The unsung heroes who saved the day. "Here’s some 26-year-old kid, who could stop the lunar mission." An alarm appears on the on-board computer, but what does it mean? With Kevin Fong. Starring: Steve Bales Charlie Duke John Aaron Glynn Lunney Gerry Griffin Jerry Bostick Gene Kranz courtesy of the Johnson Space Center History Office Theme music by Hans Zimmer for Bleeding Fingers Music #13MinutestotheMoon www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes
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My name's Alison Hindl and I commission audio drama and fiction for the BBC.
It's a great privilege because I get to unearth stories people love.
You should see the books and scripts covering my floor from new talent and established writers as well as classics.
The BBC has such a rich history of making great audio drama.
We're still the largest producer in the world, and the popularity of podcasts means we can share what we do with even more people.
So if you like to lose yourself in a gripping audio drama or book, find your next listen on BBC Sounds.
I'm going to play you a recording of a moment of great drama during the final stage of the first mission to land humans on the moon.
Apollo eleven astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are squeezed into the cabin of their spacecraft, eagle, and dropping at a rate of 120ft/second it's a little short of halfway into their final 13 minutes of descent to the lunar surface.
You can hear them and people in mission control sitting in a room a quarter of a million miles away who are tracking Eagle's descent and communicating with the crew.
Bye.
Radio Lh is minus 2900.
There are lots of different voices and NASA jargon in this, but listen out for the words 1202 and program alarm.
Alarm looks good.
It's looking good.
Is he accepting its guidance?
1202 o two.
Both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin call out 1202, which has flashed up as a row of numbers on the limited display of Eagle's onboard computer.
They're not sure what it means, but they know it spells trouble, possibly serious enough to force them to call off their historic mission and abort the landing.
Armstrong radios again to mission control, asking for help, this time with uncharacteristic urgency.