16 Sunsets

In this special bonus episode of 16 Sunsets, host Kevin Fong talks to composers Christian Lundberg and Russell Emmanuel, of Hans Zimmer's renowned Bleeding Fingers Composers Collective about the creation and evolution of the compelling suite of themes that underscore the 16 Sunsets series. They discuss how they approached the challenge of capturing the essence of the Space Shuttle program through music, and how they developed themes that evolved alongside the narrative. The composers also reveal the lengths they went to in order to incorporate authentic sounds of the Shuttle into their compositions, to help convey not only the awe and wonder of the space shuttle program but to create a more immersive and evocative experience for the podcast audience.Credits:Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProduced by Jago LeeSound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveExecutive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Jago Lee and Rami Tzabar16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsX: @16sunsets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 12th 1981.  Bob Crippen and John Young are in orbit around the Earth.  Travelling at 17,500 miles an hour, with the world turning majestically beneath them, they witness 16 sunrises and sixteen sunsets every 24 hours.    They have survived the violence of launch but the mission has run into a potential life-threatening problem. Crippen has just beamed footage down to mission control of missing tiles on the Shuttle’s OMS pods. If tiles are missing there, what about the underside of the orbiter, where the heat of reentry could cause catastrophic damage? Whilst Gene Kranz tries to re-assure the world’s press that everything is under control, elsewhere in NASA, a covert operation is underway to discover whether or not Clumbia’s maiden voyage into space could be its last.       Ever wondered how the Space Shuttle came to be? Welcome to a new podcast series, 16 Sunsets. In this episode, Host Dr Kevin Fong reveals the inside story of the plan to save the first Shuttle mission from disaster. Featuring: Tom Moser, Chuck Lewis, Dottie Lee, Marianne Dyson, Gene Kranz,  Bob Crippen, Robert Kelso, Bob Stewart, Don Pettit, Gerry Griffin, Charlie Bolden, Bonnie Dunbar, Neil Hutchinson, Tonya Witt, Ken Young.Credits:Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProducers:  Rami Tzabar,  Andrew Luck-Baker and Dave Giles.Assistant Producer: Kate Arkless GraySound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveWith special thanks to Sandra Johnson at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre Oral History ProjectThanks also to William Reeves and Herb Baker; Stephen Slater for additional archive and to Lunar Module 5.Executive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Jago Lee and Rami Tzabar16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsBluesky: @16sunsets.bsky.socialX: @16sunsetsWant more 16 Sunsets? Become a premium member of our community and unlock exclusive content, including early and ad-free episodes, by subscribing to 16 Sunsets on Supercast. Learn more at https://16sunsets.supercast.comHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we get nearer to STS-1 and that first all-up test of Space Shuttle Columbia, we wanted to take a look at one of the technical challenges that caused that first launch to slip back from 1979 to 1981: the thermal protection system that kept the extreme temperatures of launch, life in orbit, and re-entry from damaging the spacecraft and putting the crew at risk.So today, we’re sharing an interview that Kevin Fong and Andrew Luck Baker did with a former Orbiter Mechanic at Kennedy Space Center, Terry White. Terry worked on the shuttle from its arrival at the space center in 1979 until its retirement in 2011. In this fascinating interview we’ll hear what it was like to prepare a space shuttle for flight, and the enormous challenges that the team had to overcome to get it ready for the STS-1, the shuttle fleet’s first mission.Credits:Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProducers: Andrew Luck-Baker and Rami Tzabar with additional production by Dave Giles.Assistant Producer: Kate Arkless GraySound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveWith special thanks to Sandra Johnson and Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre Oral History Project Executive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Jago Lee and Rami Tzabar16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsX: @16sunsetsWant more 16 Sunsets? Become a premium member of our community and unlock exclusive content, including early and ad-free episodes, by subscribing to 16 Sunsets on Supercast. Learn more at https://16sunsets.supercast.comHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting the 100 tonne space shuttle orbiter from the pad to orbit demanded a launch system like no other before it.  A huge external fuel tank containing hundreds of tonnes of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fed the orbiter’s three powerful main engines.  But that wasn’t enough to lift the fully fuelled shuttle off the launch pad.  Two towering booster rockets, bolted to the fuel tank, were needed for most of the necessary thrust.  Compared to the Apollo Saturn vehicles, this was a novel and complex configuration of rocketry.  Designing and building the shuttle launch system required multiple engineering frontiers to be advanced, and some challenging and controversial decisions to be made.  Ever wondered how the Space Shuttle came to be? Welcome to a new podcast series, 16 Sunsets. In this episode, Host Kevin Fong explores the awesome and explosive anatomy of the space shuttle launch system - and its vulnerabilities - with former NASA engineers who built its component parts.  The podcast takes you through the violent journey from final countdown to orbit in the company of shuttle engineers and some of the astronauts who rode on their handiwork.  Featuring: Mark Mullane, Lowell Zoller, Craig Sumner, Mark Craig, Jeffrey Hoffman, Gerald Smith, Warren Wiley, Matthew Hersch, Jennifer Lavasseur, Robert Stewart, Robert Crippen, Ivy Hooks, Barney Roberts and David Mindell.Credits:Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProducers: Andrew Luck-Baker and Rami Tzabar with additional production by Dave Giles.Assistant Producer: Kate Arkless GraySound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveWith special thanks to Sandra Johnson and Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre Oral History Project Executive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Jago Lee and Rami Tzabar16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024.Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsX: @16sunsetsWant more 16 Sunsets? Become a premium member of our community and unlock exclusive content, including early and ad-free episodes, by subscribing to 16 Sunsets on Supercast. Learn more at https://16sunsets.supercast.comHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this holiday special episode, we’re bringing you something different - a conversation that captures a remarkable moment in space history, told by the incomparable Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr. Charlie, as he's known to his friends, carved a path from the Marine Corps to the stars, becoming not just a fighter pilot and astronaut, but one of the most influential figures in NASA's history. He commanded two Space Shuttle missions and later served as NASA Administrator under President Obama - the first African American to hold that position.We begin with a pivotal moment - the launch of STS-60 - when Bolden, a Cold War warrior,  is thrust onto the frontline of international diplomacy, as part of a bid to bring the United States and the former Soviet Union closer together through space exploration - bugged hotel rooms notwithstanding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 August 1977. In the air, high above the Mojave desert, Apollo 13’s Fred Haise is at the controls of the Space Shuttle prototype. Alongside him is Gordon Fullerton. Cruising at 27 thousand feet, the vehicle is bolted to the back of a Boeing 747. It is the mother of all piggy-back rides. But this 68-tonne spacecraft is about to get its wings, as the moment approaches for the first free flight of the USS Enterprise. Haise pushes the button to blow the bolts - for a moment the shuttle lifts free, as the 747 dives away. But then - the master alarm is sounded: the computer controlling the orbiter’s flight systems has just died. Haise and Fullerton urgently work the problem. They only have one chance at a safe landing and that is coming up fast!  Ever wondered how the Space Shuttle came to be? Welcome to a new podcast series, 16 Sunsets. Host Kevin Fong takes you back to a pivotal moment in history, revealing the high-stakes drama behind this iconic orbiter, as told by those who were there. In this episode we follow the dramatic inaugural flight of the Shuttle and meet the 91-year old ex-Naval veteran who led the charge to name it, The Enterprise!Featuring: John Aaron, Bob Crippen, Bonnie Dunbar, Joe Engle, Gordon Fullerton, Gerry Griffin, Fred Haise, Jennifer Lavasseur, Tom Moser & BJo Trimble. Credits:Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProducers: Rami Tzabar and Andrew Luck-Baker with additional production by Dave Giles and Clare Wiley.Assistant Producer: Kate Arkless GraySound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveWith special thanks to Sandra Johnson and Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre Oral History Project Executive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Jago Lee and  Rami Tzabar16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsX: @16sunsetsWant more 16 Sunsets? Become a premium member of our community and unlock exclusive content, including early and ad-free episodes, by subscribing to 16 Sunsets on Supercast. Learn more at https://16sunsets.supercast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 It’s 1968 and humanity reaches the Moon, but back on Earth, NASA is fighting for its life. As Apollo 8 makes history, the space agency faces a crisis. With the Vietnam War raging, political assassinations and social unrest gripping America, public interest in space exploration is dwindling, even before Neil Armstrong takes that one giant leap for mankind. To survive, NASA gambles on a radical new program: the Space Shuttle - a reusable spacecraft promising a new era of spaceflight, but it comes at a cost – a Faustian bargain with the US military, that will reshape its dreams and NASA's destiny.Ever wondered how the Space Shuttle came to be? Welcome to a new podcast series, 16 Sunsets. Host Kevin Fong takes you back to a pivotal moment in history, revealing the high-stakes drama behind the iconic program, as told by those who were there. Discover how NASA, facing oblivion, forged an unlikely alliance and changed the course of space exploration forever.Featuring: John Aaron, Guy Faget, Max Faget, Gerry Griffin, Matthew Hersch, Jeff Hoffman, Chris Kraft, Jennifer Lavasseur, David Mindell, Tom Moser, Teasel Muir-Harmony. Credits: Written and presented by Dr Kevin FongProducers: Rami Tzabar and Andrew Luck-Baker with additional production by Dave GilesSound Design and Mixing: Richard CourticeMusic: Christian Lundberg, part of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Composer CollectiveAdditional Research by Kate Arkless-GrayWith special thanks to Sandra Johnson and Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre Oral History Project Executive Producers: Stuart Coxe, Kevin Fong, Rami Tzabar and Jago Lee16 Sunsets is an Antica and TellTale Production 2024Links:Check out our website at https://sixteensunsets.com Instagram: @sixteen_sunsetsX: @16sunsetsWant more 16 Sunsets? Become a premium member of our community and unlock exclusive content, including early and ad-free episodes, by subscribing to 16 Sunsets on Supercast. Learn more at https://16sunsets.supercast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready for "16 Sunsets," a thrilling 10-part podcast series that dives deep into the dramatic history of NASA's Space Shuttle program. Join award-winning storyteller Kevin Fong as he takes you on a journey from the audacious first flight of the Shuttle Columbia in 1981 to the incredible challenges faced by its engineers and astronauts. Featuring captivating music by Christian Lundberg from Hans Zimmer's Bleeding Fingers Composers' Collective, this series brings to life the inspiring tales of those who built and flew the Shuttle, exploring the political and cultural forces that shaped its inception. With over 40 exclusive interviews from NASA veterans and Fong’s personal insights as a witness to the Shuttle era, "16 Sunsets" reveals the human stories behind the missions and celebrates the spirit of innovation that defined a groundbreaking chapter in space exploration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.