Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science

So who were the three fathers of modern rocket science?

* 19th Century self-taught Russian visionary Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky and his dreams of orbiting space stations and Martian colonies;

* American Robert H Goddard, derided in The New York Times in the 1920s for his prediction of a lunar landing (A retraction was printed after the Apollo 11 launch);

* Transylvanian-German Hermann Oberth with his brilliant theories about space travel and his horrifying theories about racial supremacy.

Plus Helen reveals the surprising connection between space travel and a coach tour of the Jewels of the Rhineland.

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.

The remarkable true history of rockets and the men, women and animals behind them.

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* How Wernher Von Braun went from SS officer to American space supremo to Disney children's presenter

* America's home-grown rocket genius Jack Parsons and his unhealthy interest in Satanism

* The surprising story of Fix the French Space Cat

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.

The unusual career trajectory of Wernher von Braun - from Nazi to Disney.

A comic but scientifically-accurate look at the science and history of space exploratio

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* The breathtaking drama of the space race and its evil twin the Cold War

* The brilliant but secret life and tragically banal death of the Soviet Union's best rocket scienctist

* The surprising tale of the last man on the moon (so far) and the songs he sang.

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.

The Cold War, the space race and the last man on the moon.

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* Will humanity will ever make it to the stars?

* Time travel, parallel universes and faster than light travel.

* Have aliens ever made it here? If so, were they tempted to use their vastly superior intelligence to really clean up in pub quizzes?

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.

Can we make it to the stars? Quirky true history with Helen Keen and Peter Serafinowicz.

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If the universe is really infinite, it should contain infinite life, and yet we have had no contact from alien civilisations.

There are different ideas looked at through history of what life might be like on other planets, and some of the more surprising suggestions scientists have had on how to get in touch with it, from giant burning parallelograms in the Sahara to sending nude pictures into space.

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Starring:

Producer: Garth Edwards.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.

Are there civilisations on other planets, and, if so, why do they never call?

If civilisations exist on other planets - why do they never call? Quirky true history with Helen Keen. From May 2012.

The role that leaps of the imagination have played in the science of rocketry, including the strange story of Russian Cosmism, and how their mission to bring back to life everyone who has ever lived produced pioneering work on multi-stage rockets

Plus the even stranger story of a plan in the 1950s for a giant spaceship capable of carrying a hundred and fifty people that could have been built using existing technology - Project Orion. There was just one snag - it was to be fuelled by nuclear bombs.

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.

Funny, factually-accurate look at space travel and explosive nuclear propulsion.

The 1950s plan to build a nuclear-powered spaceship, Project Orion. Quirky true history with Peter Serafinowicz. From May 2012.

This week, given that on a rocket every ounce of saved weight is crucial, an astronaut who weighs 15% less and breathes less oxygen should have a tremendous advantage. So where were all of NASA's female astronauts? The story of Soviet pioneer Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, who at one time logged more hours in orbit than all the male American astronauts put together makes a thought-provoking contrast to the marginalised female astronauts of the USA, the so called Mercury 13, none of whom ever got to go into space.

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill

Produced by Gareth Edwards.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.

The women US astronauts of Mercury 13, who never got into space.

The women astronauts-who-never-were of the Mercury 13. Quirky true history with Helen Keen and Peter Serafnowicz. From May 2012.

This week looks at what we could do if a giant asteroid was heading straight for us and looks at where else we might be able to go in the solar system if Earth was destroyed, and how we might get there. And we ask the most searching of all questions, why didn't the dinosaurs avoid extinction by developing a space programme of their own? And if they had, how could a T Rex have flown a spaceship with those tiny arms?

With Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz, Susy Kane.

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Produced by Gareth Edwards.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2012.

What could we do if a giant asteroid were heading straight for us?

What if there is a giant asteroid strike? Quirky true history with Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane. From June 2012.

A look at how we might one day travel to Mars and beyond - discussing the problems of long space voyages.

With tips on a rather unsavoury way to stop cosmic rays and what to do if you feel like eating your crewmates?

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

The problem with long space voyages complete with troubleshooting tips.

A comic but scientifically-accurate look at the science and history of space exploratio

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What is humanity's enduring obsession with UFOs?

How long have we been seeing them?

What might they really be?

And what questions might their possible occupants be asking about us?

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

A funny but factually accurate look at humanity's enduring obsession with UFOs.

A comic but scientifically-accurate look at the science and history of space exploratio

Discover who were the men and (mainly) women who advanced our understanding of the stars but never quite received the fame they deserved.

People such as 18th Century disabled genius Caroline Herschel who polished lenses with dung and discovered new stars.

Plus human computer Henrietta Swann Leavitt who taught Hubble a method for working out the distances between the stars and narrowly missed out on a Nobel prize when it turned out she had died some years earlier.

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

A funny but factually accurate look at the unacknowledged geniuses of the science world.

A comic but scientifically-accurate look at the science and history of space exploratio

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A look at Astronomical Errors - how mistakes have shaped the history of rocket science, including how the universe is made out of ice, or possibly isn't.

And when you should keep quiet about the shape of the solar system.

Plus some of the more surprising activities of unpredictable genius, Isaac Newton.

Starring:

Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

Astronomical errors - how mistakes have shaped the history of rocket science.