GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 2 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, is interviewed about the Apollo program. He begins by discussing the Apollo 1 fire and some of the causes, including the door's design, and mentions some re-designs of the spacecraft. Petrone then talks about the decision to push Apollo 7 and 8 after the Apollo 1 fire in a bid to explore the possibility of a lunar mission in the future, and talks about the possibility of additional lunar missions. After Apollo 11, Petrone says that the American attention began to wane, although NASA continued working on the scientific factor; public interest rose again on Apollo 13. When scientists came on board, things were tense, but improved, although Petrone says he always knew that science would have to be a large factor in the program. On site selection, Petrone explains the considerations that went into finding an appropriate site to get good scientific returns, and talks about some of the opposition that he received for his choices of sites. The interview ends with a few minutes of audio-only in which Petrone talks about the personal toil of the job.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 2 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

0:23:36

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Space

Moon

Gemini

American history

Astronaut

Apollo

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Petrone, Rocco Anthony, 1926-2006 (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 2 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed December 26, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_99C474FCDACD4DA19E186D8E234AA6B1.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 2 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. December 26, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_99C474FCDACD4DA19E186D8E234AA6B1>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Rocco Petrone, mechanical engineer and director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1973-1974, part 2 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_99C474FCDACD4DA19E186D8E234AA6B1