NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5

1998

Gene Kranz, former NASA Flight Director, is interviewed about the Apollo program in its early years. Kranz describes the difficulties of taking over flight control from Christopher Kraft, and talks about the ground perspective before the Apollo 1 fire. Kranz talks about his experience of the fire and the difficulty of the fire on the flight controllers, and explains his famous "Tough and Competent" speech, and the "Failure is not an option" quotes that he coined. During Apollo 8, Kranz says that he cried after the Genesis reading and explains the importance of the mission and the computing power that made the mission possible. He also explains the interaction between the mission control and the scientists, who were put into a back room during missions, and talks about the relative youth of the people working in the mission control room.

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Series: NOVA
Program: To the Moon
Program Number: 2610
Title: Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5
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: 0:22:47
Asset Type: Raw video
Media Type: Video
Subjects: Space; Apollo; Gemini; Astronaut; American history; Moon
Creators: WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
Contributors: Kranz, Eugene "Gene", 1933- (Interviewee)
Rights Summary: Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
Citation: Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 20, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_00880775BAAE4A05AE1EE8C60EC14EDC.; MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 20, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_00880775BAAE4A05AE1EE8C60EC14EDC>.; APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_00880775BAAE4A05AE1EE8C60EC14EDC

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NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director, part 2 of 5