Watch this space | 23 November 2017

Wally Funk is on a mission — to make real her dream that a woman will walk on the moon in her lifetime. She was one of 13 female pilots who trained at Nasa alongside the Mercury 7 astronauts as they prepared to go to the moon. But when the Apollo programme was abandoned in 1972 (in part because of the costs of the Vietnam war) her dreams of going into space were also junked. Now, though, she has renewed hope, as governments and corporations have resurrected the space race, no longer confined this time to America versus Russia but also involving China, India, the European Space Agency (Esa), as well as Virgin Galactic, Moon Express and Blue Origin.

In The Weekend Documentary on the World Service (produced by Sue Nelson), the distinctly unfunk-like Funk (who, from her vibrant voice and straight-talking presenting style, you can’t imagine funking anything, ever) took us back to the 1960s and Cape Canaveral.