

Space Boffins, from the Naked Scientists
Richard Hollingham, Sue Nelson
Publishing monthly, Space Boffins brings you cutting edge conversation and debate about the past, present and future of space science.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 14, 2021 • 60min
Mission to Europa
Two astronauts, one space hipster, a writer and a musician all feature in this month's Space Boffins. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined by podcaster and founder of the Space Hipsters, Emily Carney. They also hear from pioneering astronaut Anna Fisher in conversation with astronaut Nicole Stott. And David Brown, author of The Mission, talks about Jupiter's moon Europa and the chances of finding life on the icy and watery world... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

May 14, 2021 • 1h 4min
Britain's First Astronaut
In a podcast exclusive, Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, joins the Space Boffins 30 years after her 1991 Juno mission. She describes the selection process, training in the Soviet Union and her return. Author of the Martian, Andy Weir, chats about his latest book, Jason Achilles Mezilis is the musician behind the Mars microphone, and we commemorate the death of Apollo 11 legend Mike Collins. It's another epic podcast... how do we do it? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Apr 9, 2021 • 1h 10min
Celebrating 60 years of human spaceflight
In an epic edition of the Space Boffins Podcast we ambitiously celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight and the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the Space Shuttle. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by live guests Stephen Walker author of Beyond, a new book on Gagarin, and Libby Jackson who leads the human space programme at the UK Space Agency. They also talk to two Space Shuttle astronauts: Sid Gutierrez about flying and commanding the Shuttle, and Kathy Sullivan, one of the first American women in space. She shares stories of the challenges of training for... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 11, 2021 • 37min
Perseverance on Mars
AS NASA's Perseverance rover makes it safely to Mars, we chat to science writer Elizabeth Howell about the array of missions now studying the red planet. Also the European Space Agency's head of diversity, Ersilia Vaudo, talks about plans for parastronauts, and the UK ground station that relayed the first footsteps on the Moon gears up for the next big lunar adventure. Plus, find out who was right in the great US first-astronaut debate... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 11, 2021 • 44min
Space Zombies
This month science journalist Katia Moskvitch joins the Space Boffins to discuss the zombies of the cosmos, neutron stars, as well as the European Space Agency's new astronaut recruitment and Yuri Gagarin's birthplace. They also hear about the new communications system fitted to the space station, ColKA, and talk to author Neal Thompson about the Don Draper of astronauts, Alan Shepard. And see if you agree with Richard's controversial comment about America's first astronaut! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 13, 2021 • 53min
China on the Moon
Space journalist Andrew Jones and his cat join the Space Boffins this month to discuss China's ambitious plans for the Moon and beyond. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham also talk to Nellie Offord from UK company SSTL about their lunar communications satellite (and whether it will go beep), hear from author Rebecca Siegel about the enormous egos of the Mercury astronauts and celebrate space chimp Ham. And should Space Boffins be renamed? You decide... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dec 15, 2020 • 59min
Tim Peake Reveals All
In a specially recorded face to (socially-distanced) face interview to mark the fifth anniversary of his mission to the International Space Station, British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake reveals the details of his perilous space station docking, physically challenging return to Earth and launchpad music selections. He also discusses the legacy of his flight and the influence it's had on a generation of students. Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham also talk to Libby Jackson about her new book featuring extraordinary stories of space exploration, and Professor Robert... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Nov 17, 2020 • 44min
Asteroids and Artemis
NASA has just collected a sample from an asteroid and work is well underway to land a woman on the Moon. Space journalist David Whitehouse chats about whether President Trump was good for space. Dr Sara Russell discusses the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu, and Thales Alenia Space UK CEO Andrew Stanniland explains how they'll build a fuel station for the Moon... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Oct 14, 2020 • 1h 5min
Space Station Special
To celebrate 20 years of people living on the International Space Station, we feature only ISS astronauts in this special edition of Space Boffins. NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott joins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson and we revisit interviews with Chris Hadfield, Cady Coleman, Scott Kelly, Sergei Krikalev, Luca Parmitano and Michael Foale. What other podcast on the planet gives you seven astronauts in an hour? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Sep 17, 2020 • 43min
America's first space station
Skylab's perilous and dramatic mission, life on Venus, the religion of Cosmism, and Brexit all get discussed this month. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by astronomer and writer Dr Stuart Clark to chat about our relationship with the night sky. Also aboard are David Hitt, author of Homesteading Space - the Skylab Story, and Arfan Chaudhry, from the UK Space Agency, on new UK space programmes... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists


