GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, part 2 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, is interviewed about the engineering elements of various NASA programs. Faget discusses the Saturn all-up test and the need for Gemini as a training vehicle for Apollo, as well as the injection of science and scientists in the Apollo program, to which Faget tried to recruit Gene Shoemaker as a head of a science branch for NASA. However, the scientists and engineers had differences of agreement and Shoemaker ended up leaving the program. Faget also describes the period after the Apollo 1 fire, and explains why the fire occurred. Among other points of contention were Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, which Faget did not initially approve of, and the shape of the Mercury capsule, which Faget said some thought was too blunt-shaped, although Faget said it was his pride and joy. Faget describes the design of the Mercury capsule, including its shape and heat shield, and the interview ends with B-Roll of Faget and the Mercury Capsule.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, 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

0:23:59

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Moon

Apollo

Gemini

American history

Astronaut

Space

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Faget, Maxime, 1921-2004 (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, part 2 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 18, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_70B886E436A6452C8A76E79D0327A30F.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, part 2 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 18, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_70B886E436A6452C8A76E79D0327A30F>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Maxime "Max" Faget, a mechanical engineer who worked on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, part 2 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_70B886E436A6452C8A76E79D0327A30F