GBH Openvault
NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with R. Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot during Apollo 7, part 2 of 2
Part of To the Moon Interviews.
1998
R. Walter Cunningham, retired NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 7, is interviewed about his memories of learning about the Apollo 1 disaster, describes "go fever", and the effect of the Apollo 1 fire on Walter Schirra. After the fire, there was a considerable hiatus during which operational and technical issues on the spacecraft were addressed, and science became a big factor during the following Apollo 7 mission, which became an issue in the mission's productivity. Cunningham also describes the addition of geologist-astronauts, and other "hyphenated astronauts", as being only somewhat equipped to fly, and ends by talking about the importance of the Apollo program and why we should return to the moon.
- Series
- NOVA
- Program
- To the Moon
- Program Number
2610
- Title
Interview with R. Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot during Apollo 7, part 2 of 2
- Series Description
NOVA is a general-interest documentary series that addresses a single science issue each week. Billed as "science adventures for curious grown-ups" when it first aired in March, 1974, NOVA continues to offer an informative and entertaining approach to a challenging subject. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over.
- Program Description
Alan Binder, former Principal Investigator of NASA's Lunar Prospector mission, is interviewed about the Lunar Prospector. Binder says that if moon travel became viable again, he would want to go to the moon, but says that in order to get financial and public support for space exploration, scientists need to sell the science of the moon. Another option, according to Binder, is to make travel to the moon commercially viable, and lists many benefits of going to the moon, including using it as a fuel source, or colonizing the surface for human habitation (audio cuts out from 00:07:30 - 00:09:00). Binder explains the work of the Lunar Prospector and talks about the necessity of having computers to do a lot of the work. On Apollo, Binder calls the program the most significant event of the 21st century, and talks about the roles of the Apollo program, the Clementine spacecraft, and hte Lunar Prospector. The interview ends with Binder's views on his relationship with NASA, which he characterizes as being needlessly bound up in beaurocracy and red tape.
- Duration
0:22:41
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Gemini
- Apollo
- American history
- Space
- Moon
- Astronaut
- Creators
- WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
- Contributors
- Cunningham, Ronnie Walter, 1932- (Interviewee)
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with R. Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot during Apollo 7, part 2 of 2,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 25, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0DAFFEB1BA64493691C4926009851271.
- MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with R. Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot during Apollo 7, part 2 of 2.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 25, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0DAFFEB1BA64493691C4926009851271>.
- APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with R. Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut who served as Lunar Module Pilot during Apollo 7, part 2 of 2. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0DAFFEB1BA64493691C4926009851271