#40 -October 2015

The Discussion: Coming live from The AstroCamp in the Brecon
Beacons international dark sky reserve, we talk about the
benefits of getting out to truly dark skies and observing with
people who have a range of astronomy skills.


The News: We welcome astrophysicist Jeni Millard to discuss this
month’s astronomy news. And after rebuking NASA last month for
the paucity of New Horizons data releases, we’re more content
this month and bring you the latest from the Pluto flyby. We take
a look at the European Space Agency’s latest video from Philae as
it descended to the surface of comet Churyumov Gerasimenko. And
we bring you more news about the increasingly habitable
conditions on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.


The Interview: This month we wrap the whole show around our
interview with Skylab 3 and STS-3 astronaut, Jack Lousma. Jack
tells us about taking that ominous call during Apollo 13
‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’; how they solved each
life-threatening issue in sequence to get the astronauts back
alive; missing out on flying Apollo 20 to the moon; and taking
one of the first space shuttles out for a test drive.


Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter
take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always
plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month
Ralph & Paul take a walk around AstroCamp to let listeners
give their top tips for taking their first steps in practical
amateur astronomy.