GBH Openvault
NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 14, part 2 of 3
Part of To the Moon Interviews.
1998
Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, US Navy Officer, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14 is interviewed about lunar science and the Apollo 14 mission. He explains how Alan Shepard got his bad rap among scientists because he told them not to waste his time, and discusses the geology of the moon and how it impacted the choice of landing site for Apollo 14. As the mission following Apollo 13, Mitchell and Shepard both felt the pressure to succeed, although they encountered issues with docking (possibly because of moisture) and with the landing radar. Mitchell also explains how the astronauts overloaded themselves with objectives so that they were able to accomplish as much as possible during a mission, even though the brand-new equipment used in space sometimes caused difficulty because of the discrepancy between the astronauts' experiences in training. The trip to Cone Crater on Apollo 14 was difficult because of navigational issues with their maps, such that Mitchell and Shepard almost reached Cone Crater without realizing it, and their proximity led to a discovery of a white rock, and their closest point to the rim of the crater.
- Series
- NOVA
- Program
- To the Moon
- Program Number
2610
- Title
Interview with Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 14, part 2 of 3
- 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
0:23:13
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Apollo
- Gemini
- Moon
- American history
- Astronaut
- Space
- Creators
- WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
- Contributors
- Mitchell, Edgar, 1930-2016 (Interviewee)
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 14, part 2 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_59F2059FEFC74A349B1FA57D0EAC0CBB.
- MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 14, part 2 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_59F2059FEFC74A349B1FA57D0EAC0CBB>.
- APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell, NASA astronaut who was Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 14, part 2 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_59F2059FEFC74A349B1FA57D0EAC0CBB