Dr Kevin Fong has been delivering the 2015 London Royal Institution's Christmas lectures on how to survive in space.

If we want humans to properly explore the cosmos then we have to learn how stay alive in space.

Dr Kevin Fong has been delivering the 2015 London Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures on how to survive in space, and for the BBC World Service concludes his two part investigation into the extraordinary ways that science, engineering and medicine come together to get that fragile human life safely into space..

Kevin assesses where our ambitions for human space travel should lie – including a return to the moon and to our nearest planetary neighbour. Many agree there are scientific questions that can only be answered by sending a human mission to our lunar surface or to Mars, and such a long journey presents its own problems. Kevin examines what we might learn and celebrates the spirit of adventure that underpins these 21st century explorations.

Producer Adrian Washbourne

Image credit: Paul Wilkinson