GBH Openvault
NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Leon "Lee" Silver and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt at Sunset Crater, part 1 of 2
Part of To the Moon Interviews.
1998
Footage of Johnson Space Center and Sunset Crater, B-Roll. Includes footage of the entrance and walkways of the Johnson Space Center, and footage of Sunset Crater. Footage also includes B-roll of Leon Silver at Sunset Crater. Leon "Lee" Silver, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor for Resource Geology, emeritus, at Caltech, is interviewed about the geology of Sunset Crater and the training of the astronauts at the site. Silver says the astronauts were "the best" and very strong observers, and describes the formation of Sunset Crater and its significance to understanding the volcanic origins of the moon. Silver shows a sample of "vesicular basalt" rock from the crater and demonstrates how the volcanic pressures and gases created the rock, and recalls Apollo 15's discovery of a similar rock from along the Hadley Rill. Silver is joined by Jack Schmitt, who talks about his role in training the astronauts of the Apollo 13 mission, and Silver discusses how Jack Schmitt brought him on board as a geological teacher.
- Series
- NOVA
- Program
- To the Moon
- Program Number
2610
- Title
Interview with Leon "Lee" Silver and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt at Sunset Crater, 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
0:24:26
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Astronaut
- American history
- Space
- Apollo
- Gemini
- Moon
- Creators
- WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)
- Contributors
- Silver, Leon "Lee" Theodore, 1925- (Speaker)
- Schmitt, Harrison "Jack", 1935- (Speaker)
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Leon "Lee" Silver and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt at Sunset Crater, part 1 of 2,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F6B7668DAF5D4B1393C826ABDEB8A9D0.
- MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Leon "Lee" Silver and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt at Sunset Crater, part 1 of 2.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F6B7668DAF5D4B1393C826ABDEB8A9D0>.
- APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with Leon "Lee" Silver and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt at Sunset Crater, part 1 of 2. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F6B7668DAF5D4B1393C826ABDEB8A9D0