GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Fred Haise, Jr., NASA astronaut during the Apollo 13 mission, part 1 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

Fred Haise, Jr., former fighter pilot with the US Marine Corps and US Air Force, and former NASA astronaut on Apollo 13, is interviewed about his work with the lunar module (LM, or "lem"). The LM is described as a "remarkable vehicle", and Haise's knowledge of the LM was helpful in giving him confidence during the Apollo 13 mission. Haise also describes learning about the fire on the Apollo 1, and the changes to the Apollo spacecraft following the disaster. The pivot towards science and geology in the Apollo missions was a major change, symbolized by the patch that was created for Apollo. The final two minutes of the video are audio-only from an interview with Christopher Kraft (from tape 52052, ID "barcode52052_Kraft").


License Clip
Series
NOVA
Program
To the Moon
Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with Fred Haise, Jr., NASA astronaut during the Apollo 13 mission, part 1 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

0:14:22

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects
Space
Apollo
Astronaut
American history
Gemini
Moon
Creators
WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
Contributors
Haise, Fred, 1933- (Interviewee)
Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation
Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Fred Haise, Jr., NASA astronaut during the Apollo 13 mission, part 1 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed December 26, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26F8B4D0EF674004ADD931F7FF07AE32.
MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Fred Haise, Jr., NASA astronaut during the Apollo 13 mission, part 1 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. December 26, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26F8B4D0EF674004ADD931F7FF07AE32>.
APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Fred Haise, Jr., NASA astronaut during the Apollo 13 mission, part 1 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26F8B4D0EF674004ADD931F7FF07AE32
If you have more information about this item, we want to know! Please contact us, including the URL.