GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 3 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, is interviewed about the Apollo program. Petrone discusses the landing trajectory and site selection of Apollo 17, and his high opinion of the geological training that the astronauts got from Lee Silver. He also expresses his disappointment at the ending of the Apollo program before 20 missions.


License Clip
Series
NOVA
Program
To the Moon
Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 3 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

0:05:17

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects
Gemini
Moon
Apollo
American history
Astronaut
Space
Creators
WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
Contributors
Petrone, Rocco Anthony, 1926-2006 (Interviewee)
Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation
Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 3 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed March 28, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9A47579882E74F468E39F8BCED897B16.
MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 3 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9A47579882E74F468E39F8BCED897B16>.
APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 3 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9A47579882E74F468E39F8BCED897B16
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