Do we need astronauts?

It’s the Space Boffins’ most controversial episode yet, as Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham talk to astrophysicist and author Don Goldsmith about his new book - written with Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees - The End of Astronauts and why robots are the future. Back down to Earth, Richard visits one of the cleanrooms at Airbus in Stevenage to see the new Biomass satellite taking shape. The European Space Agency mission will be the first to measure the carbon locked in the world’s forests. Sue and Richard also chat to author Kevin Cook about his book, The Burning Blue, on Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger disaster.