3. National disgrace

Available for over a year

A devastating discovery is turning the crown jewel of astronomy into an embarrassing failure. Hubble isn’t seeing the universe as it should. Why are the pictures blurry? Nasa’s revolutionary telescope is in orbit and the space agency should be celebrating. Instead, it launches an investigation. Nasa’s director of astrophysics, Charlie Pellerin, has been on holiday in Japan. He returns to hear the devastating news. Meanwhile, it’s chief Nasa scientist Ed Weiler's job to face the press, and tell the world the truth. What’s gone wrong? How are they going to fix it? Three hundred and eighty miles above Earth, Hubble floats alone in the darkness, with the problem hopelessly out of reach. Some scenes in this series use recreated sound effects. Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg, and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music. Archive: Mission audio and oral histories, Nasa History Office 13 Minutes: Trouble with Hubble is a BBC Audio Science Unit production for the BBC World Service. Presenter: Dame Dr Maggie Aderin Series producer: Harrison Lewis Sound design: Tony Churnside Series editor: Ilan Goodman Senior commissioning producer: Katy Davis Commissioning editor: Jon Manel