<p>Without the astronaut who didn’t step on the moon, Apollo 11 wouldn’t have succeeded. As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic landing, Michael Collins was in lunar orbit, playing a crucial role on the mothership. This is his story, with Kevin Fong.
Starring:
Michael Collins
Theme music by Hans Zimmer for Bleeding Fingers Music
#13MinutestotheMoon 
www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes</p>

13 Minutes to the Moon: 8. ‘We’re go for powered descent’

Artemis and the return to the Moon. The BBC’s space podcast is following Artemis II, with an episode every day during the mission. Nasa is returning to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century. The Artemis II mission is sending astronauts – on a spacecraft called Orion - to loop around the Moon and to go further from Earth than any human in history. The story of Artemis II is being told by space scientist, Maggie Aderin, and British astronaut, Tim Peake. They are joined by expert contributors, US space journalist Kristin Fisher and the BBC News Science Editor, Rebecca Morelle.
 
Orion’s crew is Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. The last crewed mission to The Moon was Apollo 17 in 1972.13 Minutes is the BBC’s space podcast, telling epic space stories. It’s produced by the BBC Audio Science Unit for the BBC World Service.
 
Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.Previous seasons:Season 1: 13 Minutes to the Moon.
The first Moon landing. In the final dramatic 13-minute descent to the Moon, the Apollo 11 mission came close to going badly wrong. Communication was breaking down, technology was failing and fuel was running out. This is the story of how the first Moon landing was saved. Presented by Kevin Fong.Season 2: Apollo 13.
Apollo 13 should have been the third Moon landing, but after an explosion, it almost ended in tragedy. Told by the people who flew it and saved it. Presented and co-written by Kevin Fong.Season 3: The Space Shuttle. 
A sci-fi dream that changed spaceflight forever. From the boldest test flight in history to one of Nasa’s darkest days – the Challenger disaster. Space scientist Maggie Aderin tells the awe-inspiring story of the programme that brought triumph and tragedy. Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects.