Outlook Mixtape: The view from space

As the Artemis 2 Moon mission nears its finale, Mobeen Azhar looks at some lesser-known aspects of life in space.

But first, preparations for departure. The original Apollo teams spent time in Iceland before their trips to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. The current Artemis crew did the same because Iceland landscape is somewhat similar to the Moon. In 2017 Saskia Edwards travelled to Husavik to meet Orlygur Orlygsson, an Icelander who made it his mission to document this essential part of the crews' preparations.

Like everyone else, the astronauts who spend months on the International Space Station need some down time. And as it turns out, among all that new technology surrounding them, some people crave the familiar. Flight engineer and mission specialist Karen Nyberg had always been an avid quilter so, as she told Jo Fidgen in 2022, it seemed natural for her to pursue her hobby in space.

Before training as an astronaut, Stuart Roosa worked as a specialist firefighter for the US Forest Service. When he became the Command Module pilot of Apollo 14, he took a number of tree seeds with him into the Moon's orbit. He wanted to see how they might be affected by space. After their return to Earth, the seeds were successfully germinated and planted all across the US and elsewhere as mementoes of space travel. Stuart's son Christopher picked up the story of the Moon Trees when he spoke to Richard Black in 2005.

Spacecraft are fiendishly complex pieces of technology, costing many millions. But what if there was another, simpler way to experience the fringes of space? Computer scientist and skydiving enthusiast Alan Eustace used a helium-filled balloon to carry him to 41 kilometres above the surface of the Earth. Then he let go of the balloon and sky-dived back down. Alan spoke to Jo Fidgen a few months after his breath-taking jump from stratosphere in 2014. At the time of making this Mixtape, Alan is still the world record-holder for the highest-altitude free-fall jump.

The number of people working on a space mission operated by NASA or their Russian or Chinese counterparts, is vast. But still, despite all that combined brain power, things don't always go to plan. Afghan cosmonaut Abdul Ahad Mohmand had first-hand experience of this in 1988 when the return space vehicle he occupied with fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Lyakhov developed serious technical issues.

Astronauts at the International Space Station are about 10 times further from the Earth than Alan and usually complete a full orbit of the Earth in around every 90 minutes. Astronaut Edward Lu describes what our planet looks like from up there.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar

Compliation Producer: Radek Boschetty

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape on a white background with a white label with the words: The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)