:00:11. > :00:17.Good evening from rainy Cheshire. Last time we had a television fist
:00:18. > :00:27.with this live view of the northern lights in Norway. But we're not
:00:28. > :00:31.settling for that - tonight we're sending our cameras up to 30,000
:00:32. > :00:34.feet to get away from the clouds, the light pollution, and any
:00:35. > :00:37.possible moisture in the air to get the clearest possible view. And
:00:38. > :00:41.there is a lot of moisture in the air. Unless, that is, you've flown
:00:42. > :00:43.throught them as one of our guests tonight has. We've got the commander
:00:44. > :00:50.of the International Space Station and one of the first crew ever to
:00:51. > :00:53.fly in an Apollo spacecraft. I'm Brian Cox. I'm Dara O Briain. And
:00:54. > :01:21.this is Stargazing Live. Tonight's show is ah about space
:01:22. > :01:27.eggs mroeration. -- exploration. Two of my heroes are in the building.
:01:28. > :01:38.From the first crew to fly an Apollo space craft 46 years, ago, Walter
:01:39. > :01:43.Cunningham is here. And commander Chris Hadfield. There they are,
:01:44. > :01:50.relaxing as only astronauts can. That is thousand relax. -- that is
:01:51. > :01:56.how to relax. If you have any questions send them to us. The
:01:57. > :02:05.addresses are on the screen. I have been distracted horribly by that. By
:02:06. > :02:09.the fabulous view. What is that? It is glorious. The Hubble telescope is
:02:10. > :02:16.usually in that beautiful position, because it looks nice. But it will
:02:17. > :02:24.move and do some observing, that is because of some of the lenses you
:02:25. > :02:28.found last night. One is so interesting that the Hubble will
:02:29. > :02:33.image it during the show. Real science going on. Stuff you have
:02:34. > :02:37.done is making that turn. Photographs you have sent in of the
:02:38. > :02:44.aurora. This is a photograph from last night. We saw the aurora in
:02:45. > :02:52.Norway. This is from Caithness in Scotland. Another one from Scotland,
:02:53. > :02:55.Gordon took that one last night. We expect more. There is something
:02:56. > :03:07.interesting that happened before we came on air to do with this sunspot
:03:08. > :03:13.group. AR1944 and AR1966. You could fit seven earths in this. If you
:03:14. > :03:20.look at this video, last night about 6pm, the earth is about here. This
:03:21. > :03:25.is one of space craft at right angles to the sun. We are looking on
:03:26. > :03:38.to the sun and the earth is here. About 6. 30 last night, that
:03:39. > :03:44.happened. That is a big coronal mass ejection. That is a big flux of
:03:45. > :03:49.solar wind on its way us to. When will it get to us? Just after
:03:50. > :03:53.midnight. It delayed the launch of a supply space craft to the
:03:54. > :04:00.International Space Station today. So that could have a big effect. We
:04:01. > :04:05.knowed you last night -- showed you last night... Your place is gone.
:04:06. > :04:11.This is our globe. There is Africa and Europe and there we are. Now,
:04:12. > :04:16.normally the aurora would be the golden circle here, we believe
:04:17. > :04:22.because of the amount of stuff thrown up, it could extend as far as
:04:23. > :04:27.the blue area. That extends over the British Isles and Ireland and we
:04:28. > :04:33.could get good aurora photographs from you 12. 38 tonight. It will be
:04:34. > :04:37.worth your while if it is clear in Scotland. As far north as
:04:38. > :04:44.Manchester. Even as far south possibly down to London. It is
:04:45. > :04:49.unlikely, but if it is clear, we will show you how to take the
:04:50. > :04:57.photographs. This is a powerful CME on its way. It is like we planned
:04:58. > :05:04.it. Perfectly timed. Now we're on an aurora hunt. We have set the task of
:05:05. > :05:08.taking our cameras to a better vantage point. Liz where are you?
:05:09. > :05:13.Tonight we're trying something that has never been done. We are going
:05:14. > :05:21.aurora hunting from this aircraft live on television. We are going to
:05:22. > :05:26.eliminate the risk of having our view obscured by clouds and light.
:05:27. > :05:37.We will be at 30,000 feet above Norway on the hunt for the aurora
:05:38. > :05:43.borealis. See you soon. Look at the ball. We will catch up with her in a
:05:44. > :05:49.while. Now back to earth after a gloriously clear night in noer to
:05:50. > :05:56.being -- Norfolk, Mark joins us in the rain. I seem to have brought the
:05:57. > :06:02.rain. But I shall show you how you can spot satellites in space with
:06:03. > :06:06.the naked eye and even the International Space Station.
:06:07. > :06:11.Astronomy is a social activity and that has been true this week with
:06:12. > :06:16.star parties across the country. And this is the scene of a massive one
:06:17. > :06:22.in Portsmouth with over 5,000 people there. They had telescopes and
:06:23. > :06:26.demonstrations, stage acts and a solar system. There are more star
:06:27. > :06:31.part yirs to come. So check the web-site for details. If you're
:06:32. > :06:37.going for one tomorrow, look out for me and the crew. Use that same
:06:38. > :06:45.address to get your aurora photographs in. In a moment we will
:06:46. > :06:53.meet our special guest. First let's see how far we have gone into space
:06:54. > :06:59.over the last few decades. You're hearing the signals transmitted by
:07:00. > :07:02.the satellite. One of the great scientific feats of the age. When it
:07:03. > :07:09.comes to pin pointing the moment we first made to it space, a small
:07:10. > :07:14.sphere called Sputnik often gets the credit. But it was the first item
:07:15. > :07:27.into orbit. We had reached space over a decade earlier. Our first
:07:28. > :07:34.trip wasn't one to be celebrated. A Nazi V2 rocket hurtled out above the
:07:35. > :07:47.earth's surface. And started the space age with a deadly bang. It was
:07:48. > :07:56.1961 before we could cheer our first real live space man from Russia. As
:07:57. > :08:02.he looked down at earth. He made it 203 miles from the earth's surface
:08:03. > :08:08.and returned a hero. When you think our planet's 8,000 miles across,
:08:09. > :08:13.this was a tiny step for mankind. The giant leap came eight years
:08:14. > :08:17.later. We choose to go to the moon, because that goal will serve to
:08:18. > :08:28.organise and measure the best of our energies and skills. On July 16th
:08:29. > :08:34.1969 Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre. Four days
:08:35. > :08:42.later, Neil Armstrong made history. It's one small step for man. One
:08:43. > :08:51.giant leap for mankind. But Neil, Buzz and Michael don't hold the
:08:52. > :08:56.distance record. Three astronauts just fwhaement. But not exactly on
:08:57. > :09:06.purpose. -- just beat them. The We have a problem here. When Apollo 13
:09:07. > :09:10.aborted its lunar landing its trajectory took it further from the
:09:11. > :09:13.earth than anyone has been before or since. But we will forgive the crew
:09:14. > :09:20.for having other things on their mind at the time. Impressive stuff
:09:21. > :09:28.from our spacemen. But they only managed local trips, compared to our
:09:29. > :09:35.robots in space. We have landed re-Botts on two planets. -- robots
:09:36. > :09:42.on two planets. Venus and the red planet, Mars. Which even at its
:09:43. > :09:51.closest point is 34 million miles from earth. Russia got there first
:09:52. > :09:57.with the Mars 3 probe. But NASA's Opportunity Rover landed in 2004 and
:09:58. > :10:06.drove around the surface for 22 miles, making it our top planetary
:10:07. > :10:13.explorer. But some never end their journeys. We have sent dozens of
:10:14. > :10:21.probes, some spend their lives orbiting the sun. Others go on to
:10:22. > :10:26.roam the planetary season. Cassini is almost a billion miles from
:10:27. > :10:35.earth. For the real long haul trophy there can be only one winner. In
:10:36. > :10:42.1977 the probe Voyager 1 blasted off. But it was a little probe that
:10:43. > :10:47.wouldn't stop. After diligently visiting Jupiter and Saturn, it has
:10:48. > :10:52.kept going for almost four decades. In August last year it passed
:10:53. > :11:02.another milestone for mankind and became the first man-made object to
:11:03. > :11:10.enter inter-Stellar space. We have Chris Hadfield with us now. A space
:11:11. > :11:16.veteran. Welcome to the show. You, as many of us did, grew up with that
:11:17. > :11:21.history. What was it that made you decide to become a part of it and be
:11:22. > :11:26.an astronaut. It was wonderful to see those images it was on a black
:11:27. > :11:33.and white television watching Neil and Buzz, the reality of that and
:11:34. > :11:38.the science fiction of the 2001 space odd essy and Star Trek, all
:11:39. > :11:46.that was very enabling for nine-year-old boy to see that
:11:47. > :11:52.fantasy can come true. I consciously decided when on July 20th they
:11:53. > :11:56.walked on the moon. Did you think that was going to happen. You went
:11:57. > :12:02.into the air force. Was that all the plan? It seems to be a plan now.
:12:03. > :12:06.Canada had no astronaut programme. But I recognised you have to turn
:12:07. > :12:11.yourself into an astronaut if you want to become one. I go to
:12:12. > :12:15.university and learned to fly through the cadets and joined the
:12:16. > :12:20.air force and became a test pilot and in my 30s, Canada had an
:12:21. > :12:25.astronaut selection and I was an astronaut for 21 years. You have
:12:26. > :12:30.done two shuttle mission and one ISS mission, that lasted for six months.
:12:31. > :12:36.We have a lot of questions that boil down to, what is life in space like?
:12:37. > :12:41.It is two main differences. One is you're weightless all the time.
:12:42. > :12:45.Which is magic to be able to fly. Something as mundane as clipping
:12:46. > :12:49.your names is different in weightlessness. The other more
:12:50. > :12:54.magnificent part is every time you go by the window, you're orbiting
:12:55. > :12:59.around the world and the world is turning and you see the whole planet
:13:00. > :13:04.over and over again. That combination of the mundane and the
:13:05. > :13:11.beauty of the world it was better than I dreamed it would be when I
:13:12. > :13:15.was nine. I hear many astronauts speak of the experience of being in
:13:16. > :13:19.space and they all say it changes them, it changes their view of the
:13:20. > :13:26.earth and themselves, how did it change you? You spent 240 days in
:13:27. > :13:34.space? About six months in total. I didn't have a sudden epiphany or
:13:35. > :13:37.huge change in direction, I think it is because of the experience of the
:13:38. > :13:45.people that had gone before. But I think what it did fully was broaden
:13:46. > :13:52.my own horizons of the world. What I would view growing up is us and
:13:53. > :13:56.them. The line where them is recedes, until the whole thing
:13:57. > :14:00.becomes us. You get a sense of oneness that we are all in this
:14:01. > :14:03.together. That perspective I did my best to share through the
:14:04. > :14:08.photographs and social media and it sure had a profound effect on my
:14:09. > :14:14.views. When you have spent a six months tour, is it possible to have
:14:15. > :14:19.a normal day? Are your days 24 hours long? You wake up that watch that is
:14:20. > :14:23.floating there woke me at 6am and we would clean with a sponge bath and
:14:24. > :14:28.work through the day and get ready for bed at night. You pull up the
:14:29. > :14:33.sleeping back and you stay warm and float next to the warm. Shut off the
:14:34. > :14:40.light and it is the most relaxing sleep you can imagine. You can relax
:14:41. > :14:46.every muscle in your body and hover in the sleeping bag until the alarm
:14:47. > :14:50.goes off. Is it possible to get a good night's sleep. It is a
:14:51. > :15:03.dangerous environment to work isn't it? You're up there. Once in a while
:15:04. > :15:07.you here a merior iet ricochet over outside and it is a reminder of
:15:08. > :15:11.where you are. In a building, you think your bullet proof, when you
:15:12. > :15:16.hear one of those hit, you recognise you're in a metal bubble, but you
:15:17. > :15:23.get used to where you are and focus on the reality and if things go
:15:24. > :15:33.badly, they will go badly in a hurry. We practice fire alarms,
:15:34. > :15:37.things, all the time. You cannot let fear dominate. You have to focus on
:15:38. > :15:42.the reality. We have got a number of questions about the aurora, what
:15:43. > :15:45.would happen if you were to physically fly through it, you have
:15:46. > :15:53.done that? I was outside on my first spacewalk.
:15:54. > :15:59.We moved some thermal covers, I was carrying a big bubble of laundry.
:16:00. > :16:05.The arm was moving around, I had a long time to wait. I shut off the
:16:06. > :16:14.weight and let my eyes adjust, I saw the southern lights and we went
:16:15. > :16:19.through them. They were rippling for as far as the eye could see. Colours
:16:20. > :16:25.early visible in an image, the Reds, purple colours, so much more
:16:26. > :16:30.visible and powerful to the human eye and the movement, almost as if
:16:31. > :16:34.it was pouring and flowing I do think it is going on all the time on
:16:35. > :16:40.our planet and only once in awhile can we see it. I told the crew, you
:16:41. > :16:43.have got to see them, they shut off all the lights and took pictures
:16:44. > :16:50.until we drove into the dawn over New Zealand. An incredible
:16:51. > :16:57.existence. What has always intrigued me is what it is like to float
:16:58. > :17:01.weightlessness in space and I went on a mission to find out why
:17:02. > :17:06.astronauts are weightless. We have all seen the footage,
:17:07. > :17:10.obviously astronauts flow but it is an easy estate to presume the reason
:17:11. > :17:16.they float is because of where they are but if you travel 600, just
:17:17. > :17:22.great up gravity will recede and will have less than appalled when it
:17:23. > :17:28.does on earth. We can demonstrate that here. The flight we are going
:17:29. > :17:34.on to day, it is a research flight, filled with scientists and
:17:35. > :17:41.experiments, but none of us are going into space. Over the next hour
:17:42. > :17:45.or two this specially modified plane will fly 30,000 feet and plummet
:17:46. > :17:50.towards Earth 25 times. Each time we will all briefly experienced
:17:51. > :17:56.weightlessness. I can pretend this is about the science, but I feel
:17:57. > :18:00.like an eight-year-old child. As excited as I am, this overgrown
:18:01. > :18:06.roller-coaster ride isn't just for fun. It is also one of the ways
:18:07. > :18:15.astronauts train to cope with life in space. We were talking about how
:18:16. > :18:18.disorientating parts of this flight company. That happened when I got
:18:19. > :18:24.in, I have never been in plain as down as this. It is just rows of
:18:25. > :18:30.seats in a giant padded room will stop -- will stop after take-off
:18:31. > :18:35.time for the scientists to set up their experiments. And for me to get
:18:36. > :18:41.my head round what really makes astronauts weightless. Even if you
:18:42. > :18:47.go up to where the ISS is, gravity is still about 90% of here, if you
:18:48. > :18:52.walk up the ladder and stepped up you would fall down again. The key
:18:53. > :18:53.to weightlessness is in falling which is what we are about to
:18:54. > :19:07.demonstrate. At 30,000 feet the pilot throttles
:19:08. > :19:13.back. Plunging us towards Earth in a series of steep arcs. Each time the
:19:14. > :19:19.plane does this we get a few moments of weightlessness. And the sensation
:19:20. > :19:31.is incredible. The trouble is, even the most basic
:19:32. > :19:41.tasks like facing the camera become impossible. Just as suddenly, it is
:19:42. > :19:47.over. But not for long. So what is making us feel weightless? It is
:19:48. > :19:52.astonishing. It is like all the weight leads your body and you float
:19:53. > :20:01.off and all we are doing is freefalling towards Earth, along
:20:02. > :20:06.with the aeroplane. How are you? It is just the same for astronauts in
:20:07. > :20:13.orbit. What is happening in the ISS is they are basically falling
:20:14. > :20:18.towards Earth all the time. And so it feels to them like weightlessness
:20:19. > :20:26.stop and we are down. The only difference between us is that I am
:20:27. > :20:30.falling recently towards Earth, while astronauts are falling
:20:31. > :20:38.constantly around the Earth. Let me explain. Imagine an astronaut
:20:39. > :20:42.falling to earth like me. Give him a push sideways and he will keep
:20:43. > :20:46.moving sideways as he falls. Pushing too hard and he will head off
:20:47. > :20:51.towards the moon. Pushing just right and he will never get any closer or
:20:52. > :20:56.further away, he will stay in orbit. In constant freefall he will feel
:20:57. > :21:08.weightless all the time. Whereas for me, the pleasure is painfully short
:21:09. > :21:11.lived. I am OK, I'm grand. It is incredibly counterintuitive, I have
:21:12. > :21:16.done a lot of scuba-diving, you naturally kick, you are just a large
:21:17. > :21:24.man in space kicking anything around him. I went careering off, and
:21:25. > :21:29.luckily a scientist broke my full. -- fall. Whether you are an
:21:30. > :21:37.astronaut in space or just a man in a jumpsuit it is not a lack of
:21:38. > :21:43.gravity that makes you float. After plummeting to earth 25 times I was
:21:44. > :21:51.quite relieved to land. Thank you, very much. Two things I am allowed
:21:52. > :21:56.to do, I can take my name tag and put it the right way up because I am
:21:57. > :22:03.an experienced flier. The most important souvenir I took is an
:22:04. > :22:13.empty sick bag. Nearly got me, didn't get me. Very proud, I am, of
:22:14. > :22:19.not being ill on that flight. There is a British scientist called Dan
:22:20. > :22:23.who was on it too had a big stain of being ill. They wrapped him in a
:22:24. > :22:26.ball and picked him up and pushed him down the plane and he bowled
:22:27. > :22:34.down to the back of the plane and stabbed him into a chair. Is that
:22:35. > :22:38.anything like it was to mark -- is it anything like it?
:22:39. > :22:43.The people who are sick in a plain don't always get sick in space. The
:22:44. > :22:47.difference may be tween diving into the water and staying floating
:22:48. > :22:54.scuba-diving. One is a transition, one is permanent. I will just
:22:55. > :23:00.enjoying playing with a spate see ash spacesuit. If you want to see
:23:01. > :23:09.the ISS itself it passes overhead regularly.
:23:10. > :23:16.It is really easy to see, this is an image we have got and you can see it
:23:17. > :23:19.moving down the screen. If you want to see it really clearly you need a
:23:20. > :23:27.powerful lens and we are lucky enough to get this fantastic view
:23:28. > :23:30.with a super zoom lens. You can see the solar panels wonderfully. You
:23:31. > :23:44.can have a go at spotting it yourself, all you need is your
:23:45. > :23:50.smartphone . The ISS orbit at an altitude of 240 miles and travels
:23:51. > :23:55.17,000 mph, a colossal speed, and the speed is one of the ways you can
:23:56. > :23:58.tell you are looking at satellite and not a shooting star or an
:23:59. > :24:03.aeroplane. This is what a shooting star looks like. You can see the
:24:04. > :24:07.image as it goes across the screen, very quick and fast and that is how
:24:08. > :24:14.you can tell it is a shooting star, not a space station. They are not
:24:15. > :24:17.man made. A few miles up, they just whizz across the sky. Planes are on
:24:18. > :24:22.the other hand, have flashing lights. You can just detect the
:24:23. > :24:30.flashing lights. They move a bit more steady and can be mistaken for
:24:31. > :24:33.satellites. Satellites move at the Miller speeds to aircraft and you
:24:34. > :24:37.can see one at the bottom of this image, but they don't flash and that
:24:38. > :24:42.is the key way of telling whether it is an aircraft or a satellite. Based
:24:43. > :24:46.-- they can sometimes disappear over the horizon, you sometimes see them
:24:47. > :24:52.vanish. They flow into the shadow of the Earth. Back to the aurora, your
:24:53. > :25:00.photos are coming in thick and fast. We have seen this image from the
:25:01. > :25:03.North of Iceland. You can see the wonderful green and the folds in the
:25:04. > :25:10.display. Another image taken in Tromso with vivid green colours.
:25:11. > :25:13.There is a chance of an aurora over the UK tomorrow night so if you want
:25:14. > :25:18.to try and photograph it you will need a DSL are camera on a tripod
:25:19. > :25:24.much like this, set the focus to infinity, the ISA to 800, the
:25:25. > :25:27.aperture as wide as possible and try exposures of 15 seconds but don't be
:25:28. > :25:30.afraid to experiment with the settings because it can vary in
:25:31. > :25:34.brightness. Try and get some landscape in as well for top played
:25:35. > :25:41.your photos to the website so we can take a look. -- upload your photos.
:25:42. > :25:50.Let's see how Liz is doing. How is it going?
:25:51. > :25:57.Hello. How are you doing? We are transmitting live on our aurora
:25:58. > :26:04.Hunt, 32,000 feet above more than Norway. Our plane is jam-packed full
:26:05. > :26:07.of people and equipment, our specialist lowlight cameras, one
:26:08. > :26:13.trained on the night sky, specialist live transmission gear allowing us
:26:14. > :26:17.to transmit the footage live, and can I just show you what we are
:26:18. > :26:26.looking at outside our window? What do you make of this?
:26:27. > :26:28.Lovely, very impressive. Difficult to find the words without saying,
:26:29. > :26:33.that is very readable. It is a completely different view --
:26:34. > :26:42.beautiful. It looks different. Because it is high, I want to ask if
:26:43. > :26:50.it is clearer. Is it different to what you saw yesterday?
:26:51. > :26:57.That is the thing. We are getting a different vantage point. It has been
:26:58. > :27:05.snowing non-stop today. You can see the cloud cover, the clear sky,
:27:06. > :27:08.beautiful starry night. Up here we don't have the problem of light
:27:09. > :27:14.pollution and certainly cloud cover. As and when this changes we will be
:27:15. > :27:20.there to look at it and get you the footage. With me on this flight is
:27:21. > :27:28.Pete Lawrence, becoming my best friend and he will be our expert.
:27:29. > :27:33.What you make of this? It is really dark outside, the stars are shining
:27:34. > :27:41.brightly, the aurora is the star of the show. It has been changing quite
:27:42. > :27:47.a lot. You have taken part in 200 searches for Aurora, can change into
:27:48. > :27:54.something more colourful, bigger, brighter, faster, better? It is
:27:55. > :27:59.pretty weak but it is very pretty, it could build up or go away. Thank
:28:00. > :28:05.you so much for joining us, keep your eyes peeled. He will be our
:28:06. > :28:11.expert eyes for the next two nights. This vantage point, getting closer,
:28:12. > :28:15.not only allows us to admire it but allows scientists to understand them
:28:16. > :28:17.better. It is possible to get inside one, would you believe it and it is
:28:18. > :28:28.something scientists are doing. This is the island of and/or your on
:28:29. > :28:45.the West Coast of Norway on the Arctic Circle. -- Andoya. Scientists
:28:46. > :28:50.are try to find out what goes on inside the aurora borealis. They are
:28:51. > :28:54.employing a number of methods including firing out lasers to
:28:55. > :29:00.analyse the lower lobe -- lower layers of the atmosphere. These can
:29:01. > :29:04.reach a height of 110 kilometres, pretty impressive, but still not
:29:05. > :29:08.quite high enough to reach the aurora, to be able to study them
:29:09. > :29:14.properly for stop you need some serious space technology to do that.
:29:15. > :29:19.Rockets. Packed with scientific instruments and launched directly
:29:20. > :29:25.into the heart of the aurora. Rockets like these can only go in
:29:26. > :29:31.one direction, straight up, so an aurora has to pass directly overhead
:29:32. > :29:40.before the team can launch. It is predefined by the launcher, we
:29:41. > :29:46.are waiting for it to move in a manner we know, we are waiting for
:29:47. > :29:54.the right conditions. You waiting for it to come to the
:29:55. > :29:58.rocket. Recent missions have helped them discover the shifting patterns
:29:59. > :30:06.of light are caused by charged particles falling in vertical bands
:30:07. > :30:11.just a few metres across. They're next mission is to work out why and
:30:12. > :30:20.so unlock more of the secrets of this stunning phenomenon. Their next
:30:21. > :30:27.rocket is almost ready for launch. So this is it? This is the
:30:28. > :30:32.scientific payload and will do all the measurements. Yes, it is a
:30:33. > :30:37.scientific payload. How long does it have to take its measurements in the
:30:38. > :30:45.centre of the aurora. A minute. A few minutes. That is all. Once
:30:46. > :30:50.airborne it is critical that the rocket gathers as much information
:30:51. > :30:57.as possible as quickly as possible. Once it reaches 75 kilometres, the
:30:58. > :31:02.nose cone will open and the instruments will begin to take
:31:03. > :31:14.measurements. On each of these four tips we have these needle probes and
:31:15. > :31:18.those these look like what is it called acupuncture. That will
:31:19. > :31:23.measure how they work. The needles will detect and temperature and
:31:24. > :31:28.electrical charge of particles creating the light. This information
:31:29. > :31:34.will then be transmitted back to the control centre to be analysed by the
:31:35. > :31:42.team. But in the end, the success of the mission will depend on the
:31:43. > :31:45.perfect launch. There are a lot of things happening around the
:31:46. > :31:52.scientists. The scientists can't do anything any more. He can just say
:31:53. > :31:56.yes go and he can say stop until the last second. At that moment,
:31:57. > :32:04.everyone crosses their fingers. Have you ever missed the aurora? No, I
:32:05. > :32:12.cannot remember. We are not quite as close as those
:32:13. > :32:17.rockets to the aurora borealis, but at 32,000 feet we are not doing
:32:18. > :32:24.badly and it is still shining there in its beautiful green hue. We were
:32:25. > :32:30.talking about how the electrons in an aurora travel in narrow bands,
:32:31. > :32:34.but then this aurora is part of a bigger picture, part of a bigger
:32:35. > :32:42.area that is a circular shape over the poles? Yes it is down to the
:32:43. > :32:46.shape of theeth's magnetic -- the earth's magnetic field. As they go
:32:47. > :32:53.through atmosphere, they form a ring of glowing light. Basically a
:32:54. > :33:01.circular shape where the aurora can appear. Is it a perfect circle? No
:33:02. > :33:08.the earth's magnetic field, the solar winds squashes the magnetic
:33:09. > :33:12.field towards the surface of the earth on the day side and elongates
:33:13. > :33:17.it on the night side. That affects the shape of the ring and pushes it
:33:18. > :33:26.towards the magnetic pole on the day side and elongates it away on the
:33:27. > :33:34.night side. So it is an oval. It is the auroral oval. Is this part of
:33:35. > :33:39.the oval circling, you can almost see the shape over the globe. Yes
:33:40. > :33:43.like a crown around the top of the earth. It is very beautiful. The
:33:44. > :33:50.aurora from last night inspired some viewers to write in some questions.
:33:51. > :33:55.Can I pose them to you? Yes of course. Eilie asked howled the
:33:56. > :34:01.aurora be used as an energy -- asked could the aurora be used as an
:34:02. > :34:05.energy source. Well one could power the UK. But the problem is getting
:34:06. > :34:09.up there to get at the energy. The aurora is enormous. We haven't got
:34:10. > :34:16.the Tegg nothing to do that -- technology do that. Might that
:34:17. > :34:22.happen in the future. I hope so. What about Stefan who asked what is
:34:23. > :34:32.the rarest colour of aurorae and why? The most common colour is green
:34:33. > :34:39.and then a ready brown and then a Pinkie band. The Holy Grail are the
:34:40. > :34:44.blues and purples in these huge structures. You need a very
:34:45. > :34:48.energetic display to see those. We are seeing green and no red on the
:34:49. > :34:55.top. But anything can happen at any point. That is the beauty of auroral
:34:56. > :35:02.hunting. Come back to us soon. Thank you. We can show you how the aurora
:35:03. > :35:14.forms with this contrapion. We will create an aurora in the jar, this
:35:15. > :35:17.was created by the scientist Kristian Birkland. The big ball
:35:18. > :35:24.represents the sun, the small one the earth. Both are electricically
:35:25. > :35:29.charged the earth ball has a magnetic field in it similar to the
:35:30. > :35:36.earth's. They run in a shape from one pole to the other. What you're
:35:37. > :35:44.seeing is because there is an trek charge -- electric charge, there are
:35:45. > :35:49.electrons streaming off on to the pole. This is, you can hear a hum.
:35:50. > :35:57.That is a vacuum pump. Some of the air has been pumped out to athrough
:35:58. > :36:02.electrons to make it across. But not all. There is nitrogen here. That is
:36:03. > :36:06.what Pete was talking about and that is this purple glow. That is what we
:36:07. > :36:14.are seeing. This is not a simulation, it is the same physics,
:36:15. > :36:20.electrons travelling down and hitting the nitrogen poll Cuells and
:36:21. > :36:29.-- molecules and emitting this glow. We have a question from Timothy he
:36:30. > :36:36.said how do they differ on different planets. Well the atmosphere is
:36:37. > :36:42.different. But the physics is the same. So the process is the same. If
:36:43. > :36:47.you have a nitrogen atmosphere you will get this purple glow. So the
:36:48. > :36:54.aurora is the same whether on Venus or here or in this jar, the physics
:36:55. > :36:59.is the same. Yes. This was first done in 1895, before the discovery
:37:00. > :37:03.of the electron. It was difficult to understand what was happening and
:37:04. > :37:06.these the models that allowed scientists to tease out the
:37:07. > :37:10.processes. We believe there is a good chance that we will see an
:37:11. > :37:16.aurora across the lot of the UK and Ireland tonight that will come down
:37:17. > :37:21.that far south. To give you an idea of whether it is possible, here is
:37:22. > :37:25.the weather. Very exciting news that that we have had more solar activity
:37:26. > :37:32.that will give us an enhanced chance of seeing the aurora borealis.
:37:33. > :37:37.Because it was more potent than last night, there is a chance in the UK.
:37:38. > :37:45.But we need the weather to play ball. Tonight more unwelcome rain
:37:46. > :37:50.for many. But for your star gaysters -- star-gazers, as the rain clears
:37:51. > :37:55.in the south we could have some clear skies. But watch out for fog
:37:56. > :37:59.in the north. Tomorrow, there is a better chance of seeing the aurora
:38:00. > :38:04.borealis. The weather will play ball and the skies will clear as we have
:38:05. > :38:08.high pressure. The only down side is it will be colder if you're heading
:38:09. > :38:12.out. But the cloud will melt away and there is a good chance in many
:38:13. > :38:16.parts. A better chance the further north you are of seeing the aurora
:38:17. > :38:24.borealis. But for other star gazing,ivity is a good night -- it
:38:25. > :38:28.is a good night. In 1961, president Kennedy pledged to land men on the
:38:29. > :38:34.moon by the end of the decade. This rocket took off seven years later.
:38:35. > :38:42.The first Apollo craft to carry a crew into space. Here they are.
:38:43. > :38:46.Possible and one of them here. It is colonel Walter Cunningham. Thank you
:38:47. > :38:50.for joining us. My pleasure. What inspired you to become an astronaut?
:38:51. > :38:55.You must have made a decision before the space race began? I don't know
:38:56. > :38:59.about the astronaut part, when I grew up, the only thing I can
:39:00. > :39:04.remember wanting to be when I was a kid was a fighter pilot. Out of
:39:05. > :39:11.school I became a Marine Corps fighter pilot and going back college
:39:12. > :39:16.and I was in cleng and -- college and they had the Mercury astronauts
:39:17. > :39:22.and I remember following them and envying them. But I will never
:39:23. > :39:27.forget May 5th 1961. It was early in the morning, I was driving to work
:39:28. > :39:33.and working while I was at college. I had to stop. It was before 7, to
:39:34. > :39:37.get to work early. Before 7 in California. Before 10 out in
:39:38. > :39:44.Florida. I was listening to the count down for the first Mercury
:39:45. > :39:50.flight, Alan Shepherd. It got down to the last couple of minutes and I
:39:51. > :39:55.pulled over to the side of the road and listened. When I got down, I
:39:56. > :40:03.remember five, four, three, two, one... Lift off! And I I heard a
:40:04. > :40:12.voice screaming around me and said you lucky son of a bitch! And I
:40:13. > :40:17.looked around, because I realised it was me screaming! At the time I was
:40:18. > :40:23.terribly impressed. Later I realised that was when I decided, boy, this
:40:24. > :40:41.is the way I'm going to do it - higher, fart, faster. -- high er
:40:42. > :40:49.fart, er further, faster. We had lost one crew and we were busy
:40:50. > :40:54.trying to test the space craft. . Everything we had been working with,
:40:55. > :41:01.we had to test all the systems. Some of most important ones is to have.
:41:02. > :41:05.This is your launch? Yes. We were enjoying it. We were enjoying the
:41:06. > :41:10.ride. What does it feel like being sat there at this point? The first
:41:11. > :41:16.test flight of this vehicle. Yes, it was. It was, the vibration was
:41:17. > :41:19.something you felt. But you we couldn't hear anything. We were
:41:20. > :41:24.faster than the speed of sound quickly and well ahead of it and the
:41:25. > :41:30.Gs, were more than they are today. A lot of things have changed from the
:41:31. > :41:34.programme then. Our job was to test everything in the craft, because if
:41:35. > :41:41.we had a good flight, then we were going to let Apollo 8 go around the
:41:42. > :41:47.moon. If we had had a problem, Apollo 8 would not have gone. How
:41:48. > :41:52.long were you in orbit. 11 days. How did it perform, the first flight of
:41:53. > :41:58.a new vehicle? Following the first attempt, that was Apollo 1, the
:41:59. > :42:02.vehicle was not all that good. We knew it but thought we could
:42:03. > :42:07.compensate for it with our skills. When they fixed everything that
:42:08. > :42:13.could have caused the fire and things we wanted installed. When we
:42:14. > :42:18.flew it, it was amazing. It was the longest, most ambitious, most
:42:19. > :42:23.successful test flight of any machine, it was almost perfect. When
:42:24. > :42:30.you look at the timeline, it is astonishing from a modern
:42:31. > :42:37.perspective, you flew October 1968, a month and a half later Apollo 8
:42:38. > :42:40.and then you go and land on the moon in 69. What was it like being
:42:41. > :42:46.involved in such a programme? This national goal, we are going to go
:42:47. > :42:51.there by 1970? We had a mission scheduled every two months. If
:42:52. > :42:58.everything wept perfect -- went perfect that is the way it went. We
:42:59. > :43:03.didn't expect it to be perfect. Everyone was committed. It wasn't
:43:04. > :43:08.just the crew. We got the attention, but it was the really the commitment
:43:09. > :43:12.from the engineering, from the Mission Control people and
:43:13. > :43:17.management's decisions. We had an attitude that said the job has got
:43:18. > :43:21.to be done. Everybody followed through. What kind of people are
:43:22. > :43:33.you? If you look at the Apollo programme and Apollo 13, Apollo 11
:43:34. > :43:39.lands on the moon. Apollo 13 had problems. What does it take to be an
:43:40. > :43:45.astronaut? Well, it is interesting, because it is the public what has
:43:46. > :43:50.changed the most. The guys were all committed by Apollo 13, they were
:43:51. > :43:56.not even covering the flight live. And I was at home at the time and I
:43:57. > :44:00.can remember when they announced that Apollo 13 had a problem. I
:44:01. > :44:04.lived across the street from the Mission Control. I remember going
:44:05. > :44:08.over there, listening and I was in Mission Control and I was right
:44:09. > :44:19.behind and I was listening to what was going on. And Jack McConnell
:44:20. > :44:26.Swaggart, who had been on our crew, we had developed the malfunction
:44:27. > :44:36.procedures. I listened and I could tell listening to it, , Jack had
:44:37. > :44:42.done everything you could. I went to bed. I knew they had done everything
:44:43. > :44:47.they could do. We have a lot of questions coming in. Andy asks what
:44:48. > :44:57.stresses did you feel on your body on take off. We got to over 5Gs, but
:44:58. > :45:03.it is the first two minutes where you have the minute stage and you
:45:04. > :45:09.get up to two and a half minutes and you're separated, then it is an easy
:45:10. > :45:14.ride up there. And what did you experience emotionally in space?
:45:15. > :45:20.Well, mostly it was just pleased and satisfaction that we are here now.
:45:21. > :45:24.And we were still committed and determined that if this mission
:45:25. > :45:37.fails, it is not going to fail because of me. We all that had same
:45:38. > :45:41.attitude. The moon has its own difficulties looking through a
:45:42. > :45:46.telescope. Here is a quick guide. We have still got rain here, but
:45:47. > :45:50.look at this glorious view of the moon yesterday from Norfolk.
:45:51. > :45:54.You can see some of the lunar detailed beautifully. It is a really
:45:55. > :45:57.helpful subject if you are starting out because even with a normal
:45:58. > :46:05.telescope you get a great view like this one we got yesterday. We see it
:46:06. > :46:09.because it reflects sunlight, it is by -- sometimes too bright to seek
:46:10. > :46:15.custody but in order to pick up small details you might need one of
:46:16. > :46:21.these, and moon filter, and it cuts down the brightness of the moon so
:46:22. > :46:28.you can see it in more comfort. Last month the Chinese Monday, January
:46:29. > :46:34.three -- the Chinese lander, Chang E three became the first lander to
:46:35. > :46:39.reach the moon in years. You can see it there. There is also a wonderful
:46:40. > :46:44.image of the Jade Rabbit which is the Rover trundling around the
:46:45. > :46:56.surface, you can see the solar panels. Back to the studio.
:46:57. > :46:59.Walt will be with us for Back to Earth after the show. Let's go back
:47:00. > :47:11.to Liz. Thank you. Can I just say, every
:47:12. > :47:15.time we are off air the pilots are doing so well to get us back into
:47:16. > :47:21.the trajectory that can give you the images. Look at that green glow, it
:47:22. > :47:27.is such a treat to be up here are above the cloud cover. Pete and I
:47:28. > :47:34.were discussing how it is ethical to predict aurorae -- difficult. We
:47:35. > :47:41.have got a few tools at our disposal to catch these when they appear. For
:47:42. > :47:46.example, is it possible to know, geographically, where is it going to
:47:47. > :47:51.appear next? Yes, it is, there is a value, the KP index which goes from
:47:52. > :47:55.zero up till nine and gives you an idea how far south the auroral oval
:47:56. > :47:59.will stretch stop for Tromso, this one here, it is probably about KP
:48:00. > :48:09.one. Right over the top of us. You work
:48:10. > :48:14.saying that from the plane. If the numbers go up, eight, nine, because
:48:15. > :48:18.it runs up until nine, that would be an aurora that may be visible from
:48:19. > :48:25.the south of England. And they are rarer. The sun has been really
:48:26. > :48:33.active, I know my KP is perfect for where I am standing, is that it is,
:48:34. > :48:38.I guaranteed an aurora? There are other things that come into play,
:48:39. > :48:44.the magnetic polarity coming from the sun. The earth has magnetic
:48:45. > :48:48.polarity, is the stuff coming from the sun is the Northpoint infield it
:48:49. > :48:56.doesn't connect and not much goes on. But if it has a south pointing
:48:57. > :49:02.field it connects with the Earth and the magic occurs. We have been
:49:03. > :49:08.treated to this beautiful light show, I don't want the plane to
:49:09. > :49:14.land. Hopefully we can feel our boots with this wonderful site. As
:49:15. > :49:20.they have been mentioning any wrong, something very exciting has been
:49:21. > :49:24.happening with our son, an event that has created this coronal mass
:49:25. > :49:27.ejection, potentially tomorrow. What does it mean for us, how can it
:49:28. > :49:34.change our view from this plane tomorrow when we fly? It can
:49:35. > :49:43.completely change it, it is heading to us as a speed
:49:44. > :49:55.which could trigger a really good aurora. It could go the other way,
:49:56. > :49:59.no guarantees. It is still not an exact science, the colours may
:50:00. > :50:04.change from green to red to purple, we will not know until very close to
:50:05. > :50:11.when we take off, but if the stars are aligned, if all of those factors
:50:12. > :50:14.are right we may give you the best light show on earth. We will leave
:50:15. > :50:20.you with these images and we will say good night.
:50:21. > :50:30.You can see dynamically the system changing, different structures
:50:31. > :50:35.appearing. They will get some great pictures as the flight develops.
:50:36. > :50:42.Don't forget, we need your help again this year in our search for
:50:43. > :50:48.distant, hidden galaxies. We have already had 4 million hits. Make
:50:49. > :50:56.sure you visit our website and follow the link. Tomorrow night we
:50:57. > :50:59.will bring you the results. The telescope has turned, it is away
:51:00. > :51:04.from the control room. It has gone to look at the very interesting
:51:05. > :51:10.candidate that somebody out there pointed out and discovered, it do so
:51:11. > :51:15.more physics, to try to characterise it. We are getting real science out
:51:16. > :51:20.of this. The website has changed to get some of the prime candidates, to
:51:21. > :51:26.get a second look. We are asking you to discover distant galaxies but is
:51:27. > :51:30.there any realistic chance we could one day journey to the stars? To
:51:31. > :51:35.reach the speeds needed for interstellar travel we need a
:51:36. > :51:43.starship within engine fit for the job. An almighty rocket engine.
:51:44. > :51:51.Everything you need to know about rockets is contained in one very
:51:52. > :51:57.simple equation. It is known as the rocket equation. It says that the
:51:58. > :52:04.velocity, the speed you want to get it flying, depends on only two
:52:05. > :52:10.things, one is something called the mass ratio, and then the risk this
:52:11. > :52:14.term. The exhaust velocity. The speed you throw the stuff out of the
:52:15. > :52:23.back. That depends, essentially, on one thing, the kind of fuel you use.
:52:24. > :52:32.Today's most advanced rocket powered chemical fuels. The stuff that got
:52:33. > :52:39.us to the moon. This one is being tested for a future mission to Mars.
:52:40. > :52:46.It's exhaust can reach 4.5 thousand mph. That could never get us to the
:52:47. > :52:59.stars. Scientists have long searched for an alternative. In 1945 the
:53:00. > :53:04.power within the atom was unleashed. And soon afterwards a group of
:53:05. > :53:11.scientists joined forces in complete secrecy to work on project Orion, a
:53:12. > :53:12.mission to see if atomic bombs could be used to propel rockets into
:53:13. > :53:23.space. These are some of the unclassified
:53:24. > :53:28.designs from the project, and you see they are really ambitious. The
:53:29. > :53:33.famous physicist Freeman Dyson worked on this project for a while
:53:34. > :53:42.and he published some estimates as to what it would take to launch a
:53:43. > :53:46.100,000 on spacecraft -- torn to 3% the speed of light, the kind speed
:53:47. > :53:53.you would need to send a spacecraft out to the nearby stars. Despite
:53:54. > :53:58.some impressive test launches this starship would need 300,000 atomic
:53:59. > :54:05.bombs to reach that speed. This was never going to be a solution. But
:54:06. > :54:11.there is another substance that has the potential to be an even more
:54:12. > :54:17.powerful rocket fuel. Everything we can see in the universe, every star,
:54:18. > :54:24.every planet, every galaxy you me, this rock, is made of matter, a
:54:25. > :54:29.collection of subatomic particles. We now know all those particles have
:54:30. > :54:38.partners, the same mass, opposite electric charge which are called
:54:39. > :54:41.antiparticles or antimatter. Antimatter has a property that if
:54:42. > :54:48.you bring it into contact with matter they can annihilate into pure
:54:49. > :54:55.energy, although mass is carried away ultimately by a stream of
:54:56. > :55:03.Britain's carrying at the speed of light -- photons. Antimatter
:55:04. > :55:09.provides the ideal rocket fuel. The hard bit is building a fuel tank
:55:10. > :55:16.that can store it. But at one of the largest antimatter factories in the
:55:17. > :55:19.world they are doing just that. Matter and antimatter can exist
:55:20. > :55:25.together, they annihilate. The trick is to keep the antimatter away from
:55:26. > :55:31.the matter. After making antimatter in particle accelerators tanks have
:55:32. > :55:38.been made that can hold the antimatter without it annihilating.
:55:39. > :55:42.We have a vacuum, the gas removed, we make a electromagnetic bottles,
:55:43. > :55:48.forcefield that hold the antimatter away from the matter. In 2010 they
:55:49. > :55:57.succeeded in bottling atoms of antimatter in this type for the
:55:58. > :56:01.first time. -- tank. The concept of antimatter as a rocket fuel is
:56:02. > :56:08.spot-on. It has the highest energy to mass ratio of anything you could
:56:09. > :56:12.imagine. So far they have only managed to hold it for 16 minutes
:56:13. > :56:17.but it means the idea of an antimatter starship is one step
:56:18. > :56:27.closer to reality. Perhaps one day we could be using it to power our
:56:28. > :56:32.way to the stars. Commander Chris Hadfield is with us again. There is
:56:33. > :56:36.a future there, a disappointing view of the future we haven't built
:56:37. > :56:41.starships yet, but we have built the International space Station which
:56:42. > :56:45.you commanded. Are you content, happy, disappointed with where we
:56:46. > :56:51.are in terms of manned or human space exploration? As we have
:56:52. > :56:57.explored the surface of the world it is at that pace, we make some
:56:58. > :57:03.inventions, get as far as we can, test the new area. It is testing
:57:04. > :57:07.what you make the whole alt of and what you make the systems, we have
:57:08. > :57:13.had troubles with the cooling system, it is like sailing ship our
:57:14. > :57:17.brand down within sight of land before you head across the ocean. A
:57:18. > :57:21.lot of it cannot be tested at the surface. It is not a race, we are
:57:22. > :57:27.not in a gigantic curry and we want to make sure we make the inventions
:57:28. > :57:33.as time goes on -- we are not in a gigantic hurry. We will
:57:34. > :57:41.incrementally continue to move as far as the technology can take this.
:57:42. > :57:44.Would it help if we were in a race? As soon as you cross the finish line
:57:45. > :57:49.it is over. The stage we are at right now is incremental expansion.
:57:50. > :57:54.We have taken that first permanent step away from the Earth, the space
:57:55. > :57:59.station is our first permanent international outpost away from the
:58:00. > :58:08.world and we need to learn from that. It is a big structure, not to
:58:09. > :58:14.minimise that achievement. You said it is bigger than I thought it was.
:58:15. > :58:19.You can work all day and not see other crew members. An amazing
:58:20. > :58:23.viewport for the world, a place to look at the universe and with the
:58:24. > :58:28.Alpha magnetic spectrometer to collect the subatomic particles of
:58:29. > :58:33.the universe, a huge test-bed allowing us to go further. I am so
:58:34. > :58:39.glad you got some particle physics in there. Chris and Walt will be
:58:40. > :58:44.joining us in a couple of minutes. Tomorrow night we have got news of
:58:45. > :58:53.brand-new mission to map the Milky Way. If there is anything you want
:58:54. > :58:57.to ask about the Milky Way or galactic travel send in your
:58:58. > :59:01.questions now. Walt and Chris will be answering more questions right
:59:02. > :59:06.after the show when we are Back to Earth on BBC Two.