The Space Shuttle: 10. Return to flight

Summary

Podcast Summary: 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II

Episode: The Space Shuttle – 10. Return to Flight

Host: Maggie Aderin-Pocock, with contributions from astronauts and NASA experts
Date: September 15, 2025
Podcast by: BBC World Service
Theme: The dramatic, high-stakes return-to-flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-26) after the Challenger disaster, examining how NASA rebuilt trust, addressed risk, and redefined the role and meaning of the Shuttle program in history.

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Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

This episode, the finale of the third season, tells the gripping story of the Space Shuttle’s return to flight with the launch of Discovery on September 29, 1988—two and a half years after the Challenger tragedy. The program digs into NASA’s effort to rebuild its shuttle program, the emotional weight of launching again, and the deeper legacy of the Shuttle: its bold ambitions, hard-won lessons, and evolving purpose in the story of human spaceflight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tension on the Launch Day (02:19–08:18)

• Setting the Scene: The episode opens on the launch pad, with Discovery poised for lift-off as Mission STS-26. Five astronauts, now in orange pressure suits for the first time, wait in anticipation.
• Anxieties about Weather: Winds threaten the launch, recalling how vulnerable even years of preparation can feel in real time.
  Quote:
  • “We had been briefed… that there was an upper level wind shear.”
    —Rick Hauck, Commander, (03:33)
• Decision-Making: The critical “go/no-go” poll brings anxiety to a head—everyone expects “no go” for winds, but Bob Crippen gives the “go,” signaling NASA’s trusted decision-makers are ready to fly again (05:09).

The Shuttle’s “Operational” Myth (07:12–12:04)

• The “Operational” Label: President Reagan once declared the Shuttle fully operational, but astronauts and NASA staff resoundingly reject this label as “more political than anything else.”
  Quotes:
  • “No, not at all. To me, that was sort of a misnomer or a joke.”
    —NASA Staff, (08:27)
  • “No, I don't think any astronaut ever believed the shuttle was anything other than an experimental vehicle.”
    —NASA Shuttle Team Member, (08:37)
• Complexity vs. Airline Model: NASA brought in airline experts expecting to learn how to “turnaround” the Shuttle with airline efficiency, but the challenges were of another magnitude:
  • “Right then I realized this is never going to be the kind of Boston shuttle…it's just going to have to be babied every time.”
    —Kathy Sullivan, Astronaut, (10:07)
  • “F equals MA is too hard.”
    —Neil Hutchinson, Flight Director, (11:09)

Emotional and Historical Weight of Return (13:02–18:08)

• Mixed Feelings: The team feels “nervous anxiety,” haunted by memories of Challenger. Despite rigorous preparation, Shuttle flight remains “a continuum of test and development” (13:04, 04:06).
• Public Significance: This launch is a symbol, broadcast worldwide, with thousands of reporters and spectators jammed along the coast (14:12–14:43).
• Personal Stakes:
  • “Set against the backdrop that NASA prior to 51L had never lost a crew after launch…that comfort could no longer be delivered.”
    —Rick Hauck, (16:06, 16:13)
  • The crew focuses on mission, not doubts, likening it to “landing on an aircraft carrier at night” (16:13).

The Launch: Step-by-Step (17:17–23:05)

• Critical Moments: Countdown ticks toward launch, tension at its peak (17:37).
  • "T minus 15, 14, 13... 3, 2, 1, 0." (17:37)
• Flashbacks to Challenger: “Go at throttle up”—the last command before Challenger’s loss—now repeated, marking a powerful emotional milestone.
  • “That was the last thing we heard when Challenger broke apart…all of us took a big sigh of relief.”
    —Bill Carr, (20:17, 20:28)
• Boosters Separate: Passing each critical stage feels like “a milestone”; relief, but focus remains razor-sharp until main engine cut-off (21:00–22:48).
  • “I did clearly think, boy, I hope this doesn't blow up…distract myself from that thought.”
    —Rick Hauck, (22:09)

Relief, Euphoria, and Reflection (23:05–24:19)

• Collective Exhale: The successful launch brings profound relief and validation.
  • “I think there was a level of euphoria, confidence that we're back, we're back."
    —Bill Carr, (23:41)
  • "A sense of relief…everything in the last couple years kind of fell away from me."
    —Kathy Sullivan, (23:51)

Lightness and Humanity: "Good Morning, Discovery!" (24:19–26:46)

• Celebratory Wakeup: Kathy Sullivan arranges for Robin Williams to reprise his iconic “Good Morning, Vietnam!” as a wakeup call for the crew:
  • “Robin loved the idea…One morning we awakened with Robin Williams’ voice saying, ‘Good morning, Discovery.’”
    —Kathy Sullivan and Rick Hauck, (25:31–25:55)
  • [Audio: Robin Williams’ message] (26:03)

The Shuttle’s True Legacy and Purpose (26:46–32:10)

• From Experiment to Impact: The Shuttle never truly became routine or cheap, but provided invaluable lessons for future spacecraft, scientific advancement, and international collaboration.
  • “The Shuttle was expensive. [But]…the set of lessons shuttle taught, they're the inheritance that flows into other vehicles, other designs.”
    —Kathy Sullivan, (30:08)
• Changing the Face of Spaceflight: Representation and inspiration mattered:
  • “The space shuttle showed them that they could dream, that they could ultimately fly in space as astronauts.”
    —NASA Shuttle Team Member, (27:30)
  • “That orbiter is probably the most complex thing ever designed and built by humans.”
    —Dick Covey, (27:53)
• Laying the Foundation: The episode closes with the Shuttle’s foundational role for the International Space Station and continued international cooperation (32:00).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Shuttle Complexity and Risk:
  • “It was too complicated, too much of a test program to ever be called purely operational.”
    —Neil Hutchinson, (08:45)
• Sobriety of Command:
  • “You can't dwell on [the danger]…because you'll be distracted from doing what you have to do.”
    —Rick Hauck, (16:13)
• On the Return to Flight’s Emotional Aftermath:
  • “I was quite struck by a sense of a kind of relief that just fell away from me.”
    —Kathy Sullivan, (23:51)
• Celebration & Humor in Space:
  • “One morning we awakened with Robin Williams’ voice saying, ‘Good morning, Discovery.’”
    —Rick Hauck, (25:55)
• The Shuttle’s Enduring Gift:
  • “The legacy of the space shuttle is still in space, and that is the International Space Station. It wouldn’t exist but for the space shuttle.”
    —NASA Shuttle Team, (32:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Launch Pad Scene & Weather Tension: 02:19–06:44
• “Go/No-Go” & Decision-Making: 04:29–05:31
• The “Operational” Myth Explored: 07:12–12:04
• NASA’s Airline Turnaround Experiment: 09:11–11:02
• Launch Emotions & Stakes: 13:02–17:20
• Actual Countdown & Launch Sequence: 17:37–23:05
• Booster Separation & Main Engine Cut-Off: 21:00–22:54
• Post-Launch Euphoria: 23:21–24:19
• Robin Williams’ Wakeup Call: 24:44–26:46
• Shuttle Legacy Reflections: 26:46–32:10

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Overall Tone

• The episode blends awe, tension, relief, and sober reflection, with astronauts’ voices conveying both technical insight and emotional honesty. There is a recurring theme that space is never routine—a lesson written in both triumph and tragedy.

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Conclusion

This episode closes the Shuttle season by underlining the enduring spirit of space exploration: its noble risks, the never-ending quest for improvement, and the Shuttle’s role as a complex, imperfect but vital bridge between Apollo and the modern era of spaceflight. The return to flight wasn’t just about hardware—it was about belief, resilience, and collective learning for generations to come.

Transcript

[BBC Announcer]

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[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

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[Launch Director / Mission Control]

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[Launch Director / Mission Control]

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[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

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[Launch Director / Mission Control]

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[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Before we start, the tenth and final episode of 13 Minutes presents the Space Shuttle. Don't forget we have two previous seasons. Season one is the story of the first moon landing and the final 30 minutes of descent to the moon when everything started going wrong. And season two is about the near disaster of Apollo 13. Both seasons are available right now and are waiting for you once you finish this episode. Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

This is Shuttle Launch Control and we are at T minus 9 minutes and holding.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

It's 29 September 1988. Almost midday, a machine as tall as a 14 floor apartment block towers on the launch pad. Its Space shuttle Discovery with its huge external tank and two solid rocket boosters.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

All of the crew members have gotten into the orbiter and been placed in their suits and are in the launch position at the present time.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Strapped into this machine are five astronauts for the first time in bulky orange pressure suits meant to protect them in the event of sudden loss of cabin

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

pressure at this point we're approximately a half hour behind in the activities that are being completed for launch.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

It's a beautiful day. A few white clouds are dotted around a blue sky, but there are unusual winds.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

We had been briefed before we went out to the launch vehicle that there was an upper level wind shear.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

We cannot launch today if the winds do not change either in direction and wind speed.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

But of course we were ready to launch and having that same feeling of this is a very special morning, a

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

morning that the mission's commander, Rick Haughty has been preparing for for a long time.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

I'd say it was very sobering, but we still thought, well, we're probably not going to launch.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Bob Crippen, who has flown a record four missions, is now deputy Director for Shuttle Operations. As chairman of the mission management team, he will make the final go or no go decision on shuttle launches.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

During the nine minute hold, a built in pause in the countdown. The launch director starts a poll.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

All stations entity. What I'd like to do at this time is the launch status check.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Will space shuttle Discovery launch today?

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Lps. LPS is go.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

We could listen on the loop and we can hear go, go, go safety

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

scope and CDR and plt. Roger, CDR is go, PLT scope.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

And we were convinced that when it got to Bob Crippen we were going to hear him say no go for winds.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

All of the mission management team is going to proceed the line.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

Then we heard his voice and he said, go.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Bob Crippen has made the call.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

So we kind of looked at each other and said, oh, I guess we're really going to fly. We're lying on our backs thinking, okay, we're really going to do this.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

It's been two and a half years since Challenger burst into a ball of flame shortly after launch. The shuttle team have worked tirelessly to get to this point to make the shuttle and the team itself better and safer than ever before. And with more than 200 changes to its system, the shuttle is now a different vehicle. So this flight, STS 26 is a first, much like the very first shuttle mission, STS1. Only this time everyone has seen what can happen when things go wrong.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Clock will resume in just 5 seconds from now. 3, 2, 1. T minus 9 minutes and counting.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

From the beep. Abc world service 13 minutes. Presents the space shuttle. I'm space scientist maggie adairin pocock. Episode 10 of 10 Return to Flight.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

It marks our entrance into a new era. The test flights are over. The groundwork has been laid.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

This is President Reagan Speaking to the nation six years earlier, on Independence Day 1982, after the shuttle program's fourth flight,

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

beginning with the next flight, the Columbia and her sister ships will be fully operational.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Fully operational. These two words insinuated that spaceflight would, from one day to the next, become routine, almost risk free. But this label operational was more political than anything else. And Dick Covey knew sounded good.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

It sounded like we had accomplished this milestone. But for those of us in the astronaut office, we knew this was a continuum of test and development. And whether you called it operational, flight test, or you called it something else, we're still going to be in a development phase. There is inherent danger in it.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

In fact, we asked almost every person we spoke to whether they considered the shuttle operational after the fourth mission and Reagan's speech.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

No, not at all.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Not in my opinion. To me, that was sort of a

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

misnomer or a joke.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

And the answer was a resounding no.

[NASA Staff / Space Shuttle Team Member]

No, I don't think any astronaut ever believed the shuttle was anything other than an experimental vehicle throughout its entire life cycle.

[Neil Hutchinson]

It was too complicated, too much of a test program to ever be called purely operational.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

The original sales pitch for the shuttle was to create a space airliner that would regularly go back and forth between Earth and orbit. But was this idea ever realistic?

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

I have to add one other story for you that really illustrated this to me.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Astronaut Cathy Sullivan vividly remembers one specific

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

moment when the shuttle landed from the second flight, NASA was still trying to figure out how come it's taking us so long to get a shuttle ready to go. And on the launch pad, look at airlines. Airlines do it, you know, tick. So they engaged teams from several airlines

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

with the idea that they'd be able to make the shuttle run more efficiently to speed up everything.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

And they said, from wheel stop to liftoff, you guys can have access to anything and everything of how we do what we do. And watch us go through one. The presumption, I'm sure, was these smart airline guys will say, Here are the 14 stupid things you're doing that will speed it all up.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

One particular morning, at the end of a meeting with an airline team, someone at the end of the phone line speaks up, and we're all just about

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

out of the room. And the squawk box voice says, harold, Harold, Harold calls one guy back and says about that leaky hydraulic tee fitting. What's the latest?

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

That voice is the head of the shuttle program, and he's asking about a hydraulic fitting. The airline guys can hardly believe what they're hearing.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

Do you think Frank Borman gives a damn about the tire pressures on our air fleet? Because that's what it was. A kipling to him is if the CEO of the airline had to personally check on tire pressure on every jet in order to know that they were safe to fly. Right then I realized this is never going to be the kind of Boston shuttle operating vehicle that was dreamt of at the beginning. It's just, it's going to have to be babied every time. Not turned around like pull into my garage and pull back out right away. It's not that vehicle.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Neil Hutchinson, ascent flight director for the very first shuttle launch, also believes it was never operational.

[Neil Hutchinson]

No, I don't now. Never did. F equals MA is too hard.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

F equals ma. Newton's second law of force equals mass times acceleration. To get a vehicle like the shuttle off the ground, beating gravity, passing through the atmosphere, out into orbit, it takes a lot.

[Neil Hutchinson]

It's the physics. You know there aren't a lot of physics in flying airplanes or driving a car. I mean there orders of magnitude lower than the physics it takes to get up and back. And the physics will never change ever. So you can't take away the risk.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

We just got word they are starting to starting the countdown again. The countdown is resumed less than nine minutes before launch. And that's the kind of, it's this

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

inherent risk that everybody is thinking about. The morning of 29th September 1988 as Mission STS 26 is about to launch. This is the launch of a spacecraft, but also the rebirth of a vision to redefine what it means for humans to be in space. Now riding with its crew is an unspoken but inescapable question. Do we still know why we want to be in space? What is it for? And is it worth it? Bill Carr is at the Cape in Florida awaiting the launch of space shuttle Discovery from launch pad 39B.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Safety free starts in work.

[Bill Carr]

I don't know how I would describe it. Nervous anxiety.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

He's thinking back to the day Challenger began its final flight from this very same pad almost three years earlier.

[Bill Carr]

I think what we all learned is just how dynamic that vehicle was. You couldn't necessarily escape failure just because you found that problem. So there was mixed emotions. We were excited about getting back to flying and I think at this point we were very, very focused to make sure that everything was right for these guys and that we would get back flying successfully.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

We've passed the 6 minute point, T minus 5 minutes 54 seconds and counting.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

NASA is looking Today for a textbook launch to make up the losses of the last 32 months. The event is being broadcast live across the United States and around the world. And it's clear how much is riding on this launch.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

You can talk of dreams and they

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

do, but there's more to the shuttle than that.

[BBC Announcer]

And the Americans know this one must succeed.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Thousands of reporters are here.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

There are some 5,000 members of the

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

news media covering this launch from all

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

quarters of the globe.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

And huge crowds of people have gathered.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

You should have seen the traffic jam. Hundreds and hundreds and thousands of cars,

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

they're lining the coast.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Went and got a car, started driving down here, waiting for the gate to open up and get in there.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Spread across beaches and roads.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Came in from Orlando. You got 17 year old grandson sleeping in the back of the car and Ramos sleeping here on the ground.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

They're all here to see the shuttle rise again.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

I think that the tension is certainly mounting here. It looks like after 32 months of being grounded after a number of delays, after certainly a great deal of soul searching, re evaluating where we're going in space. And it looks like we're just about to get back in space again. We're coming up on the three minute point in the count. Three minutes and counting.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

And there's a satellite on board Discovery to aid communication between mission Control and the shuttle on future flights. But the public's attention is focused squarely on the five astronauts awaiting liftoff.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

Who are these guys are going to do this next?

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Dick Covey is in the pilot's seat. As the clock ticks down.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

T minus 2 minutes 30 seconds and counting.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

It became obvious early on that the crew was going to be the focus, not what we were doing on the mission other than we were to return to flight crew and we were going to take the space shuttle back to orbit. Bring it back.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Coming up on the two minute point

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

in our countdown, I'd characterize my thoughts set against the backdrop that NASA prior to 51L had never lost a crew after launch.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

T minus 2 minutes and counting.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Sitting next to Covey in the commander seat, Rick Hauk is thinking about Challenger.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

We never lost anyone in a space flight. So Even though on STS 7 and STS 51A, I knew this was dangerous. I kind of comforted myself with the thought we've never lost anyone before, so we've got this. Well, that comfort could no longer be delivered by that thinking. After 51L, I was convinced that everything had been done that could be done to prepare the machine and the crew. But I knew that my good friends had died the last time a machine had launched. So I was really focused on that and I did think about that. But you can't. You can't dwell on those things. It's just like landing on an aircraft carrier at night. You can't dwell on this dangerous situation you're in because you'll be distracted from doing what you have to do to keep it from being too dangerous.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

T minus 31 seconds.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Once again, everyone is holding their breath in launch control, in mission control, and Those watching on TV screens across the US and around the world.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

T minus 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10. We'll go for main engine start.

[Neil Hutchinson]

Start.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

7, 6, start. 3, 2, 1, 0.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

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[Launch Director / Mission Control]

3, 2, 1, 0. And liftoff. Liftoff. Americans return to space as Discovery clears the tower. Roger roll.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Discovery crew confirms roll program. Houston now controlling the crew know that

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

it takes roughly two minutes until the boosters separate from the shuttle and the NASA mission. Audio that you're hearing now is playing in real time.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Standing motor began. Throttle down to 65%. Engine's throttling down now to maintain a certain speed as the spacecraft passes through Max Q.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Discovery is going through the point of maximum dynamic pressure.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Three engines at 65% now.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

For pilot Dick Covey, time is passing very slowly.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

On my first launch, you had first two minutes. You very aware of the immense power of the solid rocket boosters. And I think the two minutes took a lot longer on this flight. Go at throttle up. Just remembering why it happened the last time.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Discovery, go at throttle up. Throttle, go.

[Bill Carr]

You know, that was the last thing we heard when Challenger broke apart.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Bill Carr is at launch control, watching, listening.

[Bill Carr]

I remember standing outside and just looking over at people I worked with and they were all just. It was quiet at that point. And when he said, roger, go, throttle up, and kept flying, I think all of us took a big sigh of relief.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

1 minute, 45 seconds, 3 engines 104%.

[Bill Carr]

For some reason, that was just a milestone that I think we all needed to hear and get through.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Velocity, 4800ft per second. Altitude.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

That is another, perhaps more important milestone to reach.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Standing by for solid rocket booster separation.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

Absolutely remember counting down after liftoff to solid rocket motor burnout.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Commander Rick Haug has been anxiously awaiting this moment.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Solid rocket boosters have separated.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

Solid rockets are gone. And I remember thinking, well, to minutes, 20 seconds. Glad they're out of the picture.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

5,600ft per second. Velocity, 31.8 nautical miles altitude downrange. Distance, 38 nautical miles.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

Of course, we still had six more minutes to ride the main engines. And so I, I wasn't breathing too big a sigh of relief yet.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Velocity, 6200ft per second. Altitude 41 nautical miles downrange. Distance, 60 nautical miles.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

As Discovery makes its way further and further upwards, the shuttle's main engines are still firing. They are vastly more complicated than the boosters. And it's several excruciating minutes until main engine cut off.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Discovery, negative return. Negative return.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

I did clearly think, boy, I hope this doesn't blow up. And human beings put this thing together. What an incredible machine. And I just hope it doesn't blow up. And then once again taking that thought and pushing it to the back, doing that by looking at instruments and focusing on gauges and so on to kind of distract myself from that thought.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Ten seconds away from main engine cutoff.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

The main engines have almost done their job.

[Mission Control / Flight Director]

Main engine cutoff confirmed.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

The ascent has gone perfectly.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Discovery, Nakamiko homes one not required.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

As the external tank falls down to Earth, the whole shuttle team in mission Control, in launch control, in meeting rooms across the USA, collectively feel a weight lifted off their shoulders.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

I felt pretty good about it, that all this work we had put in had paid off and the crew did a great job.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

The weight of two and a half years of hard work, of grief, of

[NASA Staff / Space Shuttle Team Member]

hope, obviously we were very, very pleased to see the results of it. And we were back in business with that.

[Bill Carr]

I think there was a level of euphoria, confidence that we're back, we're back,

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

the shuttle is back in space.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

I was quite struck by a sense of a kind of relief that just fell away from me. Everything in the last couple years kind of fell away from me, and I realized we're back in orbit. I think the 26 crew is smiling again.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

It's early morning, the day after the launch of STS26. Discovery is orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes, the crew on their first night back in space are asleep. And in Mission Control on Earth, Cathy Sullivan is the Capcom on the nightly planning shift.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

The fun part, the cool part, the planning shift, Capcom, is you pick the music that you're going to wake the crew up to.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

And she's picked something very special for this morning.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

So what am I going to say? I mean, it's my little miniature Neil Armstrong moment, right? So music is going to run, the music is going to stop. And really, are you just going to say, good morning, Discovery of Houston standing by? That is not how I'm going to feel. And as I thought about it, I couldn't help but think about the Robin Williams movie.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

Not long before then, he had made a movie called Good Morning, Vietnam. The tagline from that movie is him on the radio as a disc jockey in Vietnam saying, good morning, Vietnam.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

As it turns out, I was able to make my way through several contacts to Robin Williams agents and say, what would you think of reprising that for the space shuttle Discovery? And painted the context a little bit. Robin loved the idea.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Good morning, Discovery.

[Astronaut Rick Hauk]

So one morning we awakened with Robin Williams voice saying, good morning, Discovery.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

Good morning, Morning, Discovery. Rise and shine, boys. Time to start doing that shuttle shuffle, you know what I mean? Hey, here's a little song coming from the billions of us to the five of you. Rick, start them off, baby. The Hster to you.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

When Max Faget threw the Bolswood model of the space plane, what did he want it to become?

[Neil Hutchinson]

The lunar program was goal driven. Put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. That was the end of it. Shuttle program said, okay, we've got the ability to get into space now. Now let's use it. Now, let's develop.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Was no longer a stunt. It was no longer a national pride effort. It's a testament to the dedication and hard work of all the people for

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

each of those parts and systems that

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

they all worked as well as they did. It's truly amazing.

[NASA Staff / Space Shuttle Team Member]

I think it was the vehicle that showed the world, showed our population, the empowerment of the females and the minority astronauts. Our class was the first. The space shuttle showed them that they could dream, that they could ultimately fly in space as astronauts.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

That orbiter is probably the most complex thing ever designed and built by humans. It was an airplane, it was a launch vehicle, it was a spacecraft, it

[Neil Hutchinson]

was a space laboratory.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

It was all of those things all

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

combined into one and everything had to.

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The space shuttle, I believe, is the most amazing modern marvel of our time. You could spend Years talking about the shuttle systems and the intricacies and how everything was woven together and it would still be just shaped shy of a miracle. It was the most magnificent space machine ever made.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

The Space Shuttle was truly amazing. But did it ever achieve what it set out to do? It was promised to be the all purpose spacecraft, the reusable vehicle that would get astronauts and cargo and into orbit and back cheaply, routinely and safely. Did the Shuttle accomplish this? The short answer is no. The Shuttle was expensive. Early predictions were that over time it would pay for itself. That never happened. The shuttle never flew as often as originally promised. The highest number of flights in one year was nine in 1985. And just a few weeks later, in 1986, the Challenger disaster showed the world that it wasn't as safe as many had thought and hoped.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

Yeah, I, I think the media stereotype tends to be the Shuttle didn't prove, it didn't live up to its billing. It's the top line for many, many people. It didn't live up to the hype,

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

that's true, astronaut Kathy Sullivan.

[Astronaut Kathy Sullivan]

But I think as every experimental aircraft ever in history has done, the set of lessons about design, about performance, about operation that shuttle taught, they're the inheritance that flows into other vehicles, other designs. Countless dividends from the Shuttle program, just on the technology, space flight operations and workforce, and tremendous scientific advances from shuttle as well.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

After Challenger, when military and commercial missions were over time stripped away, it left one primary goal, science. Helping humanity's quest for knowledge to better understand ourselves and the universe.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

The shuttle has helped us dramatically revolutionize our knowledge of the universe that we live in.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

Because the return to flight in 1988 isn't the end of the Shuttle story. This is just the beginning, the beginning of more experiments in orbit in the pursuit of, of this grand knowledge that we can acquire of space telescapes.

[Launch Director / Mission Control]

The Hubble Space Telescope is probably one

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

of the big things that people appreciate of international collaboration.

[Astronaut Dick Covey]

So the President of the United States said, this handshake marks the end of the Cold War.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

And NASA is already planning something that was always tied to the shuttle from the start. A space station orbiting the Earth seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

[NASA Staff / Space Shuttle Team Member]

The legacy of the space shuttle is still in space, and that is the International Space Station. It wouldn't exist but for the space shuttle.

[Maggie Adairin Pocock]

It took some time. But now, in 1988, with Discovery back in orbit, this is the moment the shuttle found its purpose. It took spaceflight in a radical new direction, laying the foundation for space programs. Yet to come. The Space Shuttle changed history. 13 minutes will return with season four. This has been episode 10 of 10. Thank you for listening to 13 Minutes Presents the Space Shuttle. It's a BBC Audio Science production. I'm Maggie Adairin Pocock. 13 minutes wouldn't be 13 minutes without the people who made these space stories happen and then shared them with us. Thanks to every single one of them. We'd like to thank NASA for its archive sound and the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project for its archive interviews. In this episode it's interviews with Rick Hauk and Hoot Gibson. Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects. I really hope you've enjoyed listening to our story of the Space shuttle and we'll be back. Watch this space for news of 13 Minutes Season 4. Follow or subscribe to 13 Minutes to get the next season and all episodes automatically. The 13 minutes series producers are Florin Bohr and Jeremy Grange. The assistant producer is Robbie Wojcahovski with additional research by Fabry Smallheart. Technical production is by Jackie Marjoram, theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emmanuel for Bleeding Fingers Music. The sound design is by Richard Gould from Skywalker Sound. Our story editor is Jessica Lindsay. The senior podcast producer for the BBC World Service is Anne Dixie. The podcast co commissioning editor is John Manell and the series editor is Martin Smith.

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