GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), part 1 of 4

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) is interviewed about engineering the spacecraft for Apollo and the LOR. Houbolt describes his start with the Apollo program, and why the NOVA rocket had to be so large, using a chart comparing the sizes of various manned spacecraft. He also discusses the impracticality of the NOVA rocket and explains the benefits of the LOR mode as leaving the living room (the command space module) in space rather than bringing the living room all the way down to the moon with you. Houbolt also mentions his belief that a direct descent to the moon would not have worked, and explains the many problems with doing Earth Orbit Rendezvous, using a chart. Houbolt also explains how he came up with the idea for the LOR, its benefits, his minority report on the LOR, and the initial reactions to the use of LOR. The LOR was initially rejected, and Houbolt explains the benefits and drawbacks of "direct descent", and his confidence in the safety of the rendezvous.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), part 1 of 4

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

0:23:13

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Astronaut

Moon

Apollo

Gemini

American history

Space

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Houbolt, John Cornelius, 1919-2014 (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), part 1 of 4,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed November 21, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_97AE719EABB14DF89C220D3ECC391066.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), part 1 of 4.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. November 21, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_97AE719EABB14DF89C220D3ECC391066>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with John Cornelius Houbolt, aerospace engineer behind the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), part 1 of 4. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_97AE719EABB14DF89C220D3ECC391066