Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock visits Nigeria, her father's birthplace, and asks why African nations are apparently so keen to journey into the future as a space-going continent. She finds people there are excited about space exploration and discovers her roots in a town where, according to Yoruba mythology, the world was created. But ultimately she wants to find out if space programmes restore a continent’s pride or are just vanity projects of the elite?

(Photo: Part of the ensemble of dishes forming South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope. Credit: Mujahid Safodien/AFP/Getty Images) Show less