0:01

BBC Sounds, music, radio,

0:03

podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren

0:05

Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs

0:08

podcast. Every week I ask my guests to

0:10

choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd

0:12

want to take with them if they were

0:14

cast away to a desert island. And

0:17

for rights reasons, the music is shorter

0:19

than the original broadcast. I hope you

0:21

enjoy listening. My

0:45

castaway this week is the physicist Dr

0:47

Nicola Fox, the head of science at

0:49

NASA. She's leading the space

0:51

agency in a new, ambitious era of

0:54

exploration and describes her job as the

0:56

best in the world and beyond it.

0:59

At present she's overseeing around 100

1:01

missions, managing an $8 billion budget

1:03

and tackling questions like how do

1:05

hurricanes form, what can we learn

1:07

from asteroids and are we alone

1:09

in the universe? Her

1:11

own story starts with that same

1:13

spirit of curiosity. It began

1:16

in Hitchen in Hertfordshire where her dad,

1:18

himself captivated by the Apollo missions, sparked

1:21

a childhood fascination with space. She

1:23

was just eight months old when he

1:25

lifted her from her cot so she

1:27

could watch Neil Armstrong take humankind's first

1:29

steps on the moon. Today

1:32

she has a new generation of spacecraft to

1:34

look after. She says watching them

1:36

launch is like sending your kids off to

1:38

college. You know they're going to go and

1:40

do great things but it's a big sea

1:42

change in your life and you hope your

1:44

kids will call home. We need our spacecraft

1:46

to call home. Dr Nicola Fox,

1:49

welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you so

1:51

much. So Nikki I want to

1:53

know more about how it feels when you

1:55

watch a mission launch. I'm imagining an incredibly

1:57

heightened mix of emotions. What's that blend about?

2:00

It is a huge mix of emotions, particularly

2:02

if it's a mission that you have worked

2:05

on for years because you've been panicking, you've

2:07

been stressing, you've all the things that can

2:09

go wrong, they haven't gone wrong and it's

2:12

on the top of the rocket and then

2:14

you stand and you watch the rocket lift

2:16

off and it's an incredibly proud moment and

2:18

then you realise I'm never going to see

2:21

that spacecraft again. And so

2:23

you have like separation anxiety and

2:25

you have this sort of sad

2:27

moment of just, wow, it's

2:29

gone and it's the brave one. It's going

2:31

on the big expedition to do all the

2:33

amazing things that you've prepared it to do but

2:35

there's still that sort of, my

2:37

life's not going to be the same anymore because even

2:40

though you're going to do great science with it, all

2:42

your engineering team is going to go off and work

2:44

on another mission and you're going to go and work

2:46

on another mission and so it really is like post-launch

2:48

blues. Do you cry? Oh, I

2:51

do cry, particularly if it's a crew

2:53

launch just because you know it's just

2:55

so inspiring to see it and I'm

2:57

so incredibly proud to be associated with

2:59

it and so the tears flow all

3:01

the time. So

3:04

it's emotional watching the launches but then

3:06

it must be equally emotional watching the

3:08

landings. The OSIRIS-REx mission ended in

3:10

September and that was a big

3:13

moment recently. It brought back the first

3:15

asteroid samples from deep space, the largest

3:17

sample of its kind ever recovered. That

3:20

landed in the Utah desert. What was

3:22

it like watching that? I think it

3:24

was when we knew there was

3:26

the command that said, the capsules

3:28

entered Earth's atmosphere and that's

3:30

the moment when you go, okay, this is

3:33

real and you know it's coming

3:35

down at I think about 28,000 miles an hour at

3:37

that point. It's

3:40

causing a lot of heat so essentially the capsule

3:42

gets engulfed in a fireball and hearing

3:45

the words parachute

3:47

has deployed, I think

3:50

that was the moment that my heart kind of

3:52

leapt out of my chest because that's the moment

3:54

where you're like, okay, we're good

3:58

and you saw it stop spinning. At

4:00

that moment you also know that you're going to have a soft

4:02

landing. I mean it looked like somebody putting

4:04

a cup of tea down on the table. It

4:06

just came down beautifully. What a

4:08

relief, Nicky. All right, then let's go to

4:10

the music. What's disc number one? So

4:12

my first disc is Simply the Best

4:15

by Tina Turner, because it

4:17

has a fond memory. So when I

4:19

was about 17, my father was on

4:21

an executive course and he was

4:23

actually giving one of the lectures and

4:25

the team said to him, oh, you need to have a

4:27

walk-up song. And so he said, what's

4:29

a walk-up song, basically? And they said, oh, no, you

4:32

were just going to play it on when you walk

4:34

on the stage. And so he

4:36

said, oh, I don't know, but my daughter

4:38

loves Tina Turner. So something by her and

4:41

not knowing what his walk-up song was going to

4:43

be, they played the best

4:45

by Tina Turner. And I can just imagine

4:47

my dad kind of sashaying up onto the

4:49

stage at that sort of beginning beat and

4:52

then actually really not realizing that at some point

4:54

she was going to sing You're Simply the Best and

4:56

he was a little bit embarrassed at that point. Every

4:58

time I hear it, I just have this vision

5:00

of my dad kind of breathing his way

5:02

up to Tina Turner. The

5:25

best Tina

5:29

Turner. Nikki

5:40

Fox, the samples brought back by the

5:42

OSIRIS-REx mission came from an asteroid called

5:44

Bennu. Now it's 4.6 billion years old,

5:46

making it almost as old as the

5:49

solar system itself. What are you hoping

5:51

to discover from those samples of rocks

5:53

and sand? It's like a time

5:55

capsule that you can open and pull out

5:57

like the clues for what life was. was

6:00

like. So when our planet was forming, you

6:02

know, before life started here, 25% of the

6:06

sample will be used immediately by NASA

6:08

researchers and researchers all over the world.

6:11

And the other 75% is going to

6:14

be preserved for future generations. If

6:16

you think about the Apollo samples, we are just

6:18

opening some of those samples for the first time

6:20

now, 50 years after they were taken

6:22

and returned. And the equipment that

6:25

we have to be able to analyse those

6:27

samples is so different from 50 years ago.

6:29

And so it really kind of brings home

6:31

to you the importance of bringing back samples, but

6:33

also the importance for saving them for

6:36

future generations to really take advantage of.

6:39

So let's go back to the beginning of

6:41

your own story, Nikki. You were born in

6:43

Hitchen, Hartford, June 1968, and your

6:46

father, Eric, was an engineer at Foxall Motors. It's

6:48

him he credit was introducing you to the wonders

6:50

of space. How exactly did he do it?

6:53

So he had followed all

6:55

of the NASA astronaut programs,

6:57

Mercury, Gemini, and then of

6:59

course, Apollo. And

7:02

it was just very important to him

7:04

that I in quotes knew

7:06

where I was when Neil Armstrong landed

7:08

on the moon. So obviously, eight months

7:10

old, I have no idea. But I

7:12

know the memory, you know, that he

7:14

came and gave me a running commentary

7:17

throughout this. And even I

7:19

think I was about three, we were on a

7:21

family holiday in Spain. And instead of a bedtime

7:23

story, you know, he had glasses on the nightstand

7:25

showing me, well, this is the earth, the moon

7:27

goes around the earth, the earth goes on the

7:30

sun. And, you know, I would

7:32

ask him to tell me more. And so over

7:34

the next few nights, we would add other objects

7:36

from around the hotel room to add other planets.

7:39

And he would often say, just imagine

7:41

what it must be like to work for Nessa.

7:43

So it was his passion. But how amazing

7:45

that he planted these seeds with you. And

7:47

then you took it so far. What did

7:49

he say when you first got a role

7:51

at NASA? Because that that happened quite from

7:53

time ago. Yes, yeah, that was straight out

7:56

of my PhD. I applied for a postdoc

7:58

at NASA and was selected. He

8:00

was extremely proud and so when I

8:02

went over for my first visit, my

8:05

parents sent me this huge bouquet of

8:07

flowers to NASA. I

8:09

didn't really think they knew who I was but

8:11

suddenly at the security gate this huge thing of

8:13

flowers turned up for me. So I was pretty

8:15

well known with the security guards for my first

8:17

day. You're

8:20

an only child. Were you the kind of kids who

8:22

lived in their own imagination a lot, made up lots

8:24

of games? To a certain extent.

8:27

I spent a lot of time building my

8:29

Lego and I was very meticulous. I

8:31

think I was probably too meticulous but if I built

8:33

a Lego town there would be people crossing the road

8:36

and they would be waving and their head would be

8:38

looking exactly at the other person that they were waving

8:40

to and I would spend ages doing that. It's

8:43

time to go to the music. Dr Nicky, your next track if you

8:45

were number two, what's it going to be? So

8:48

it's Bon Jovi, Living on a Prayer. I

8:50

was at, it's actually my Bachelorette party years

8:52

and years ago and

8:54

we're out dancing and Living on a Prayer comes

8:56

on and my friend is dancing there

8:58

and the guy next to her who's dancing

9:01

she said something like, I love this song

9:03

and he said, oh yes, it's my mum's

9:05

favourite song. She was crestfallen. I

9:08

had the thought that, oh my

9:10

goodness, I'm now being likened to someone's mum. And

9:13

so every time I hear the song I will

9:16

snap a picture, if it's on the radio or

9:18

something, I'll snap a picture and text it to

9:20

her and she will do the same so we

9:22

can be anywhere in the world and immediately think

9:24

of one another with one note of Living on

9:26

a Prayer. Bon

9:50

Jovi and Living on a Prayer. it

12:00

is Lara's theme, Dr.

12:02

Schavago. I mean, as early as I

12:04

can remember, this was her

12:06

favourite song. If it came on

12:08

anywhere, we had to immediately stop and listen

12:10

to it, and she would put her hand up and say, oh, it's

12:13

not a nice song. Lara's

12:46

theme, from the soundtrack to Dr.

12:48

Schavago, with its composer Maurice Jarre,

12:50

conducting the MGM Orchestra. Nikki

12:53

Fox, you studied physics at Imperial

12:55

College in London. Now, what

12:58

do you remember about the transition from school to

13:00

university? Because I know that the girls' school that

13:02

you attended was very nurturing. It was a positive

13:04

environment for you. What was it like being in

13:06

a bigger pond? So it

13:08

was a very difficult adjustment, actually, and one

13:10

I don't think mentally I was ready for.

13:12

You know, I'd come from a small

13:15

all-girls' school. There were only six of us

13:17

who did physics for A-levels, and

13:20

so you had really great attention. If

13:22

you didn't understand something, there was a teacher who was

13:24

always going to explain it to you, and

13:26

then I went to Imperial College, where

13:28

you are just an indistinct

13:30

head in a sea of students. So

13:32

a competitive environment. There was a very

13:34

competitive environment, and if you're in a

13:37

study group and you're with people that

13:39

are like, oh, yeah, I got this,

13:41

I know that, and you think, I

13:43

don't have that, and there

13:45

is no fear to speak up. And

13:47

I realized sort of later in life that

13:50

I definitely identified with the imposter syndrome. I

13:52

know that when you got your current role

13:54

at NASA, Nikki, you've described having

13:56

what you called a wily coyote moment. to

14:00

drive me through that. Oh

14:02

my goodness I did. I was obviously

14:05

very excited about doing the

14:08

job but I described it as

14:10

a mix of total joy and

14:12

total paralysing fear. My

14:15

previous job I had a wonderful deputy

14:17

and I used to liken myself to

14:19

Wale Coyote because I'm quick to come

14:21

up with solutions and quick to want

14:24

to implement them and she is very

14:26

calm and very, very

14:29

grounded in the way she thinks. And

14:31

so I would often describe it as I was

14:33

Wale Coyote, I'd run off the

14:36

cliff and she would calmly reach out her

14:38

hand, grab onto me, pull me back on

14:40

and say maybe we should think about this

14:42

before you leap off the cliff. And so

14:45

it was just sort of the extension of

14:47

that metaphor. I no longer had her reaching

14:49

over and stopping me so I was

14:51

like oh I'm going, I'm going, I'm just

14:54

going. That moment in her eyes, the

14:56

moment of realisation and the head of science

14:58

at NASA. Yes and then then you know

15:00

the little acne sign comes up and down

15:03

he falls. So that was that moment. I

15:06

think we'd better have some more music, Nicky. Your fourth

15:08

choice today, what is it? My fourth

15:11

choice is Danny Boy. I chose it to be

15:13

sung by Andy Williams because that covers my whole

15:15

family because my dad always really liked Andy Williams.

15:17

But Danny Boy reminds me

15:19

of my grandmother because she would always

15:22

sing Danny Boy and she sang it

15:24

beautifully. I actually had it at my

15:26

wedding. All my bridesmaids walked in to

15:28

Danny Boy which I know is an

15:30

unusual choice for a wedding but

15:32

I very much wanted my grandmother, she died

15:35

many years before, to be somehow present

15:37

and that was the way that I

15:39

did that. And then my son's middle

15:41

name is Daniel and when

15:45

he was little and I would be rocking him

15:47

to sleep, I would sing Danny Boy to him.

15:49

So this one covers the whole

15:51

family. Oh,

15:57

Danny Boy. So,

16:02

Nikki, for your

16:04

PhD, you researched

16:07

solar

16:09

sub-storms.

16:29

Now, this subject obviously appealed to you,

16:31

and you do have this enormous affection

16:34

for the sun, even though I

16:36

think you've called it an average

16:38

star. Why do you feel so passionately

16:40

about it? So, our star is

16:42

just an average star, but it is

16:44

our star. It's the only one that

16:46

we know that has the responsibility for

16:48

sustaining life on a planet. So that

16:50

makes it, you know, an extraordinarily ordinary

16:53

star. But the sun is also

16:55

a very active star, and so it does have

16:57

storms and it throws off billions of tons of

16:59

solar materials that can travel towards our planet at

17:01

millions of miles an hour. So you want to

17:04

be able to predict and understand what

17:08

star can do to us here at Earth. So

17:10

obviously you found the subject fascinating, and you

17:12

started to research it, you did your PhD,

17:15

and then in 1995 you presented your research

17:17

at a conference in Alaska, and I know

17:19

that proved to be a life-changing moment for

17:21

you. Tell me what happened. I

17:23

had a poster presentation, so I'm standing in

17:26

front of my poster, and I

17:28

saw a scientist sort of standing off to one

17:30

side, and when everybody else had gone, he came

17:32

up and I told him about the work, and

17:34

he said, it's really interesting. Would you be at

17:37

all interested in a postdoc at NASA? So

17:40

I think Bell's told somewhere in the back

17:42

of my head, and I said,

17:44

probably tried to play it cool. Yeah, I could

17:46

do that. But inside I'm sort of like screaming,

17:49

and so that was my sort

17:51

of ground-changing moment. So it

17:54

was at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that you

17:56

became the operation scientist for the polar mission, and

17:58

that was set up to measure... energy

18:00

input into the Earth's polar ratings.

18:02

So that meant studying the Aurora.

18:05

Absolutely. The Northern Lights. And

18:07

underneath him you met your husband, John.

18:10

It's a magical meet-cute. He was

18:12

a scientist too. He was a

18:14

scientist and actually he designed cameras

18:16

that imaged the Aurora from space.

18:19

And I was out with a couple of friends

18:21

and we were, it was in Sweden, and

18:24

it was really cold and

18:26

we were sort of traipsing through

18:29

and we heard other people talking and

18:31

so we went over to say hi

18:33

and stood there and that was where I met

18:36

him and then we had this beautiful auroral display.

18:38

Well anybody would fall in love. What did you

18:41

talk about? Were you talking about the aurora? Was

18:44

it on science? Oh yeah, we would, I

18:46

mean unashamedly a pair of nerds, absolutely. I

18:48

was asking you about the resolution of his

18:50

camera actually and what wavelengths that it looked

18:53

at and you know what about if we

18:55

tweaked it and looked at a different wavelength.

18:57

Yeah we had a great conversation. We all

18:59

have our own love language. It's crazy, isn't it? I

19:01

know. Let's have some more music. This is disc number

19:04

five. What are we going to hear next? So

19:06

this is When You Know by Sean Colvin.

19:09

This is actually my first dance song from

19:11

my wedding because in the moment I met

19:14

John under the aurora I knew. When

19:29

you know Sean Colvin,

19:32

Nikki Fox in 2010 you

19:34

became the project

19:37

scientist

19:46

for the Parker

19:51

Solar Probe which launched in 2018.

19:54

So the spacecraft is named after

19:56

Professor Eugene Parker who correctly predicted

19:58

the existence of the Earth. of

20:00

solar wind in 1958, though

20:02

his work was ridiculed by many scientists at

20:04

the time. 60 years later

20:06

the probe is currently flying through the

20:08

Sun's atmosphere, where it's collecting data that

20:11

proves Parker's thesis. I know this mission

20:13

is very close to your heart. Why?

20:16

It's the coolest, hottest mission under the Sun. But

20:19

it was the highest priority of science

20:22

that anyone in the space science community

20:24

wanted to do. Go into the atmosphere

20:26

of the star and understand how this

20:28

connection that we have with our star,

20:30

how it's powered. But

20:33

it's hard to fly into the atmosphere of

20:35

the Sun, and it took about 60 years,

20:37

it was 60 years till the launch, for

20:40

the technology to catch up with our dreams.

20:42

So over the next couple of years, the

20:44

probe is going to get closer to the

20:46

Sun than any previous spacecraft. What does that

20:48

mean? How close are we talking? It's

20:51

actually Christmas Eve of 2024. It's my Christmas

20:53

present. The spacecraft

20:55

will pass to within 3.9

20:58

million miles of the Sun's surface.

21:00

Now I realised when I said

21:02

million, you're immediately thinking, well, that

21:04

doesn't sound very close. But

21:07

if I put the Earth and the Sun one

21:10

metre apart, Parker's Solar

21:12

Probe will be four centimetres from the Sun. Wow.

21:16

So that is close. I'm finding

21:18

these numbers mind-blowing. Do you? Yes,

21:21

I do. Although I'm more used to them

21:23

now. The one I still find mind-blowing is

21:25

that at that final flyby, the spacecraft will

21:28

be travelling at 430,000 miles an hour. That's

21:33

about 112 miles a second. I

21:36

can just about think about 112 miles an hour, but 112 miles

21:41

a second. So that's like New York

21:43

to Tokyo, isn't it? Under a minute. And

21:48

the thing that makes the mission

21:50

even more challenging is when we

21:52

go into these close approaches, so

21:54

the very close cut through the

21:57

Sun's atmosphere. Often we

21:59

lose contact with the spacecraft

22:01

completely because there's a large glowing star in

22:03

the way. So

22:05

we will often get a signal from the

22:07

spacecraft right before it goes into the encounter

22:10

and often we have to wait many

22:12

days to get that signal back.

22:15

And so the former project manager that

22:17

I worked with so closely will always

22:19

send me, all I get on my

22:21

phone is a green heart. And

22:24

a green heart means it was a green beacon tone

22:26

so everything is okay with the spacecraft. And

22:29

then the last one will tell me

22:31

that the spacecraft data recorder is

22:33

full and that means all the instruments worked.

22:36

So that's how we know that it's good.

22:38

So yes, it launched in 2018, five

22:41

years later I'm still a nervous wreck. Well

22:45

then of course, you know, its mission

22:47

is going well so far but all being well it

22:49

will come to an end in 2025. What

22:52

happens to the spacecraft then? As long

22:54

as the spacecraft is functioning perfectly, we'll extend the

22:56

mission and it will continue to take great science

22:59

until we run out of fuel on

23:01

the spacecraft. And so unfortunately the spacecraft

23:03

will start to turn and then all

23:05

of the very sensitive equipment that is

23:07

not designed and it will not be

23:09

able to cope with all that total

23:11

solar illumination on it. And so

23:14

the spacecraft will sort of gradually break up

23:16

into large pieces and then smaller and smaller

23:18

and smaller and it will eventually become dust

23:20

that orbits the sun forever. Will you feel

23:22

sad when that moment comes? Oh

23:25

yes, it runs out of fuel. It

23:27

will be terrible but it's already doing

23:29

groundbreaking science and so I know that

23:31

Gene Parker is smiling down from heaven.

23:33

You know, Gene was very excited.

23:35

I actually got to travel out and show him

23:37

some of the first data

23:40

that we'd got back and I just

23:42

remember him saying, wow, that's what the

23:44

solar wind looks like. Just

23:46

beaming happy of this

23:48

thing that he predicted and not

23:50

only is it right but he was actually seeing

23:53

it and that was a wonderful

23:55

moment. It's time

23:57

for your sixth disk, Nicky. What have you

23:59

chosen? So this one is very

24:01

related to Parker Solar Probe. This was

24:03

the one that I played every morning

24:05

when I was driving onto Kennedy Space

24:08

Center, doing all the final stuff before

24:10

launch, and every morning I would

24:12

listen to Reach Up for the Sunrise

24:14

by Jaron Jaron. Reach

24:35

Up for the Sunrise

24:39

by Jaron Jaron.

24:50

Nicky Fox, in 2010 your professional

24:52

life was going brilliantly, but not

24:54

long after you joined the Parker

24:56

Solar Probe team, you experienced a

24:59

terrible personal tragedy. Your husband John

25:01

died suddenly. What happened?

25:04

So I was away actually. I was

25:07

in California at the big conference that

25:09

we all go to in December, and I left

25:12

John with the children. So my daughter was 13 months

25:14

old and my son was three and a half. And

25:17

I went out to an evening meeting

25:19

and a dinner. So

25:21

I remember I was walking back through San Francisco

25:23

and I went to go into

25:25

Macy's thinking I'll get something for the children. And I

25:28

put my hand on the door and I had this

25:30

sort of really weird feeling

25:32

like I must go and call

25:34

home immediately. So I ran back

25:36

to the hotel and I

25:38

called home and John didn't

25:40

answer. And I thought, oh, it's fine. He's gone to

25:42

sleep. And then in the morning I

25:45

got up and I was getting ready and I was

25:47

calling home and

25:49

didn't get any answer at home. Left a

25:51

message. No answer on the cell phone. Call

25:53

work. No answer at work. But

25:56

I kept calling home.

25:58

And After. Probably about forty

26:01

five minutes of me cooling the phone with

26:03

answered and I just heard this voice say

26:05

hello and I thought it was driven circles.

26:07

I said oh my since I've been so

26:09

worried about you and how to be been

26:11

and then there's this sort of pause and

26:13

then I heard. Me: And.

26:16

I realize it's my son hit close with

26:18

not allowed on the hands of so he

26:20

answers the phone and I said james and

26:22

he said yes and I said where's where's

26:24

daddy and he said oh he's asleep and

26:27

I said. Can. You a company said

26:29

know he's sleeping by his clothes it

26:31

and sell. I actually dog nine one

26:33

one and I mean I think every

26:35

emergency vehicle known to man went to

26:38

my house but I stayed on. the

26:40

same with my son to talk him

26:42

through. Various. Things in it

26:44

because I still don't know what happened and

26:46

he's only three and a half and he

26:48

doesn't know what's happened either and I knew

26:50

he was terrified. So you know and I

26:52

when they told me okay the police are

26:54

on their way and I said the country

26:56

down the door I can't have this image

26:58

in my son's head and so I said

27:00

okay on or I'll get him to open

27:02

the door and so I said because he

27:04

told me was hungry and I said oh

27:06

we can't reach the cereal costs on the

27:08

high self I said so I've asked to

27:10

policeman to come over and help you get

27:12

the serial down. Sign needs is be.

27:15

Very brave and go. Downstairs and unlock

27:17

the door so the police can come

27:19

in and help you get some food

27:21

and not. He went down and open

27:23

the door and and then it. It

27:25

turned out that sadly John had died

27:27

from an aortic. Any reason. I

27:30

mean, that his inexperience, that's that's going to change.

27:33

He. Has it. It changes so

27:35

in in some ways that kind of

27:37

made me realize. That.

27:39

The happens to people. In and I think

27:41

that sometimes you can go through life thinking bad

27:44

stuff happens to other people and then it it

27:46

happens. You and you realize you can survive it.

27:48

That's one of the other reasons the Parker Solar

27:51

probe is so special. Because I

27:53

just started in this role

27:55

and. I literally was

27:58

saying how can I survive And to. With

28:00

this sort of cost of

28:02

thousands, it felt like that

28:04

cared. Enough. To always

28:06

make sure that I was okay. And.

28:09

Then you know my kids are amazing. Ah

28:11

you know my son at three and a

28:13

half years old process Greece in in the

28:15

most incredible manner. One night we were driving

28:17

home and as a pizza sand and he

28:20

said money to angels. Like pizzas. And

28:23

so she said yes I'm sure they do James I'm

28:25

really so that it he does. Okay so the we

28:27

should order one and send it to happen and then

28:29

we can follow the pizza trump. You

28:32

know this this way of like maybe

28:34

the scientific method Vanier he is a

28:36

problem. What can I do to deal

28:39

with this? I know that you did

28:41

something very special to commemorate John Slice

28:43

and in his contribution to space research

28:45

focuses on so we launched the Van

28:48

Allen probes in know Twenty twelve and

28:50

out there some little balance masses that

28:52

you put on the spacecraft. When he

28:55

said during the precision balancing that light

28:57

little plates and are we have an

28:59

engraved them. Might. Mine was engraved

29:02

and you know it's is a has his name

29:04

on it but it also has seen it to

29:06

daddy from James and us. I

29:11

think that it costs a nice we've had

29:13

a had yes I'm so this is boulevard

29:15

of broken Dreams by Green Day and this

29:17

is something that when I first when I

29:19

heard it said of in the throes of

29:21

Greece you know it. It was a very

29:23

sad. Song cause they talk about you

29:26

know I will Cologne. When the

29:28

empty streets with only my shadow and know.

29:31

It just really. Kind of

29:33

spoke because that was how I felt.

29:35

I felt like I'm on my own.

29:38

I'm And then. Now listen

29:40

to it, it's much more empowering.

29:42

would have thought of. Greeted with.

29:45

Me: This. Green

30:18

Day Boulevard Of Broken Dreams.

30:20

Niki Box The big question for

30:22

space scientists is all the alone

30:24

in the universe. How close I

30:27

wonder is Nasa to answering that

30:29

question? Our Planet. As said of

30:31

the Goldilocks planet, it's not too close

30:33

notice on in the bag, that is

30:35

small, not too hot, not too, and

30:37

it's sustained life so. Why

30:39

is that unique? As. We start

30:41

looking in Sydney with the James

30:43

Webb Space telescope and looking at

30:45

these very distant galaxies in a

30:48

were looking for other stars like

30:50

ours that maybe have a rocky

30:52

planets. Orbiting. Them with an

30:54

atmosphere and that sounds said a very

30:56

easy as really hard as he go

30:59

look for those things but we'll have

31:01

a seat to misinform Habitable Worlds observatory

31:03

that will be designed to literally look

31:05

for planets that could sustain life. How

31:07

clearly the kind of envision that and

31:09

how far off do you think will

31:11

let is having the tools that we

31:13

need To Ashley's that of search for

31:16

planets that could be earth like is

31:18

not too far away. The ability to

31:20

go and visit them is obviously. I

31:23

don't. Know how? I don't know how you

31:25

think about that, but you're talking millions billions

31:27

of light years away from taking it back

31:29

into theoretical stay we are sent to say.

31:31

Or it's because they probably hurling wealth cs

31:34

better than me. Now it's time to send

31:36

you off somewhere a little bit closer to

31:38

home than your often thinking about the desert

31:40

islands to the eagles than time. Contemplating.

31:43

I know I was content analysis time looking

31:45

at the sky because as soon as you

31:47

go to like the Desert islands Oda in

31:49

a place as far away from a lot

31:51

alike police and. Many see so

31:54

many stars so. Many stars laughing

31:56

with I'll give you will more track before

31:58

send you have to around and. You're

32:00

lactose today. What's gonna be This is my

32:02

daughter's choice and say we're it had to

32:04

be a hairstyle son and she picked a

32:06

couple and then then she said no i

32:08

really want to the canyon mean she said

32:11

because whenever I hear it it just makes

32:13

me smile and I think of you and

32:15

so I thought of that that some of

32:17

the skin the take that very nice sentence

32:19

before it changes and I'm just gonna go

32:21

with Canada Main because it makes has. Scar

32:27

never blue, blue, Hard

32:29

to leave. Groping,

32:50

Her the same girl

32:52

gets her school. Harry

32:54

Styles and Candy name. So Nicky folks

32:56

the time has come on going to

32:59

send you a way to the islands.

33:01

I'm giving you the Bible, the complete

33:03

works of Shakespeare, and another book of

33:05

your choice to take on this mission.

33:07

What will your book? me? My book

33:09

is ah the Pale Blue.by Carl Sagan.

33:11

In others there's so many great images

33:13

of space, the semi great images of

33:16

our planet. but that in his from

33:18

the Voyager One spacecraft it it's handbag

33:20

witness. Journey. All the way

33:22

out there and took this image of

33:24

this. Tiny. Tiny

33:26

Planet. This actually ah planet and in

33:28

a call Sagan called it the pale

33:30

Blue.but it's that feeling of you know

33:33

that sauce that home and house it

33:35

is fragile. It is is a tiny

33:37

little.in space and so I've always loved

33:39

the book and I've loved the image

33:42

That that sums up my i would

33:44

take up a Christmas a perfect as

33:46

island regionals have a luxury item Nothing

33:48

oh my Lox the ice and please

33:50

I would take a big bucks and

33:53

letter says is actually my stress release

33:55

and there are. Times when I've had it been

33:57

a tough day and I will come in as I just

33:59

need to build. And I had

34:01

a particularly tusks week at what's the weeks

34:03

ago and I built the entire Titanic assailants.

34:05

that is when you know it's own a

34:08

bit of a week. yes this is just

34:10

really isn't really stress relieving for me since

34:12

been a thing of to the as it

34:14

is not going to drink sankey and finally

34:16

which one track of the eighties says with

34:18

us today would you to save from the

34:21

way So that was a really really really

34:23

tough decision but in the end I went

34:25

with Green Day and Boulevard of Broken Dreams

34:27

because it's my anthem. Cynical

34:30

folks. Thank you very much for letting us

34:32

here your Desert Island Discs. Thank you so

34:34

much. Hello

34:55

a home. Enjoyed my conversation with

34:57

Making I can pretty much guarantees

34:59

she's gotta love the constellation she'll

35:01

be able to see from the

35:04

Island Castaway. Many space enthusiasts including

35:06

scientists Maggie a daring poke up

35:08

and astronauts Tim Peake and Chris

35:10

Hadfield. And you'll also find the

35:12

astronomer Carl Sagan, the author of

35:14

Nicky's Castaway book in our back

35:16

catalogue thing he can find those

35:18

episodes in a Desert Island Discs

35:20

program archives and three Bbc sends

35:22

the Studio Manager for Today programme

35:24

with Sarah Hockley. The system

35:26

Pg said was Christine Pavlovsky and

35:28

the producer with Paul Mcginley. The

35:30

series editor is John Gotti. Next

35:32

time my guest will be the

35:34

hottest Marino Abramovich. I do hope

35:36

you'll join us. Oh.

36:08

Wait, I'm.

36:15

Not sure what skewer skill

36:17

skewer The news shocked and

36:20

shows neighbors Shadow Chancellor Rachel

36:22

Reeves has promised to get

36:24

Britain for emotional moments. We

36:29

need. To know. More.

36:32

The cyclical the test

36:34

screenings was deliberately south.

36:38

Shop down the street or. Stories

36:41

We've got three.