Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Outlook: 02/11/2015 12:06 GMT: Afghan Cosmonaut Stuck in Orbit

Magazines & Reviews

Abdul Ahmad Mohmand

02/11/2015 12:06 GMT

02/11/2015 12:06 GMT: Afghan Cosmonaut Stuck in Orbit

Afghan Cosmonaut Stuck in Orbit

BBC World Service - Outlook, Afghan Cosmonaut Stuck in Orbit

Afghanistan's only cosmonaut was returning from space in 1988 when his engines failed.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghanistan's only cosmonaut, was returning from a space mission in 1988 when his engines failed. He tells Jo Fidgen what happened.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand is the only Afghan to have gone into space. It was 1988, in the last days of Russia's hold on Afghanistan - the country was at civil war at the time - and Abdul was given the chance to visit the Mir space station with a Russian commander. But their attempts to return to earth didn't go according to plan.

Martina Amati is a huge fan of freediving - swimming deep underwater on a single breath, without artificial help. She says she's more at home underwater than on land. She's also an award-winning filmmaker, and for her latest project, Under, she's combined her two passions - creating a multi-screen installation on the art of freediving.

What difference does it make to writing a novel if you're deaf? Sara Novic has been thinking a lot about this while writing her first novel, Girl at War. It's set in the early 1990s, and imagines what it was like to be a child during the Balkans conflict. Sara's family is from Croatia, though she was born in the US. She started to lose her hearing as a young child and by the age of eight, couldn't hear anything. She now communicates mainly through American Sign Language, but also lip-reads. She told Jo Fidgen how her hearing loss has affected her relationship with the written word. 

If you ever catch a train in the Indian capital, Delhi, you may see children selling food on the platforms. A local constable, Dharamvir Singh, hated the idea that they were missing school, so he set up a classroom at one of the railway stations - and told the children that if they studied with him for an hour, he would allow them sell there.

Picture: Abdul Ahad Mohmand

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

02/11/2015 12:06 GMT: Afghan Cosmonaut Stuck in Orbit

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service