The 40th Anniversary of <i>Apollo 8</i>'s Journey to the Moon

Scientific American editor Michael Battaglia discusses the online In-Depth-Report on Apollo 8, which orbited the moon 40 years ago this week. And author Emily Anthes talks about her new book, Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind. Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include www.SciAm.com/report.cfm?id=apollo8; www.SciAm.com/report.cfm?id=science-movies; www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/tag/doctor-atomic

When three U.S. astronauts became the first humans to leave Earth's gravity field, some NASA experts gave them a 50-50 chance of making it home alive

The U.S. has been there, but now that many countries have joined the club of space-faring nations, which will be the first to return?

It was a time of high excitement. But the U.S. public's support of manned space exploration was already ebbing

Soaring faster and farther than humans had ever gone before, Borman, Lovell and Anders cut a trail to the moon for Neil Armstrong's "giant leap" seven months later

A decision must be made by the next chief executive soon on the space shuttle's fate, for starters

The early moon wasn't such a dry place after all

Devoting all the funding to just one mission would be a mistake

Humans are returning to the moon. This time the plan is to stay a while

Extended missions to the moon or Mars mean that astronauts may need improved medical care and even the ability to perform surgery in space

America prepares for the next lunar missions

In this episode Cornell University astronomer Jim Bell talks about future space missions and why people need to be part of them. Bell is the leader of the team operating the color cameras on the Mars rovers, and the author of the book Postcards From Mars and of an opinion piece in the August issue of Scientific American on humans in space. Plus we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned in this episode include www.itswild.org; http://marsrovers.nasa.gov

Mysterious lunar flashes match up geographically with puffs of radon gas

Small dish of silver-coated liquid may be first step to giant liquid telescope on the moon

Probes may go, but astronauts will have to wait