GBH Openvault

NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, part 2 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, is interviewed about the Apollo missions. He discusses the choice of landing sites, and his inclusion in the decision, then describes the landscape around the Hadley Appenine. On the discovery of anorthosite, Scott shares the potential geological meaning of the rock, and the personal meaning of the rock. Scott also explains the benefits of the rover on the moon and his happiness with the machine, and explains what it is like to work on the moon. According to Scott, 1/6 G is the "best of both worlds" since zero-G is too weightless, but Earth-gravity is heavy. He also briefly speculates on Jim Irwin's heart problems, and explains the purpose of Apollo 9 as a "dress-rehearsal" for the lunar landing, and gives a sense of his role during Apollo 11 and 12. Scott became interested in Geology while training for Apollo 12, and explains what it was like to work with Lee Silver, who he said asked many questions which made people feel good when their answers were correct. Silver tended to also ask about "suites" of rocks in order to understand the story of a set of rocks or an environment, and with a time constraint, Lee Silver and his team was able to train the astronauts on geology, which Scott describes as holidays. Scott explains how the Apollo 15 landing site at the Hadley Appenine was selected, and discusses his feelings of being the first J-mission. The end of the interview is audio-only of Lee Silver (from tape 52256, ID "barcode52256_Silver_01") explaining his initial belief in the presence of iron and moisture on the moon in the green rock and orange soil, and of David Scott explaining the upside-down-ness of the LM in space, and Jim Irwin's heart problems.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, 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

0:25:48

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Gemini

American history

Astronaut

Space

Apollo

Moon

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Scott, David, 1932- (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, part 2 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 18, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C9FF076DCC2244AA932EEF13DA428A9E.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, part 2 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 18, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C9FF076DCC2244AA932EEF13DA428A9E>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with David Scott, astronaut and commander of Apollo 15, part 2 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_C9FF076DCC2244AA932EEF13DA428A9E