GBH Openvault
NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with James T. Rose, Engineer, part 2 of 2
Part of To the Moon Interviews.
1998
James T. Rose, engineer for NASA, is interviewed about the administrative side of the Gemini and Apollo programs. He begins by describing the decision to go to the moon, with the early plan to take Gemini to the moon, and describes von Braun's role as an advocate of rendezvous and creation of the Saturn shuttle. Rose describes the role of the Gemini 9 as being crucial to the success of the Apollo program, and describes meeting Buzz Aldrin before he became an astronaut, and says that Aldrin was an incredibly hard worker, and credits him with showing everybody how to do Extravehicular Activity (EVA). Rose says that John Houbolt was initially chastised for his belief in Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), and says that Houbolt never received the proper credit, and describes the early days of his time with NACA and NASA, and the pioneer-spirit of the area. President Kennedy's setting of a deadline pushed the space program to achieve something, and Rose talks about the difficulty of leaving the space program. Rose describes hearing about Sputnik, and talks about the level of difficulty of Rendezvous, which was easier than NASA's original estimates, thanks to trained astronauts like Wally Schirra
- Series
- NOVA
- Program
- To the Moon
- Program Number
2610
- Title
Interview with James T. Rose, Engineer, part 2 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
0:22:27
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- American history
- Astronaut
- Gemini
- Moon
- Apollo
- Space
- Creators
- WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
- Contributors
- Rose, James Turner, 1935-2015 (Interviewee)
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with James T. Rose, Engineer, part 2 of 2,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed November 23, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_D66A07C5F3BF4762AB0ADB4925157082.
- MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with James T. Rose, Engineer, part 2 of 2.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. November 23, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_D66A07C5F3BF4762AB0ADB4925157082>.
- APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with James T. Rose, Engineer, part 2 of 2. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_D66A07C5F3BF4762AB0ADB4925157082