The Documentary Podcast Folgen

India is revolutionising its approach to space exploration. Science journalist Alok Jha follows preparations for the country’s first human spaceflight mission. For decades, India focused its space programme on limited, inexpensive projects directly benefiting its citizens, such as weather satellites and communications networks. Now, the most ambitious mission yet is underway: India will send humans into space. Alok Jha speaks to people at the heart of this radical shift to understand how it’s happening and what’s driving it. Dr Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) takes us inside the room where it all began, a high-stakes one-to-one meeting with the prime minister of the time. We relive tense moments of ISRO’s famous Mars mission with its Science Director, Dr Seetha Somasundaram. Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon counts down to his own launch. We visit India’s leading rocket company to witness a start-up boom.

Architect Mariam Issoufou has always been very ambivalent about museums: "Who decided that the only way to look at art is inside this intimidating, grand building, full of looted objects? For me, they are where history goes to die". So she was sceptical about accepting the job of designing a new museum in the city of Tambacounda, Senegal. Will she succeed in creating a museum that breaks the mould?With thanks to Mariam Issoufou and her team, Bassem and Wassim Shaaban, Professor Harriet Harriss PhD, Professor Lesley Lokko OBE, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and Nicholas Fox Weber

On Sunday, many of the film industry’s biggest stars will gather in Los Angeles for Hollywood’s biggest night: the 98th annual Academy Awards.Looming over the celebrations are some major upheavals in Hollywood: big corporate mergers, the incursion of AI, and mass layoffs. And it’s against that backdrop that the Oscars are increasingly nominating films, filmmakers, and actors from elsewhere in the world.BBC film reporter and critic Tom Brook explains how the Oscars went global, and what it can tell us about the status of American soft power.The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.Producers: Xandra Ellin and Valerio EspositoExecutive producer: James ShieldMix: Travis EvansSenior news editor: China CollinsPhoto: Workers make preparations for the 98th annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles Credit: Reuters / Caroline Brehman