GBH Openvault
NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, part 1 of 2
Part of To the Moon Interviews.
1998
Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, is interviewed about training astronauts in geology and site selection. Roddy explains how JFK's speech on going to the Moon spurred NASA, and talks about his inclusion in the program. Roddy was involved in training the astronauts by taking them on field trips to different geological sites in Hawaii, Iceland, and San Francisco, CA, and later helped with site selection for the moon landings. Sites had to be safe but interesting, and USGS mapped the area for NASA, and the interview ends with Roddy's description of a meteor crator. The final 1 minute of the interview has audio from Carolyn Shoemaker's interview (from tape 52253) on a geological training field trip and Gene Shoemaker's training efforts.
- Series
- NOVA
- Program
- To the Moon
- Program Number
2610
- Title
Interview with Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, part 1 of 2
- 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
0:06:55
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Gemini
- Astronaut
- Apollo
- Space
- American history
- Moon
- Creators
- WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
- Contributors
- Roddy, Dr. David J., 1932-2002 (Interviewee)
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, part 1 of 2,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed December 26, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_5ABC621429FB4072978A997DEB973BD8.
- MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, part 1 of 2.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. December 26, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_5ABC621429FB4072978A997DEB973BD8>.
- APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Dr. David "Dave" J. Roddy, Astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey, part 1 of 2. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_5ABC621429FB4072978A997DEB973BD8