NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 1 of 3

1998

Sy Liebergot, retired NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, is interviewed about his work with NASA, particularly during the Apollo 13 mission. Liebergot describes his job within the Mission Operation Control Rooms (MOCR) and the mentality of the team within the MOCR, which he described as very intense, with operators sleeping in dormitories on-site, eating together, and the vision of the MOCR team as "ground astronauts". Liebergot also discusses the psychological impact of the Apollo 1 fire on those working in the control center, and ends with his view of Apollo 8 as the most important Apollo mission because it marked the first successful manned space flight by an American team.

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Series: NOVA
Program: To the Moon
Program Number: 2610
Title: Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, 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: 0:10:32
Asset Type: Raw video
Media Type: Video
Subjects: Moon; Gemini; Space; American history; Astronaut; Apollo
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 1 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed December 3, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_56CDDEFF26454A3B9A467F2BB4B2E4A6.; MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 1 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. December 3, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_56CDDEFF26454A3B9A467F2BB4B2E4A6>.; APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 1 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_56CDDEFF26454A3B9A467F2BB4B2E4A6

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NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Seymour "Sy" Liebergot, NASA flight controller during the Apollo program, part 1 of 3