480
If you look at it from the orbiters,
it looks like a big river

1253
01:14:09,480 --> 01:14:11,480
might have flown into this area.

1254
01:14:11,480 --> 01:14:13,560
And when you have rivers,
the hope is that by looking

1255
01:14:13,560 --> 01:14:15,720
at an area like this,
they will get a vast array

1256
01:14:15,720 --> 01:14:18,760
of different types of rock samples
and sand samples and things

1257
01:14:18,760 --> 01:14:22,280
like that that will allow them
to peer through time and understand

1258
01:14:22,280 --> 01:14:24,600
how Mars might have formed, and
how it came to be

1259
01:14:24,600 --> 01:14:25,680
what it is today.

1260
01:14:27,000 --> 01:14:31,280
Evidence of water would offer
the tantalising possibility

1261
01:14:31,280 --> 01:14:34,320
that life may once have
existed at Jezero.

1262
01:14:35,560 --> 01:14:39,680
And one of this rover's key tasks
will be to look for it.

1263
01:14:41,240 --> 01:14:45,200
To achieve this, it will
be loaded with tools,

1264
01:14:45,200 --> 01:14:50,240
and sitting at the end of a
2.1-metre arm will be the drill,

1265
01:14:50,240 --> 01:14:56,240
which will cut 30mm-diameter
cores of Martian bedrock.

1266
01:14:56,240 --> 01:15:00,000
These will help provide a far
more detailed picture

1267
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:02,040
of the red planet's geology.

1268
01:15:03,160 --> 01:15:07,560
The rover can analyse the core
samples collected by this drill

1269
01:15:07,560 --> 01:15:11,240
as it goes, but what the scientists
really want to do is to get

1270
01:15:11,240 --> 01:15:15,080
those samples back to Earth,
because we can do so much

1271
01:15:15,080 --> 01:15:18,840
more analysis on them here than
the rover can on Mars.

1272
01:15:24,480 --> 01:15:29,680
This is the first mission that's
part of an attempt to send material

1273
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:32,600
from the red planet back to Earth.

1274
01:15:34,480 --> 01:15:38,040
This is one of the rover's
sample collection tubes.

1275
01:15:38,040 --> 01:15:41,040
Whenever it drills a sample of rock,
it will store it in one of these,

1276
01:15:41,040 --> 01:15:42,480
and seal it.

1277
01:15:42,480 --> 01:15:44,960
Then it labels it, sends a
message back to Earth

1278
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:49,200
about where it is, and leaves
it on the ground.

1279
01:15:49,200 --> 01:15:52,040
And as the rover trundles
off into the distance,

1280
01:15:52,040 --> 01:15:56,760
the tube waits patiently for another
mission to come and collect it.

1281
01:15:58,520 --> 01:16:03,000
The next stage of the plan
is truly audacious.

1282
01:16:03,000 --> 01:16:07,880
A second rover will land
near the samples and collect them.

1283
01:16:07,880 --> 01:16:10,720
It'll then take them
to a launcher, which will fire them

1284
01:16:10,720 --> 01:16:13,560
into orbit around Mars.

1285
01:16:13,560 --> 01:16:18,640
Then a third mission
will rendezvous with them in orbit,

1286
01:16:18,640 --> 01:16:21,200
and bring them back to Earth.

1287
01:16:21,200 --> 01:16:24,520
And while those second and third
missions are still on the drawing

1288
01:16:24,520 --> 01:16:29,240
board, if they succeed, it'll put us
a giant step closer

1289
01:16:29,240 --> 01:16:33,040
to bringing astronauts back
from the red planet safely.

1290
01:16:34,880 --> 01:16:38,320
It's become a bit of a cliche that a
manned mission to Mars is only

1291
01:16:38,320 --> 01:16:41,800
20 or 30 years away. We've
basically been saying the same thing

1292
01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:43,840
since the 1960s.

1293
01:16:43,840 --> 01:16:47,760
But projects like this one really do
make that idea of having astronauts

1294
01:16:47,760 --> 01:16:50,920
on the red planet
much more feasible.

1295
01:16:50,920 --> 01:16:53,360
So maybe this time,
that timescale has a ring

1296
01:16:53,360 --> 01:16:55,040
of truth to it.

1297
01:17:07,400 --> 01:17:10,640
See? Finally, finally we get
the weather that Florida promised,

1298
01:17:10,640 --> 01:17:13,080
and I'm now overdressed. So am I.

1299
01:17:13,080 --> 01:17:14,720
I know, it's ridiculous, actually.

1300
01:17:14,720 --> 01:17:17,400
Why is this planet so
difficult to predict?

1301
01:17:17,400 --> 01:17:20,120
Sending spaceships to other planets
has taught us so much

1302
01:17:20,120 --> 01:17:21,760
about the solar system.

1303
01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:24,440
So far, we've talked
about exploring the moon

1304
01:17:24,440 --> 01:17:27,880
and Mars, but there's another
alien world on our radar

1305
01:17:27,880 --> 01:17:29,640
for a future mission.

1306
01:17:29,640 --> 01:17:34,720
One of Saturn's moons, Titan,
which is shrouded in dense methane

1307
01:17:34,720 --> 01:17:38,120
clouds, could be in line
to receive its second visit

1308
01:17:38,120 --> 01:17:40,440
from a lander.

1309
01:17:40,440 --> 01:17:42,560
I'm delighted to say
we're joined by a scientist

1310
01:17:42,560 --> 01:17:44,960
who's been involved in a series
of missions at the forefront

1311
01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:47,520
of our discovery of how our
solar systems work,

1312
01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:49,640
planetary scientist
at Johns Hopkins University

1313
01:17:49,640 --> 01:17:51,040
Doctor Zibi Turtle.

1314
01:17:51,040 --> 01:17:53,080
Thank you for joining us.
Hi, my pleasure.

1315
01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:55,960
What is so interesting about Titan?

1316
01:17:55,960 --> 01:18:00,320
Titan has very rich
organic chemistry.

1317
01:18:00,320 --> 01:18:03,920
There's energy in the form
of sunlight, and there's,

1318
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:07,120
in the past, been liquid water
available at the surface

1319
01:18:07,120 --> 01:18:10,960
that the organic material can mix
with, and there's also a liquid

1320
01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:13,640
water ocean deep in its interior.

1321
01:18:13,640 --> 01:18:16,960
It's the only place that comes
close, in terms of organic

1322
01:18:16,960 --> 01:18:19,280
complexity, to our Earth.

1323
01:18:19,280 --> 01:18:23,120
And in that sense,
it's very much like the early Earth,

1324
01:18:23,120 --> 01:18:26,520
and we want to understand
what happens chemically,

1325
01:18:26,520 --> 01:18:28,640
how that chemistry progresses,

1326
01:18:28,640 --> 01:18:30,880
because we can't study
that on Earth, because it's

1327
01:18:30,880 --> 01:18:33,320
over-printed by biology very
effectively.

1328
01:18:33,320 --> 01:18:35,760
It's almost like a time machine,
I suppose, isn't it?

1329
01:18:35,760 --> 01:18:37,360
In a sense we can go back...
Yes, exactly!

1330
01:18:37,360 --> 01:18:40,000
..to the early Earth,
see what the chemistry's like.

1331
01:18:40,000 --> 01:18:41,400
Exactly. Yeah.

1332
01:18:41,400 --> 01:18:42,960
Yeah, that's a good
way of putting it.

1333
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:46,800
Titan's been doing these prebiotic
chemistry experiments for hundreds

1334
01:18:46,800 --> 01:18:49,400
of millions of years,
and we want to go collect

1335
01:18:49,400 --> 01:18:52,800
the results of those experiments,
and understand what happens

1336
01:18:52,800 --> 01:18:57,080
with the chemistry that eventually
led to biology here on Earth.

1337
01:18:57,080 --> 01:19:02,160
I mean, the next plan to land on
Titan is an incredibly exciting one,

1338
01:19:02,160 --> 01:19:05,320
because you're going to use
the atmosphere to travel in a way

1339
01:19:05,320 --> 01:19:09,040
that we haven't any time we've
landed anywhere else.

1340
01:19:09,040 --> 01:19:12,600
Right. So we're in the process
of proposing a mission,

1341
01:19:12,600 --> 01:19:14,600
that mission is called Dragonfly.

1342
01:19:14,600 --> 01:19:18,000
So Dragonfly would be
a rotorcraft, and it would be able

1343
01:19:18,000 --> 01:19:21,840
to use Titan's atmosphere to be able
to fly from place to place.

1344
01:19:21,840 --> 01:19:25,320
Titan's atmosphere, surface
pressure, is about one and a half

1345
01:19:25,320 --> 01:19:29,360
times the pressure here on Earth,
but the gravity is about one seventh

1346
01:19:29,360 --> 01:19:31,040
the gravity here on Earth.

1347
01:19:31,040 --> 01:19:34,480
So it's actually easier to fly
on Titan than it is on Earth,

1348
01:19:34,480 --> 01:19:37,120
and if we could go to Titan, right,

1349
01:19:37,120 --> 01:19:40,080
and we had really good, warm,
woolly sweaters and some oxygen,

1350
01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:42,800
we'd be able to fly
if we had wings.

1351
01:19:42,800 --> 01:19:46,040
Yeah. So it's really, you know, it's
really an evocative

1352
01:19:46,040 --> 01:19:47,360
place to explore.

1353
01:19:47,360 --> 01:19:49,440
Are you prepared, by the way,
to the level to which people

1354
01:19:49,440 --> 01:19:52,080
are going to fall in love
with a hopping, flying drone

1355
01:19:52,080 --> 01:19:54,360
on a distant planet?
We do tend to anthropomorphise...

1356
01:19:54,360 --> 01:19:56,800
Oh, absolutely, absolutely!

1357
01:19:56,800 --> 01:20:01,880
And I am... I have fallen completely
in love with this idea myself.

1358
01:20:01,880 --> 01:20:04,680
It has been one of the features of
the decade that we've been doing

1359
01:20:04,680 --> 01:20:07,600
Stargazing, that we've seen
the results come in from things

1360
01:20:07,600 --> 01:20:11,000
like Cassini and Galileo
and New Horizon, and it just seems

1361
01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:13,440
to be that the universe
creates planets and moons

1362
01:20:13,440 --> 01:20:17,120
in a far more varied way
than we ever thought.

1363
01:20:17,120 --> 01:20:18,440
Yeah, I think you're right.

1364
01:20:18,440 --> 01:20:22,520
The Curiosity rover as well on Mars,
I think what we're finding

1365
01:20:22,520 --> 01:20:25,040
is that the potential
for life beyond Earth,

1366
01:20:25,040 --> 01:20:28,400
we don't know, it could be that
there is no life for a long way,

1367
01:20:28,400 --> 01:20:30,080
thousands of light
years beyond Earth,

1368
01:20:30,080 --> 01:20:32,560
or, it could be we will
answer the question,

1369
01:20:32,560 --> 01:20:36,000
"are we alone" in the negative,
no, we are not alone,

1370
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:39,040
in our solar system,
which I think is the thing that most

1371
01:20:39,040 --> 01:20:43,120
excites me about these next missions
for the next 10 or 20 years.

1372
01:20:43,120 --> 01:20:45,520
When the first people land
on Mars, they won't have anything

1373
01:20:45,520 --> 01:20:48,400
as exciting as Dragonfly
to travel around on,

1374
01:20:48,400 --> 01:20:51,920
but already now, Nasa are
devising new vehicles to help them

1375
01:20:51,920 --> 01:20:53,480
traverse that planet.

1376
01:20:53,480 --> 01:20:56,880
In Houston, Hannah got to go
on this new expanded form

1377
01:20:56,880 --> 01:20:59,920
of the moon buggy,
and give it a test ride.

1378
01:21:03,440 --> 01:21:06,640
At over £7 million each,

1379
01:21:06,640 --> 01:21:08,600
the lunar rovers are the most

1380
01:21:08,600 --> 01:21:11,280
expensive cars ever built.

1381
01:21:12,560 --> 01:21:17,880
But the 56 miles that astronauts
covered during Apollo 15, 16 and

1382
01:21:17,880 --> 01:21:23,200
17 allowed them to study a huge
variety of lunar landscapes,

1383
01:21:23,200 --> 01:21:26,960
so they might have been the most
important miles ever driven.

1384
01:21:26,960 --> 01:21:31,720
And now, half a century later,
Nasa have built a new vehicle.

1385
01:21:35,240 --> 01:21:39,160
This is the Space
Exploration Vehicle.

1386
01:21:39,160 --> 01:21:43,360
It's designed to help astronauts
explore the red planet.

1387
01:21:43,360 --> 01:21:48,320
And today, Nasa is letting me get
behind the wheel with some

1388
01:21:48,320 --> 01:21:51,120
very well-qualified supervision.

1389
01:21:51,120 --> 01:21:52,640
Hi, Hannah, welcome aboard.

1390
01:21:52,640 --> 01:21:54,040
Thank you.

1391
01:21:54,040 --> 01:21:57,840
Astronaut Doug Wheelock
has flown in space twice,

1392
01:21:57,840 --> 01:22:00,680
logging nearly six months in orbit.

1393
01:22:00,680 --> 01:22:03,280
Dual controls. Dual controls.

1394
01:22:03,280 --> 01:22:07,000
Here is a hand controller,
so you're now the pilot.

1395
01:22:07,000 --> 01:22:10,360
And today, he's chaperoning my
test drive

1396
01:22:10,360 --> 01:22:14,120
of this multimillion-dollar
space vehicle.

1397
01:22:14,120 --> 01:22:17,160
Now just twist it to the right,
and keep the control in.

1398
01:22:17,160 --> 01:22:18,360
Whoops. It's OK.

1399
01:22:18,360 --> 01:22:20,800
When you initially twist it, all the
wheels are going to line up...

1400
01:22:20,800 --> 01:22:22,960
Oh, I see. That's why we jump.
..before it starts moving.

1401
01:22:22,960 --> 01:22:24,040
So... OK.

1402
01:22:26,520 --> 01:22:28,840
Perfect. Ooh. Perfect.

1403
01:22:30,520 --> 01:22:35,440
Johnson Space Center's rock yard
mimics the rugged terrain astronauts

1404
01:22:35,440 --> 01:22:38,880
might experience on the red planet.

1405
01:22:38,880 --> 01:22:41,560
These, some of these are quite
big, it's a bit disconcerting

1406
01:22:41,560 --> 01:22:44,760
to watch them go under your feet.
Absolutely, yes. Mm-hm.

1407
01:22:44,760 --> 01:22:47,280
The vehicle's joystick controls six

1408
01:22:47,280 --> 01:22:49,840
entirely independent pairs of
wheels

1409
01:22:49,840 --> 01:22:54,600
that can rotate 360 degrees
in either direction.

1410
01:22:55,960 --> 01:23:00,560
A bank of screens keeps astronauts
up to speed on key information,

1411
01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:03,680
what each set of wheels is doing,
and whether the cabin

1412
01:23:03,680 --> 01:23:06,320
is at a dangerous angle.

1413
01:23:06,320 --> 01:23:09,640
And that gives astronauts
confidence to perform some

1414
01:23:09,640 --> 01:23:12,440
pretty impressive manoeuvres.

1415
01:23:12,440 --> 01:23:14,440
Straight left, and come
up out of the crater.

1416
01:23:14,440 --> 01:23:16,440
Mm-hm. Twist and up.

1417
01:23:16,440 --> 01:23:18,720
Or you can just go straight left.

1418
01:23:18,720 --> 01:23:20,200
Crab out of a crater!

1419
01:23:27,440 --> 01:23:30,560
So you can see the vehicle's...
it's got a very, very low centre

1420
01:23:30,560 --> 01:23:33,520
of gravity, so it has
no problems at all.

1421
01:23:33,520 --> 01:23:35,480
Unlike me.

1422
01:23:35,480 --> 01:23:37,600
You're doing great, though.

1423
01:23:38,880 --> 01:23:42,200
So is this a big step
up from anything that went before?

1424
01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:45,520
The biggest difference
between this vehicle and the lunar

1425
01:23:45,520 --> 01:23:48,080
rovers that we took
during the Apollo era

1426
01:23:48,080 --> 01:23:50,600
is this is a spaceship
in and of itself,

1427
01:23:50,600 --> 01:23:53,440
and so all of our life
systems are on board.

1428
01:23:53,440 --> 01:23:55,000
All of our supplies.

1429
01:23:55,000 --> 01:23:58,080
And so we can leave our
base camp, if you will,

1430
01:23:58,080 --> 01:24:02,160
in a vehicle like this,
and go out on a week-long mission,

1431
01:24:02,160 --> 01:24:03,560
a two-week mission.

1432
01:24:05,040 --> 01:24:08,480
On the moon, astronaut
survival depended entirely

1433
01:24:08,480 --> 01:24:10,120
on their spacesuits.

1434
01:24:10,120 --> 01:24:14,800
So the lunar rover could only take
them as far as they could walk back

1435
01:24:14,800 --> 01:24:17,000
in case of a breakdown.

1436
01:24:17,000 --> 01:24:20,240
It meant that the furthest
an Apollo astronaut ever strayed

1437
01:24:20,240 --> 01:24:24,120
from the lunar lander
was just 4.6 miles.

1438
01:24:26,160 --> 01:24:29,440
The Space Exploration
Vehicle is effectively

1439
01:24:29,440 --> 01:24:31,400
a spacecraft on wheels,

1440
01:24:31,400 --> 01:24:34,640
so it can take
astronauts much further.

1441
01:24:34,640 --> 01:24:38,040
Right now, our range
is about 125 miles,

1442
01:24:38,040 --> 01:24:42,560
and we expect that to be expanded
over the next several years,

1443
01:24:42,560 --> 01:24:45,480
as we...as we take a look
at new technologies.

1444
01:24:45,480 --> 01:24:47,880
And that's just in a straight line.
I mean, that means the area

1445
01:24:47,880 --> 01:24:50,320
that you can sweep out, effectively,
is going to be enormous.

1446
01:24:50,320 --> 01:24:52,360
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.

1447
01:24:53,600 --> 01:24:58,240
With the buggy's hydrogen fuel cells
also providing drinking water,

1448
01:24:58,240 --> 01:25:02,080
the scope for exploration is vast.

1449
01:25:02,080 --> 01:25:06,360
The huge windows will allow
astronauts to study the Martian

1450
01:25:06,360 --> 01:25:07,920
landscape in detail.

1451
01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:11,080
Steady.

1452
01:25:11,080 --> 01:25:13,200
Looking good.

1453
01:25:13,200 --> 01:25:16,840
But you can't fully
explore from inside.

1454
01:25:16,840 --> 01:25:21,200
To collect rocks and soil samples,
astronauts will need to leave

1455
01:25:21,200 --> 01:25:22,200
the vehicle.

1456
01:25:23,840 --> 01:25:27,120
Getting out of a pressurised
spacecraft is quite a tricky thing

1457
01:25:27,120 --> 01:25:30,360
to do, so on the ISS,
the astronauts had to squeeze

1458
01:25:30,360 --> 01:25:34,200
through this tiny airlock,
and on this Space Exploration

1459
01:25:34,200 --> 01:25:36,720
Vehicle, that's just not something
that's going to be practical.

1460
01:25:36,720 --> 01:25:40,880
So instead, the engineers came
up with a very clever design.

1461
01:25:40,880 --> 01:25:44,520
The spacesuit itself is the airlock.

1462
01:25:45,800 --> 01:25:49,320
Combining the spacesuit and the
airlock means that astronauts

1463
01:25:49,320 --> 01:25:52,880
can leave the vehicle
in around 15 minutes,

1464
01:25:52,880 --> 01:25:55,880
and because the suit
never enters the cabin,

1465
01:25:55,880 --> 01:26:01,600
the living space is protected
from contamination by Martian dust.

1466
01:26:01,600 --> 01:26:05,280
For now, this Space Exploration
Vehicle is just a prototype.

1467
01:26:05,280 --> 01:26:08,720
The next generation is going
to need to be faster,

1468
01:26:08,720 --> 01:26:12,200
have better batteries,
and be an awful lot lighter.

1469
01:26:12,200 --> 01:26:16,440
But one thing is for sure,
whatever it ends up looking like,

1470
01:26:16,440 --> 01:26:22,080
a fully functional Mars buggy
is an essential part of Nasa's plan

1471
01:26:22,080 --> 01:26:24,560
to send people to the red planet.

1472
01:26:33,800 --> 01:26:36,760
Charlie, you have lived
through the most remarkable time

1473
01:26:36,760 --> 01:26:38,360
in the history of exploration.

1474
01:26:38,360 --> 01:26:40,800
Are you optimistic about the future?

1475
01:26:40,800 --> 01:26:43,000
Yes, generally.

1476
01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:46,840
I'm very excited about
the commercialisation of private

1477
01:26:46,840 --> 01:26:48,760
enterprise in space,

1478
01:26:48,760 --> 01:26:53,400
to go to the space station,
or to take tourists into space,

1479
01:26:53,400 --> 01:26:57,880
and Nasa, I feel, is going to focus
more on what I call deep space,

1480
01:26:57,880 --> 01:26:59,520
the moon and beyond.

1481
01:26:59,520 --> 01:27:03,280
So hopefully, we can build a moon
base, and develop systems

1482
01:27:03,280 --> 01:27:07,760
and stuff on the moon
for scientific purposes,

1483
01:27:07,760 --> 01:27:11,280
and then from there,
not stage directly to Mars,

1484
01:27:11,280 --> 01:27:15,400
but give the confidence
in our systems that, when we go

1485
01:27:15,400 --> 01:27:18,200
to Mars, you're on your own,
and you're going to be able

1486
01:27:18,200 --> 01:27:20,120
to survive.

1487
01:27:20,120 --> 01:27:22,480
Charlie, thank you very much.

1488
01:27:22,480 --> 01:27:26,080
It's been a tremendous honour to get
a kind of backstage peek

1489
01:27:26,080 --> 01:27:30,000
here at Kennedy's spaceport,
at this new exciting era of space

1490
01:27:30,000 --> 01:27:31,800
travel that we're
just on the cusp of

1491
01:27:31,800 --> 01:27:36,080
but also to get a sense of how much
that this new era owes to the heroes

1492
01:27:36,080 --> 01:27:38,720
of Apollo, not just the astronauts
like Charlie Duke,

1493
01:27:38,720 --> 01:27:41,040
but the thousands of people
who worked tirelessly,

1494
01:27:41,040 --> 01:27:45,240
brilliantly, inventively,
to get them to the moon and back.

1495
01:27:45,240 --> 01:27:47,040
But sadly, that's
all we have time for.

1496
01:27:47,040 --> 01:27:50,080
It is, and you know, Stargazing is
about observing the sky, so if it's

1497
01:27:50,080 --> 01:27:51,920
clear where you are, why don't
you go

1498
01:27:51,920 --> 01:27:54,960
up and have a look at that moon,
and let your mind wander a bit,

1499
01:27:54,960 --> 01:27:58,600
because that is a place where
humans, like Charlie, have walked.

1500
01:27:58,600 --> 01:28:01,000
And I think if there's one thing
that we've learned in our time

1501
01:28:01,000 --> 01:28:04,360
at Kennedy, it's that if we choose,
then that can be a place

1502
01:28:04,360 --> 01:28:06,240
where humans walk again.

1503
01:28:06,240 --> 01:28:07,760
Goodnight. Goodnight.