Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan on the moon. (NASA)
What was it like to be in a room full of moonwalkers? Find out in my interview July 21 with CBC Ottawa Morning‘s Amanda Pfeffer.
The full interview is here (RealPlayer format). I will post an MP3 to my website when it is available.
Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell. (J. Howell)
WASHINGTON — Even as the only generation of moonwalkers debated how we should bring our space program into the future in a press conference July 20, they agreed on one thing: today’s space program is too little risk, too little return.
Six Apollo astronauts gathered at NASA headquarters here in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, which carried two people to the moon for the first time in 1969.
Quoting from a message from then-Australian prime minister Jack Goldman recorded on a microfilm carried on Apollo 11 — one of 72 such messages — retired astronaut Walt Cunningham said today’s program has lost “the chance of dangerous adventure.”
“You know, the reason we had such a huge debate about the (last) servicing mission to Hubble is they couldn’t get from the Hubble’s orbit to the International Space Station to save their lives if there was some kind of a problem,” said Mr. Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7 in 1968.
“Now, prior to that time, we had put 88 missions in about the same or similar orbits to the Hubble Space Telescope. And we never once gave a thought to the fact that we had to have some safe haven for them to go to for 30 days so they could send somebody back.
“We need to get to the point,” he continued, “where we are no longer a risk-adverse society and we recognize there are some things in life worth taking a chance for.”
Apollo 10 and Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon in 1972, noted the trajectory of the space program up to the moon landing days had been one of calculated risk, which in the end paid off with a moon landing on the “end of decade” deadline that then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy set in 1961.
“We had to accept challenges. We had to be bold. We had to take risks,” Mr. Cernan said.
The 40th anniversary of the first moon landing has shone the spotlight strongly on these Apollo astronauts for the first time in years. In addition to the press conference held on the morning of July 20, NASA hosted a gala at the National Air and Space Museum that evening that featured a speech from Neil Armstrong, the first man to touch the moon.
Numerous media outlets worldwide have chipped in their remembrances of the event, often citing their own coverage in 1969. For example, the New York Times’ John Noble Wilford painted a visual picture of the crowds and heat he encountered 40 years ago when, as a much younger reporter, he was on hand for the launch of the mighty Saturn V rocket that began Neil Armstrong’s, Buzz Aldrin’s and Michael Collins’ flight to the moon.
Meanwhile, the museum has been the venue of more than a dozen book signings from former astronauts and space historians, including one held yesterday that featured Mr. Collins, Mr. Aldrin and painter/astronaut Alan Bean. The four-hour long book signing attracted so many people that the museum had to cut off the line, leaving some people empty-handed.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, in attendence at the press conference, said he feared there is so much nostalgia attached to the moon landings that other, more worthy targets will be ignored in future space exploration efforts.
As he did the previous night during his speech at the annual National Air and Space Museum’s Glenn Lecture, he advocated an approach to Mars that would include short stays on asteroids, including the one in orbit around Mars itself — Phobos.
With the help of commercial transport services, he said, this goal is well within reach.
“We’ve got a pathway that doesn’t require us to expand our resources, which are precious right now,” he said. “We put $100 million into the space station, and that’s enormous in comparison to what the other nations do. Do we want to put $200 billion into permanance on the moon. or six months on the moon? Why?”
But according to lunar scientists, countered Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, “we barely did anything with the moon.”
“We just stepped on the moon and we spent, at most, three days there,” he said, gesturing towards Eugene Cernan and Charlie Duke, who both did long-duration stays on their missions.
“So if you talk to the scientific community, there’s a lot still to be done on the moon, which is just 240,000 miles away. Now, if you want to look at a national project, one that brings prestige and something to be proud of, and really (for) a consortium of countries, then we want to go to Mars.”
Near the end of the press conference, Mr. Cunningham joked with reporters, “Have you detected the fact that we don’t have a consensus on just about anything?”
As laughter echoed throughout the theatre, Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott shot back: “We’ve been that way since the very beginning.”
Food for thought:
Today’s edition of the Knight Science Journalism Tracker does an excellent job of rounding up the various articles and special sections about Apollo 11 that have run these past few days. In addition, the tracker asks: with all the coverage happening during this anniversary, how can we top it for the 50th anniversary? Is it smart to go this far out this time?
Twitter posts under the #apolloat40 hashtag (mine are in bold):
I will be on CBC Radio One’s Ottawa Morning show tomorrow morning around 7:45 Eastern to talk about my activities in Washington as well as this website.
Stephan waits outside the Air and Space Museum on July 19. (Elizabeth Howell)
WASHINGTON – Hunched over in the humidity, in the shadow of the National Air and Space Museum, a man who identified himself only as Stephan patiently waited for a lucky break.
Last month, he put his name in for a museum lottery to see the Apollo 11 astronauts speak about their experiences at the annual John H. Glenn lecture. His ballot wasn’t picked.
Yet the self-described lifelong space fan — born one day before Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar lander for the first time — decided to fly from France and wait on the steps of the museum.
“Yes, I tried to get in, but I had no chance,” he said. “But I tried to come anyway in case somebody had a ticket.”
Stephan was still waiting as hundreds of people filed into the museum 45 minutes later.
The lecture attracted 7,000 people, but only 500 members of the public were randomly picked for a perch to see Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
Filling the front six rows of the theatre were a who’s who of space history, fresh off a party from earlier that evening: Rusty Schweickart, who did the first spacewalk outside of the lunar lander during a test flight. Jim Lovell, captain of the ill-fated Apollo 13. John Glenn, who flew three times around the world in 1962 and then took a shuttle seat at the age of 77.
Former senator Mr. Glenn was the first astronaut to take the stage in tribute of the Apollo 11 crew.
“It was a magic time for all mankind. It was a step that hadn’t been done before,” he said. Gesturing to the audience — many sporting NASA logos on their shirts or hats — he added, “perhaps there is a response of interest now as there was in the time of Apollo 11.”
Preparing for the moon landings sent NASA “back to reading Jules Verne”, asserted former flight director Chris Kraft in his remarks to the audience. How to get there had never been charted before, and what was more, every mistake was analyzed by a critical and influential audience.
“It was a competition with the Russians. The press drove that competition. Many times, we were not happy with that,” he said.
Mr. Aldrin’s latest book, Magnificent Desolation, charted the effect the press coverage had on his life after completing the first lunar landing. Several marriages broke down under the strain, and he battled depression and alcoholism for years until receiving medical treatment.
His speech left aside his personal battle and instead focused on the hundreds of thousands of workers — suit stitchers, flight planners and others — who supported the three men on their voyage to the moon.
“The best way to honour us is to follow in our footsteps,” the West Point graduate said, urging the audience to focus on the frontier of Mars rather than repeat the feat the Apollo astronauts achieved.
“Do you still dream great dreams? Do you still believe in yourself?” he asked.
Mr. Collins recalled his days as the head of the Air and Space Museum, particularly in the rocky times when he was trying to get funding for the facility when it was under construction.
He had set a date of July 4, 1976 — the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The museum opened right on time.
“I used to go around Washington screaming, ‘Bicentennial, bicentennial!” when a snag in the design or funding popped up in the building. And it happened a lot,” he recalled, eliciting a laugh from the crowd.
The firm deadline set by then-president John F. Kennedy to reach the moon by 1969 spurred the nation into action in much the same way, Mr. Collins added.
“Mr. President, you would have been pleased with Apollo 11. Everything worked so well. So surprisingly well.”
Mr. Armstrong’s appearance drew a standing ovation from the crowd. He bowed several times, and then spread his hands in a gesture asking everyone to sit down.
The former university professor’s gold astronaut pin gleamed in the spotlight as his talk — which he called “Goddard, governance and geophysics” — brought the audience through the history of Apollo right from the time the first liquid-fuel propelled rocket was created in 1915.
“History is a sequence of random events and unpredictable choices, which is why the future is so difficult to forsee,” Mr. Armstrong said.
There was no sign of Stephan as audience members slowly filed out on to Independence Avenue when the lecture was finished.
Just down the National Mall, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” played on a large screen facing the capitol building.
Inside the museum, some astronaut seekers continued to hang around the doors, hoping for an astronaut close encounter of their own.
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