GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 3 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, is interviewed about Apollo and the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR). Liebergot explains that if the explosion that occurred during Apollo 13 had happened during Apollo 8, which did not have a Lunar Module, the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 would have died from lack of oxygen. He also discusses the relationship between scientists and the controllers in the MOCR. The interview includes Liebergot's assessment of what Apollo meant to him personally, including his sense that they had accomplished something and his sense that exploration is essential to a country's greatness, and Liebergot describes his feelings after the Apollo program was ended and details his work on the Soyuz project in partnership with Russia. Some parts of this interview have been redacted for privacy.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, 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

0:07:47

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Astronaut

Space

Apollo

American history

Gemini

Moon

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Liebergot, Seymour "Sy", 1936- (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 3 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 20, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C67435D3BC874C1082C1D2DA8B773039.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 3 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 20, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C67435D3BC874C1082C1D2DA8B773039>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 3 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C67435D3BC874C1082C1D2DA8B773039