NASA’s Giant Leaps: Past and Future

Just. Past the two-minute mark in the countdown. T-minus, one minute 54. Seconds, and counting our, status board indicates that. The oxidizer. Tanks, in the second and third stages now have pressurized, we. Continue, to build up pressure in all three stages here. At the last minute, to, prepare it for with time. T. Minus 1 minute 35, seconds. On, the Apollo mission, flight, to land the, first men on the moon all. Indications, are, coming in to the control center at this time indicator earth Row 1 minute 25 seconds, and counting my status board indicates the, third stage completely, pressurized. 87. Mark has now been passed those, on full internal power at, the 52nd. Month in the compound, thousand. Systems open in Phillips 17, seconds, living, up to the ignition sequence at, 8.9, second the, approaching, the 60-second, mark on, the, Apollo 11 mission t-minus. 50 seconds and counting the past P minus 50. 55. Seconds, and counting. Neil. Armstrong district quarterback that's been a real smooth compound, we passed the 52nd, month our, transfer, is complete, on internal. Power with, the launch vehicle, at the time. 40. Seconds, away on, the Apollo 11. 20, seconds and counting. T-minus. 15, seconds, guidance is internal. 12. 11. 10, 9, ignition. Sequence. Hi. I'm, Mike Collins 50. Years ago Neil, Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and, I, suited. Up in this very, room at that time we were on our way to make history. With. Apollo, 11, the first lunar, landing. And. There, they are the men of Apollo 11, immortalized. In bronze a. Seven-foot-tall statue, outside. The Saturn 5 Center at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meanwhile. Inside the Saturn 5 Center we welcome, you to our show about, NASA's, giant, leaps past, and present, hello everyone I'm Darryl, nail and I'm Murray Lewis and we are sitting underneath the Saturn 5 rocket just, behind us it's the most powerful, ever flown, the, Saturn 5 7.6, million pounds, of thrust propelled. Apollo 11, and a total of 24, American, astronauts, to the moon and America's. Next giant leap to the moon will blast off from, right here in Florida and we have teams of Broadcasters. Astronauts. And other guests across, the country to help us honor history, and you see him there it, will also help us project the future we'll, take you to the Johnson, Space Center in Houston the, US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama, to, Neil Armstrong's, hometown, of Wapakoneta, Ohio to. The Museum of Flight in Seattle and, to, some special guests hey is that Adam Savage, there, yeah from Mythbusters, oh I, see him there and they are on the National, Mall in Washington DC. And, I'm Karen Fox from NASA, just. A few minutes we'll be talking live, with Apollo 11, astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and. Michael, Collins. Hi. Danielle, Dallas Russa and I'm beyond thrilled to be here at the Kennedy Space Center to be celebrating, the Apollo 11 anniversary. Where, we're gonna be celebrating and taking. Your questions and comments on social media we're even gonna be interviewing people live at this Center if we, don't get around to your questions, or comments on this show don't, worry we have a team on standby ready to respond to you all you have to do is remember to the hashtag Apollo.

50th. Alright, thanks Danielle the, 50th, anniversary of, Apollo 11, is of course why we're here today we, begin with our first look at the remarkable historic. Achievement, that the whole world is celebrating that, giant, leap changed, history and helped, create the world we live in today. Okay. Retro Go Go. Go, patrol go, Telkom, go jinsei no he can't go Sergent go I'm time work Topher undocking, art. Strong alternate, Collins, arrived, at the moon on Saturday. July 19, when, we did get close and, we rolled out and saw it for the first time it was it. Was a revelation, it was gigantic, it filled. Our entire, window. The, next day Sunday. July 20th, was landing and. A lot of anticipation, we, finally, come to the day the, moment that, this is about to commence, landing. On the moon was absolutely. The most difficult. Piece of any Apollo mission, okay, think, about it as a, controlled, fall, out. Of lunar orbit the problem, is in. This controlled, fall out of orbit you. Only have enough fuel for one fry. The. Trajectory, had been wrong with. They were targeted, into this inhospitable, place. Then. It had to fly over, this area, at a high. Forward velocity then, pitch, up to, slow down so, they killed, at forward velocity and, then, start down like a helicopter, so, now we're critical. Fuel state and that's, why the. Call. Was given and in, the. Landing. To me was a great celebration, the. Nation was almost euphoric. Apollo. 11 command or Neil Armstrong, is forever known as the first man he, passed away in 2012, but, his small step on the lunar surface continues. To inspire. Our, knowledge, of the universe around. Us has. Increased, a thousandfold and. More. This. Is the new ocean and we must sail upon it and we, must be a leader on it and that. Caught people's, imagination. And. Later, will speak to some Apollo astronauts, live and we'll also hear from Neil Armstrong, son mark Darrell, look forward to that Neil Armstrong, son looks just like it to Danny I love. Listening to him great guy we've got our own astronauts here too three talk, to Stan love in just a little bit even, as we celebrate the historic, milestone, of Apollo 11 we're, working hard to, return humans to the moon in the next five years as, we, plot an eventual course, to Mars we. Call it the Artemis program, a 21st. Century successor. To Apollo. Artemis. Was Apollo's, twin sister, and goddess, of the moon in Greek mythology we'll, carry that name with us to the moon again landing, astronauts, by 2024.

And Establishing. Sustainable lunar. Exploration. By 2028. To. Get there we're building a powerful, rocket, the Space Launch, System to, send astronauts aboard our new Orion spacecraft. To the gateway in lunar, orbit from. The Gateway we'll be able to land astronauts, in places, we've never been before including. The lunar South Pole, we'll, have a human Lander system staged at the gateway but, before then we'll, already be back on the moon with, robotic, commercial, Landers carrying, science, instruments, and technology, demonstrations, to the moon beginning, in September of next year and will need a new generation of spacesuits, as we send the first woman and the next man to the as we. Do this we gain more scientific. Knowledge about the solar system, in which we live and American. Companies large and small are developing, advanced technologies, to realize these space exploration, dreams for NASA and as. With, Apollo many, of these technologies will, later grow that everyday parts, of life here on earth. And. Stay, tuned to the end of our show we'll have a fun reveal, about Artemis, now joining, us live is astronaut, Stan Love who, flew on space shuttle mission STS 122. To the International, Space Station and he's currently working on the development of future, human spacecraft, Stan. 12 astronauts walked on the moon between 1969. And 1972. Did. Neil Armstrong. Inspire. You in any way at any level well, absolutely I think anybody, my age was interested, in science or technology or, exploration. Held. The Apollo 11 astronauts as heroes I remember, when I was in grade school six years old my little tin lunchbox, had, the astronauts, in the Apollo spacecraft so. I had that in there from the beginning and, I remember coming, to work on my very first day as an astronaut driving. In the gate at Johnson Space Center and thinking. Oh my, goodness this is where it happened this is where we landed people, on the moon for the very first time it, was sort of the sense of awe and an, incredible sense of honor to be able to join that effort especially, as a crew member and then, some trepidation really. Hope and I was up to the task and, indeed we, got some video of you launching. In the Space Shuttle with a camera that had like an inside, view it, doesn't exciting, right oh yeah absolutely when, they launch are like those solid rocket motors on the shuttle you know you're going somewhere in a big hurry it's like two strong guys shaking their your chair as hard as they can and it's, it's pretty amazing now. You're, working on future, human, spacecraft tell me a little, bit about that involvement so I'm working on the cockpit for the Orion spacecraft that, is going to be the backbone the main transportation, device. To get people off to the moon to. Lunar vicinity and then bring them back safely to earth and I'm working on the displays, and the controls, that the crew are going to use to, see how their systems are doing guide that vehicle and fly it, so. It's. Up to me and the folks I work with to make sure that the crew is getting all the information they need and that the commands they send out go correctly to the vehicle well that is exciting work and Stan thank you so much for joining us. All, right send it back over to you Murray all, right thanks Darryl and Stan and thank, you we'll be hearing more from current. And former astronauts, throughout this program including. Buzz Aldrin and, Michael Collins from, Apollo 11 and other, Apollo astronauts, as well now, let's head over to Houston and Apollo's, famous, Mission Control. From. The historic, Mission Control Center, NASA, conducted some, of its most legendary space. Missions, the, first u.s. spacewalk the. Apollo moon landings, and even, the dawn of the Space Shuttle era, of exploration, in. This room from 1965. Until 1992. Flight. Controllers, monitored, every aspect, of the mission power. Navigation. Communications. And even, the health of the astronauts, with, all that happened here it's no wonder this flight control room was. Designated a, national, historic landmark. But. After years of inactivity the, historic, room fell into disrepair. Until. A new mission was launched to, save it a restoration. Effort set out to bring back every, detail, of the room as, it would have been during the time of the Apollo moon landings, this. Is kind of the crowning achievement that, happened during in, 1969. And so for us to recreate that and get that feel and to, honor that time and that success that was really important to us finding.

The Original wallpaper and, then recreating that finding, the original carpet and recreating. Out and then just getting the seats restored, and put back together and then just all the little details, you know what was on the consoles, what was particular to that flight controller so it's very personalized. So it's, very historically. Accurate the, work has brought the room back to life capturing. A moment in, time for, flight director, Gene Kranz the, effort goes beyond, switches. And monitors this, room has a, has. A horror to the people have worked here they've lived there they made the decisions, there each, one of these controllers. Basically. Left a legacy here, in the, restoration, I think, that recognizes. The work done in, Mission Control by, the teams of Mission Control. I'm. Gary Jordan in that historic, Mission Control and with, me is Gene Kranz one of the flight directors of Apollo 11 who you just heard he's, at the very same console he was at 50 years ago when Eagle landed on the moon we. Also have Charlie Duke the Capcom, the capsule communicator coming. Right from his console, when, Apollo 11 landed, he, was the voice between the teams here in the room and the astronauts of the historic mission later walked on the moon himself, during Apollo 16 gentlemen, it's pleasure to have you both here. Thank. You very cool, Charlie. Your famous words back, to Neil I believe part, of that quote was you got a bunch of guys about the term blue or green yeah, so, this, was coming right after Neil Armstrong confirmed, that the eagle has landed how did it feel to hear that hear those words from the moon well very exciting, very close we, were almost, out of gas and so, The Heretic contact, engine stopped we did was a great relief tension, was really high, that's. Right that gene that conversation. Followed one of the tensest, parts of the entire mission really the powered descent of Eagle, down to the surface of the Moon the. Flight control was here seems so calm how did they stay that way and so focused, during that tense time that's, a process of training room discipline, the basically these are consummate. Professionals, of the very early age they, learn the discipline necessary to accomplish difficult, tasks that's, right there's not a lot of celebrating. In this room right after they landed right so. Charlie. Why, not well, first, off we, had to make sure that the lunar module was secure if, you sprung a leak when, you touchdown, or battery dropped off or a lot, of things could happen you, had to be ready to lift off so. We stayed gene, got us all back to. Attention. After a few little smiles and said. We. Go, 41, and so we had a set time t1, t2, t3 and. I. Don't remember exactly how long those were, but. We were focused, on making sure this lunar module was safe and secure, and ready to go, if we had to liftoff that's right gene the, flight controllers, in this room were, not much older than myself I'm about 27, which i think is that about the average age of flight controllers tell, me about the level of trust that was needed in the team to make that mission a reality, basically it's trust, that exists between myself and the team between, my, team and their stock we got and with the program, office I think, Trust is the essential commodity, for a successful, manned spaceflight and. I think one of the things that Charlie, mentioned here was the t3 stay no stay yeah we had to wait two hours to. Join the celebration but the rest of the world we were on the console, doing our job two, hours after landing we could celebrate all, right now, charlie. When those those, first steps of Neil, Armstrong on the moon and those famous words, he said for all mankind, did. You get to celebrate or immediately or when it when it actually hit you the significance, of the accomplishment, well after we. We were off duty, after t3 and we went to a press conference if, I remember we went and celebrated, with a few beers at that point and, then I went home and was with my family, watching. It on TV as he stepped took those first steps out and, then it hit me about we were on the moon. Well. I hope we get to have that feeling once again do. We have just a c'mere here joining us now she's. An astronaut, set, to launch to the International, Space Station here in just a few short months she. Was selected as an astronaut in 2013. And Jessica, you're going through some training right now for a long-duration stay, aboard the International, Space Station just about six months that's actually more time than all the Apollo missions, combined, it's tell me what, you're gonna be doing on the International, Space Station how is that going to help us for our future missions going back to the moon and on to Mars so.

I'll Be up there for six-month mission as you mentioned and really, the space station, is a world-class, laboratory right now it's a US National Lab and of course we are working with all of our international, partners as well the, Russian space agency the, Canadian, Japanese, and European Space, Agency's, so, we are conducting all kinds of sentai scientific. Investigations. And technology demonstrations, that are really critical toward our path for future exploration, so. Just to name a few for example of course we need to understand, how space flight and the microgravity environment affect. Us and our human bodies. And our physiology. So we have decades, of research now from, all of this scientific research, that we've been conducting on, the space station and then the programs before we, know a lot how to maintain our muscle mass and maintain our bone density we, have a few hot topics right now really the the vision our vision and the health of our eyes also, what's happening to our blood vessels, looking, at our carotid arteries and some changes that we're actually seeing in astronauts. That are very similar to the process of aging so we need to really better understand. What. Is happening here to make sure that we can get astronauts, safely. To their destination, and make sure of course that we can bring them safely back there and you'll get to do that firsthand as an astronaut, now. As I know it actually Charlie Duke here actually inspired, you to become an astronaut in the first place yeah, he actually was the very first estimate, I ever met so it is pretty amazing it's really an, incredible, experience to be standing in this room with these two people when, I was in high school Charlie, was speaking, at the neighboring, town I grew up in a really small town in northern, Maine and we did not have a lot of astronauts coming through I'd never met anybody that worked at NASA or an astronaut so I went to hear him talk and I'm sure he doesn't remember this but he. I. Did talk to him afterward he gave me his card I told him that my dream was to become an astronaut like him and I.

Wrote Him a letter and I thought you know he's so busy I'm sure he gets lots of these but he did actually write back to me and this, is the actual letter I found it when I moved, a couple years ago this is the letter that you wrote to me back in 1996. When. I was a freshman, in college so. Maybe, that'll jog your memory but thank you so much for doing that it really, really was inspiring and it does make a difference thank, you yes always. Things good things pow somebody, inspire, somebody thank you what typewritten. I love that all right. Now. A gene. When. We're thinking about our future missions you use the phrase tough and competent thinking about inspiring. Those next generations, do you think those same values will apply to the folks that are gonna carry us today well. Because toughen confident really address the. Accountability. Of a Mission Control team basically. To take the actions necessary to. Protect the crew and accomplish the mission tough. Meetings that you're forever accountable, for what you do and this was done after, the Apollo 1 what we fails to do confident. When that written never, again take anything for, granted will, never stop learning from, now that teams and Mission Control will be perfect. No. Charlie what can astronauts, today like Jessica, do to inspire the next generation well, I think what she said. Just. Her performance, and what, she's doing and being out there being able to before. The public and and. Just. Telling. Her story writing, a letter. So. All right well thanks to all three, of you for taking the time to be with us here today in the historic, Apollo. Mission Control in Houston, NASA's. Giant leaps continues, at Wapakoneta Ohio the. Hometown of Neil Armstrong we'll go there in a moment but first some thoughts about explorers, from a different kind of Rocket Man they. Want adventure and I really admire those kind of people they they're so brave and intrepid, that pioneers, and you know without Christopher, Columbus Magellan, Marco. Polo we wouldn't, you know Sir Francis Drake all those kind of people, the. World wouldn't be what it is today and. Welcome, to Wapakoneta Ohio, which. Is proud to be the hometown, of Neil, Armstrong, I'm Ty, Bateman, an anchor, with, hometown, stations, in Lima Ohio and, we, are located, at the Armstrong, Air and Space Museum. Which is about an hour north, of Dayton Ohio, now. That, of course is, the home of the Wright brothers, who invented, power flight more than 115. Years, ago now Ohio is also, the home of NASA's, Glenn Research Center. Named. For another space pioneer, John Glenn, and we, are in the midst of the summer moon festival which is an annual celebration of the Apollo, moon. Landing. And, right, now we actually have one, of our 25. Astronauts. Who hail from Ohio. And is, also a native of Cleveland, and a, veteran, of four Space Shuttle missions Don, Thomas thank you so much for being with us hi it's great to be here today well, let's get right into it Don. You of course have been inspired by so many astronauts, but, how did Neil Armstrong, and the other Apollo, astronauts, inspire, you you know was the first astronauts, launching, in 1961. That first inspired, me to be an astronaut, I watched their launch on a small TV and I just said I want to do that and so, all the early astronauts, John Glenn Ed White who did the first spacewalk and, then Neil Armstrong. They were huge influences, on my career well. Done, that's awesome so you watched the Apollo, 11 launch on TV and I understand. That you also invited, Neil Armstrong, to watch one of your launches I did you know we're allowed to invite, a few VIPs, to our launches, and I wrote Neil Armstrong, a letter said. I was one of the Ohio astronauts, I told him he was one of my heroes as a young boy and. I invited him to come to the launch he wrote back said I'll be there and I was like wow Neil Armstrong's, coming to my launch I was so excited, and it was the day before launch, I got a call from NASA management, down at the Kennedy Space Center and they said mr. Armstrong wanted to meet with me so. My wife and I Neil Armstrong and his wife Carol we got to spend about an hour together in the crew quarters just. Talking, and I'm showing him around and at, the end of our hour I, had a great moment I was shaking his hand saying thank you for being here I really appreciate you coming to the launch and I asked him how long are you staying in town for meaning, how long are you gonna be in Florida for and, he looked me right back in the eye he said how long are you in town for meeting.

I'm Gonna stay here until you launch and we launch right on time the next day and it was the thrill of my life to have him there for the launch incredible. Don thank you for those memories, well, let's take a look back at Neil Armstrong, the man, Neil. Armstrong, was born in his grandparents, farm house on the outskirts of La Moneda we, sat down with Neil's brother and sister, and asked them to share some personal memories, of their famous brother he. Was very good at telling jokes. And. Accent, in the accent, a Scottish Scottish. Accent, right. And. A little bit of German sometimes, also but. Depending, on what story, was telling but he was good at it because he. Tells the story and he has this you know just, a little bit of smile on his face and. Everybody. Laughs and he laughed he. Laughed because. He thought it was funny too. The. Legacy hasn't, yet been determined. In. Science. The. Doors are. Still so wide open and. I really feel, like that, it, helped. Inspire. The. Technical. Aspect. Of this country, you. Know we had. Many. Big technical. Breakthroughs. With the, program, NASA. Programming, and. Now. You can see that continuing. I. Think. My dad would be very. Pleased. With. Where we are now because. We are on the cusp of another age, of exploration, taking. Those next steps going. Back to the moon because that's, the, place where we can learn the. Things that we need when. We go beyond, if. We can remind everyone of, how. The. World was uplifted, by. The Apollo program and by these endeavors I think. That we, have a good chance of, staying. The course and continuing. That exploration forward, being an astronaut was our, father's. Way, of life that was dad's job and and we, were all supportive. And excited the astronauts the guys when they were up there they they the. Last thing they wanted to do was to worry about what, was happening at home I think. The wives just tried to make. Sure that the family wasn't one of those things that they they, had in, their checklist of of things to be concerned about the, Apollo program, inspired. A generation. You want, to be better, to. Want to work hard. Apply. Themselves and. Pursue. Their dreams because Apollo. Made it clear that dreams, were possible, and I. Think that made the world a better place.

Now. As you drive through town or stroll down the sidewalks, you'll see just how over the moon everyone, is in Wapakoneta, more. Than a dozen restaurants are, offering special moon, themed items, such as cinnamon. Pancakes, and a. Buckeye. On the moon Sunday, it. Seems. Every, shop is selling first, on the moon merchandise. Souvenirs. And. Memorabilia. And, history. Is all, around us it's. A part of history that I want, to be able to say that I helped to preserve well. It's not so much you, know what was it like when he lived here, for. Me personally. But, to be able to preserve part, of history, and keep it intact, for. Future generations. And. With. Me now is Dante Centauri, with the Armstrong, Museum, Dante, welcome, so, let's get straight into it tell me a little bit about what people can experience, if they were to visit the museum sure well the Armstrong, Air and Space Museum, opened, three years to the day after Apollo, 11 landed in 1972. We, have artifacts, from Neil Armstrong's, early life and career the airplane he learned to fly in right next to the Gemini 8 capsule, and he flew his first spaceflight in as well, as the Apollo backup, suit from Apollo 11 an actual suit that. Was part of his mission and to. Top it all off we also have a moon rock collected, from Apollo 11 collected. By Neil Armstrong himself on that mission awesome. Now how does it feel for you to be entrusted, with preserving. The legacy of an American hero well, it's very humbling, but the, best part here is there's a tremendous team, there's staff, the the board everyone, supports, in the community is such a wonderful support for. The museum and and Neil Armstrong's, legacy. Right here in Wapakoneta right. Dante thank you so much thank you and now I would like to welcome Sonny, Williams, another, Ohio, astronaut. She, is a native. Euclid, and a veteran, of two Space. Station, missions including. Seven, spacewalks, welcome, sunny hi ty it's great to be here in my pack Aneta yes it's awesome here so how does research. Aboard, the International, Space Station help. Us expand exploration. Not, only on the moon but also later. Getting to Mars right so I've, had the luxury of being on the space station two times and I've seen we were doing all sorts of experiments on propulsion, systems, life-support, systems even spacesuit, systems, that will help us on our next, endeavors, back to the moon and even further out of low, Earth orbit beyond, into, Mars well, you're also set to return to space on one of NASA's. Upcoming Commercial, Crew missions, tell me more about that, yeah I'm scheduled. To be on one of the first Boeing Starliner. Flights to go to the International, Space Station along. With SpaceX's. Gret dragon to which we'll take some of our colleagues up to the space station and this, contract. To allow these other companies, to be able to take people up will allow NASA to refocus, on getting, out of low Earth orbit back to the moon and potentially. On to Mars for the next generation, so all, of the work that's going on the International Space Station including these. Commercial, companies will help us enable us to go further so, are you scheduled, to conduct any more spacewalks any well you, know the space station is about 20 years old it's like an old house and things need to be fixed and we're, doing new things to, add on to it so that's it's, pretty probable, and I would be looking forward to doing that all right sunny thank you for that and thanks. From here in Wapakoneta let's, head to DC. Thanks. Ty NASA. And the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum are, hosting this celebration, of the 50th, anniversary of, the first man on the moon we, have a lot going on here right here on the mall there, are tents highlighting. Both the Apollo program and today's moon to Mars plans, Lego. Has an incredible. Apollo 11, display that took days to build and. Snoopy. Is here, of, course Snoopy was the name of the lunar module on Apollo 10 the dress rehearsal, for the, moon-landing. And. As, you've probably seen people. In the National Mall have been wowed this week by a high def projection, of the Saturn 5 rocket on, the Washington Monument, we'll. Actually be able to see a recreation. Of a launch here tonight and tomorrow, night, it. Really just gives you a sense of the scale of that massive, rocket. Apollo. 11, was the culmination of, an incredible, national effort, but. Started with a promise, from, President, John F Kennedy to. Go to the moon within. The decade. The. Direction of the President, of the United States it. Is the stated policy of. This administration. And the United States of America, to return American. Astronauts, to the moon within, the next five, years. So. Now NASA is facing another bold challenge and this, time the ultimate goal isn't just the, F K's goal of land on the moon and return safely to earth but.

Establishing A sustainable. Presence, on the moon and eventually. Heading off to, Mars so. We are gonna be doing some interesting science. When we're there and that's one of the really exciting things for example we, will be able to look in the giant. Craters these deep craters, in the southern, pole region, of the Moon their places down there that never gets sunlight and we think there's water there so we're gonna be going and checking that out. Now. Let's, go to Adam Savage, with astronaut, Randy. Bresnik inside, the Air & Space Museum. Ah. Brandy, you've, flown the shuttle you've flown on the shuttle and spent time on the International, Space Station I'm. Curious, the first time you open the hatch to get on the ISS, given. All the training you had already had him till that point what. What, surprised, you and what, felt exactly like you expected, it. Surprised me the most was the, fact that there were some crew members on the space station I hadn't met yet I hadn't trained with you know they, were up there doing the long-duration mission, and so. It turns out I have a callsign, come from the Marine Corps being a fighter pilot it's common, and so. It. Was interesting we found the space station you know these Russian, crew members so I had man who had been you know adversary. Of my, f-18, Rika they, they hear my critical hey comrade come over here. Will. Shocked me when they heard you know there's somebody who's that in, such a normal, term home for my crew members but. What was neat about it was even, though these were folks are heading it yeah we. Flowed across the hatch and it was big bear hugs as if we were like long-lost family members, who hadn't seen each other you, know in a few weeks and we're just catching up and we, struck me in because I only had you know two and a half days three days on orbit at that point that. Here we are now the crew from Atlantis, the crew is on station 12 human beings in this, magnificent. Orbiting laboratory 250. Miles above the earth going 17,000, miles an hour and. We worked that was it that was all of humanity, in all of it right we were there doing the shared mission and and, just how that made us all just part of this one they didn't matter what language we spoke or where we came from there, we were just one family all of it doing the work amazing, I know, you you've, we, were talking before and you said you spent 32, hours in, space during spacewalks um, what, do you get used to and what, always surprises you about getting into and going, outside the spacecraft we'll start with that part first because I don't think it's your first your fifth or you know I'm like Mike LA your generosity. On your 9th or 10th. When. You open that hatch which, Anna Space Station opens yeah right, you, know you open it up you're inside steel mill cocoon the whole time. That's some, safety in that you open the hatch and it is 250, miles or 400 kilometres straight down and. So for anybody, you know has a fear of heights you know it's. It's daunting, but for anybody who doesn't have a fear of heights if you look the edge of a tall building and you stay on the edge in put, your toes on lean over your body tells you get back yeah I mean that you. Have it intense really intense feeling, except type times a thousand okay. No. I'm not gonna fall I'm gonna float even though I mean this massive, you know my own personal space suit going out the door I know, that if I go out there let go I'm not gonna fall but, your brain your whole life has told you that you it yeah you go out there and just like we practiced in the neutral buoyancy laboratory, or, swimming pool down in Houston, we have a space station do. You train you reach out you put your hand on the handrails you don't you turn your body the way you normally do, you put out your waste tether you put out your you know of, your. Strength tether and you go ahead and you know do, what you trained for it's, just a view instead of being you know concrete. 40 feet below you in the bottom of the pool you know how the earth going by at, five miles a second, to distract you while you're out the bonus, I'm curious, about your thoughts about how apollo-era.

Technology. Led to the, technology that got you into space well, there. Was a basis for everything I mean that it's I am, in awe just like you and everybody else especially today it takes time to remember and commemorate this, amazing, you know historic achievement. I. Mean, we, had not ever, had but 15 minutes in, space. When the President Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon and, within, a decade we had young Neil Buzz and Mike Collins there on Apollo 9 I'm, sorry Apollo 11, that. Is astounding and everything we've done since then has been based on those amazing, investments, in technology and. The capabilities, to live and work in space and, and the suit on space o'clock is the grandson. Of the suit that was on Apollo on a lunar surface well, famously, a Buzz, Aldrin was. Not able to be here but we do have a buzz tribute, video, which we can run let's, run this and see a little bit about Buzz. Ready, are you excited, about the future of space travel absolutely. In the 15 years I've been a so there's never been a more exciting time we have got you, know two commercial, vehicles they're getting ready to launch up and put people on the space station we've had 19 years of continuous presence on the space station, we've, got you, know Artemis, getting, set up where we've got the Orion space people aboard the world's largest rock at the SLS and then we're gonna start launching humans, on in two years, amazing you know around the moon again and it never, been a better time for it Brandi thank you so much for joining us here today I really appreciate it. Neil, Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin were, almost stuck on the surface of the Moon as the. Crew was coming back in they had to take off their looks large space suits and they were pretty big and the lunar module is pretty small in the process of doing it was, bumped, up against the engine arm switch the switch that was critical to turning on the, rocket, motor that wouldn't allow them to launch off the surface of the Moon the. Switch broke off and so. When the time came to flip that switch to get ready to launch, off the surface of the Moon there was no switch there to flip what's he gonna do buzz was thinking fast he pulls out a felt-tip pen and jams, it in to. That spot and is able to use the felt tip pen as a pseudo switch and. They, successfully, get off the surface of the moon and come home. My. Grandfather, President, Kennedy challenged. Americans, to send a man to the moon not, because it would be easy but because it would be so hard, NASA, and our entire nation answered, his call to action and made that dream a reality, today. We, salute the men and women of the Apollo generation, and look, forward to the future and the new frontiers, yet to be discovered. And. Looking, now over the water we're coming up on launch complex, 39 here. At Kennedy Space Center the two pads that you see in the distance there Pat, B is where we're going to launch the first woman to the moon and the next man to the moon right there actually. Pad 8 which, is. SpaceX's. Pad which, is currently of course launching, their. Rockets the heavy and the Falcon, but, it's a beautiful shot as we fly over the. Banana River and into, that, launch complex, they are 39a, where, of course many, historic. Launch, happened. Here. And. We continue, to celebrate as well yeah absolutely beautiful. And the mood here is just euphoric. I mean so many people in awe of this, nation's, amazing, achievement, 50 years ago indeed. And it's. A warm, day here in Florida you can see the clouds bubbling, up over, 39a. On the crew access arm that extends, out from that pad, it's. Not quite as hot as the rest of the country though because there's a heat wave it's. Currently got. The grip of the nation, most of the nation but, we're still pretty toasty here in Florida and in fact Murray we're celebrating. Moon fest at this time a, celebration.

Of Course of the 50th anniversary of, Apollo where. Our own employees. Got. To go out and, to. The gantry eat. Moon pies and dress up in 1960s. Attire yeah I think they're already out of the moon pies so we didn't I, don't know if anybody saved any for us. But. I they did they gave him away for free that was uh that was a nice gesture yes on this historic day yes, absolutely. And as we continue to celebrate the historic, achievement, of 1969. We, look ahead to traveling back to the moon and on to Mars just. As in the Apollo area era we, need many elements to get there from, rockets, and spacecraft to, astronaut, life support and more all in support of science, and exploration on. The surface there's, a lot of work already being done to make that happen with, our Artemis, program we're, preparing to launch our new Space Launch System rocket and the, Orion which, is an entirely new space capsule, we're also developing a gateway at the moon will, have new robotic, and human Landers. And new, spacesuits, all this is happening while advances, in science, and technology will. Expand, our knowledge and enrich life back here on earth and there's. That list, there those items I was just telling you about and we'll be telling you more about each of those elements you see there on your screen throughout, the show today and, it's important, each one of those elements as they come together to form this program. Of the future Artemis is a very, complex, program but. We want to go back to the moon sustainably. And printable, and permanently. -, in order to test our technology, to go onto Mars so it's all very key. Absolutely. And we're going to see coming up after this show today starting at 3 o'clock we've, got a show called our stem show that's going to show you how, students, are breaking down a mission, to the moon it's. Gonna be a great show make sure you stay tuned for that at 3 o'clock right here on NASA, TV, forward. To the moon our, STEM show it's. Going to be a good one. Did. You know that one of the most valuable, samples, brought back from the moon by, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin almost. Didn't happen, neela buzz had a series of containers, that they put their lunar samples, in and they mostly went around and picked up rocks but, right near the end of their walk. On the moon as Neil, was preparing, the boxes, that shipped back up to the lunar. Module for returned back to earth Neil, looked into one of the boxes and realized that there wasn't a whole lot in there he. Thought that's. Not right we should be bringing more back so, he took the box and scooped. It along the surface and pulled a whole bunch of dirt from the surface of the moon into, the box it. Turns out that. That dirt the. Lunar regolith, was, really important to helping us understand, the. Solar wind and other properties, of the Moon and that was information that we didn't get from rocks so. That impromptu. Sample collection is actually one of the most valuable samples, that we brought back from the moon on the bottom. Welcome. To the u.s. may know that the Apollo guidance computer. I'm. The Karla friend and this is the official, visitor, center for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center now, Marshall has been designing and building the rockets that send astronauts, into space since. 1960. In fact, this, machine, here is an authentic, f1. Engine that powered the Saturn 5 the, vehicle, they launched, the Apollo missions, the, Saturn fives chief architect, was Marshalls first director, Wernher von Braun and throughout, the 1950s. Von Braun promoted. Space travel, he also helped, spur much of the technology that, first took Americans, into space and now, America, is ready for the next wave of human exploration. NASA's, Artemis, mission which will take Americans, to the moon and will set the stage for putting, humans on Mars, Marshall. Is again working on the rocket to get them there the, Space Launch System or SLS and, Marshall. We are proud, of our heritage of fire, and smoke here's a look. Joining. Me now is astronaut. Rex Walheim now, he flew, three different.

Space Shuttle missions including. The very last one, sts-135. Hi Rex how are you Carl, it's great to be here now. You didn't get a chance to ride on a Saturn 5 but tell, us what it's like as an astronaut, to be in a rocket at liftoff. Well probably the most member one is your first time and you're loaded into the rocket about a couple hours of for launch and you're strapped in and it feels like you're sitting in this very high-rise. Building solid as a rock then, about 6 seconds before launch the main engine start up and even though you're still bolted the pad it shakes like it's coming apart it's really amazing and then if the engines out fit great for 6 seconds and the solid rocket boosters light and then you feel that joke and you lift off and it's an incredible ride from zero to 17,500. Miles, an hour and eight and a half minutes that. Sounds incredible, now as we look back on Apollo 11, what, are your thoughts as an astronaut, about re-establishing, a, human presence beyond, Earth orbit well I think it's so important because the Apollo program they went to the frontier, to the moon farther than any humans has ever traveled in history and we need to get back there so we can learn how to do that again because it's very difficult to get there we haven't done it in decades we want to go there learn how to do it and then go beyond and go to Mars, now. We actually have a, social media question, one. Managed, on Twitter asks, what, is NASA's, plan for future astronaut, programs, well, first future astronaut going to be similar to the ones today will select the best and the brightest the folks from all across the country the most diverse backgrounds, we can get the people who've shown that they can excel in various different types of functions and we'll bring them all down the Johnson Space Center try to interview to who's gonna work the best it'll, be very similar than al except there's gonna be a different dimension with, the the, autonomy, that we're gonna need in the expeditionary, behavior where where people are going farther than we've ever gone before and they'll be far, from so far from Earth that will take minutes, and minutes for just Communications to go back and forth so we have to become four operating by themselves but, for the most part would be very similar to the way we pick astronauts, today, thanks. Rex, you know today thousands. Of NASA employees. Contractors. And suppliers are working, in all 50. States to turn our plans into reality, the, Apollo program also. Was a nationwide effort on a giant, scale with so many, unsung, heroes behind the famous names and faces and many Apollo, era veterans, are right, here in Huntsville let's, hear from a few of them about that era. Most. Of us were just out of college didn't, have much of a experience. But. Here's what challenge, we're gonna do something in ten months it's never been done before I mean, you never. Went, home with your desk cleaned. Off it was just so much to do we were just all, heads. Down trying to get ready and you know it didn't matter that, I was a co-op it didn't matter that I was 19. Years old, didn't, mind working 80 bucks eight hours a week because, when you were gonna do something different you didn't, go home until you finished, her work that. Was pretty standard in those days late. To bed early to rise work, like hell and advertise and. We. Were committed to, make it happen. The, thing about the moon that I thought was peculiar, was when the Sun was almost overhead, and it was noon down below the moon appeared to be a warm, in a friendly place near dawn, or dusk place, looked distinctly, unfriendly. What. A great tribute to Apollo 11, command module, pilot Mike. Collins, who. Joins me now live along, with astronaut, candidate, Zena Cartman welcome, Thank. You Karin Thank You senior yeah I'm looking forward to hearing, from both of you, yes likewise it's good to have you here now, Mike uh people.

May Not know that after your NASA career you were the first director of this very Smithsonian. Air and Space Museum. Taking, charge while the building was under construction, and then being here when the doors first opened in, 1976. It's, been one of the most visited tourist sites, in Washington, ever since so. Director. Collins, welcome. Back thank, you it's so nice to be back the. Smithsonian, has always been. One, of my most. Favorite. Buildings. Anywhere. In the world and, I used, to go to the Museum. Of Natural History and, when. I was perhaps 10 years old I would watch snails. Now, they had these were not, live snails they were, snail. Shells, but they had like, 37. Of them all in a row and I, used to for some reason I was totally, fascinated, by that display I used to count them and figure out why. They were big and little and what colors, they were and. All of those things so that's, my upbringing, his Smithsonian. And. Aaron's. Face of. Course came much later and. I, had, a lot of help with people, like Barry Goldwater, who was a senator. On the right committees, who helped, me get money to. Get the 40 million dollars, a mass that we needed to dig the hole and bring, the building up it was. Well, it's a wonderful place to be now. Let's. Take us back in time a little bit you were up. Orbiting. The moon during that Apollo 11, you went around some 30 times alone. Over. About 24 hours take. Us there tell us what you were feeling and what that was like, you, know I was amazed I was always asked weren't you the loneliest person in the whole lonely, universe, when you were in that lonely command, module all by your lonely self going around the lonely but she's lonely. No. No. Happy. I was, at home this. Was my a little, place that Columbia. The command module, was I, had, hot coffee, I, had. Music if I want her dead if I, had some problem, or question I just got. On. The radio with, Mission Control and they were always very helpful they. Even tried to talk to me when I was by, myself behind. The moon but, haha couldn't. Get, Jimmy, in that situation. So. Down on the ground was Neil Armstrong, who obviously is a larger-than-life, historic, figure tell. Us what you'd like people to remember about him as a crew me. About. The crew. Made. No. Personal, Neil he was he. Was an all-american. Person. In in many, ways Neil was very intelligent, he, he. Had interests. In science. On. Both. Sides of the kind of work that NASA does, he.

He, Was he was modest, he didn't like the, spotlight. On him but, when he was caught in its glare he knew exactly what, to say after. The flight of Apollo 11 we. Were, very. Fortunate to have an around world trip that Neil was our spokesperson. And. He. Just did a masterful, job he, had done his homework everywhere. We went he he. Knew the background of the country, he knew what to say to the local people by, the time he finished one of his short. Five ten minute speeches. Half. Of the audience was ready to climb on board Columbia. And go, with us he was just masterful. And. All. Right we are we, have some people hoping, to ask questions, to Xena and to Michael Colin social. Media, though I just realized. We may not have the access to the social media questions so I am instead going to turn. To a question to Xena who I'd wanted to ask a question of as well obviously Michael, when you qualified, an. Astronaut you were a pilot and Xena, had took a very different, path into. This so tell us a little bit about your path here my, background is actually in microbiology, I studied, biology in college my. Thesis was in poetry believe, it or not and then, I did research in marine microbiology. For my master's degree, but. To me one of the most exciting parts, of being in, the space program now is just how, different, a background, everyone's, come from we are test pilots we're also, microbiologists. We, are geologists. We're submarine, errs it's, a really, interesting and diverse group to get to work with and. So we, are still taking social media questions or sorry we can't answer them right here and now but certainly will continue to take them throughout throughout. The show, Tina, give us your perspective on Apollo 11, what what is the legacy Impala van action I'll toss that to both of you tell us about your perspective, on the, legacy. Of Apollo 11 sure, it's it's a part of the world that I grew up and, I you.

Know I I never knew a world before men, had left this planet and, so. I have to ask the people who lived through that themselves what, that means to them and they, can tell me where, they were when they saw that happen, they can tell me the exact chair they were sitting in it was just this monumental. Pivotal, moment in human history and, so. To me that's just it's. So, touching. To know that that's part of the world that I'm in now and it's this hugely inspiring. Challenge. To my generation, what would be our Apollo, what will be this thing that people. Around the world will feel a part of a. Little. Bit about the legacy I. I'm. Not big on legacies, I'm, not sure I, think, maybe 50, years is not enough time to give it a proper spacing, for, it, but I was really taken. By something. Dina said with her, minor. Is in poetry I love. That idea it's, great I go to MIT, from, time to time and, talk to the students up there and, of. Course the great push in this country today and rightfully. So is, science. Technology. Engineering math, stem, and I say now that's not a complete, education. Poetry. In there we, are going to now, toss back to the mall to Adam Savage, who has a message not about poetry but for those people who still. Thinks. Karen amazingly. There, are still people who, choose not to, believe that, we went to the moon, even, though to perpetrate, such a hoax would have taken far, more energy, than actually, just going to, the moon and on Mythbusters, early, in our tenure my co-hosts. Janey Kari grant and Tory and, I busted. This conspiracy theory, in pretty, much every. Way we could have possibly tested. It we built miniature models we rode the vomit comet we wore spacesuits, we tried everything, and in fact our. Episode, is used by, moon-landing, deniers to, bolster, their argument they thought that our miniature model, of the moon scape looked, so good it helped, convince, them, that the moon landing might have been faked by Stanley, Kubrick at some secret soundstage in the desert which is total, Buncombe and when I am confronted, with that sort of willful ignorance well, I don't have any answer, but. Apparently Tahira has a question. From the crowd out on the mall to hear oh, hi. I'm, Tahira and I'm out here on National, Mall in Washington DC. It is a beautiful. Day out here to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of, the Apollo 11 moon, landing right. Now I'm following, the conversation, on social media, and, Twitter user David, says it would, have been harder to fake it than to do it in regards, to the Apollo 11 moon landing Adam. You broke it down on Mythbusters what do you think Oh without. A doubt one of the great pleasures of my life, to here is that I get to talk, to people at NASA and meet astronauts, and come to places like the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The, fact is is the pride that all of the incredible men and women and engineers, and scientists, who, executed. This incredible, feat and continue, to execute it on a daily basis that pride is based in reality not. In fantasy, and it is my honor to be able to meet and talk to these folks when. NASA's giant leap continues. It'll be with fire and smoke, from. Alabama. Welcome. Back to Wapakoneta, and, the, Armstrong, Air and Space Museum. I'm Ty Bateman, an anchor, with hometown. Stations, and Lima Ohio and, I'm here with a team, from the Glenn Research Center that, not only developed, liquid. Hydrogen as rocket fuel but also developed. Electric. Propulsion and, the team is also working, on a, new, generation, electric. Propulsion system.

That Will. Power our. Gateway. An outpost, for astronauts, in lunar. Orbit that, will give access to the, surface, and joining me now from, the. Glenn Research Center is, Mike Barrett hello Mike, hi and how does electric, propulsion work, and how is it different from chemical, rockets well, traditional, chemical propulsion, burns. A fuel and. That generates a high temperature gas that gets pushed out of the spacecraft in one direction and that propels the spacecraft, in the opposite direction electric. Propulsion instead. Of burning of fuel uses, electricity to, charge or, ionize, a gas and then that excel is accelerated. Out of the spacecraft and, that provides that propulsive, push now, where does the power come from well. For solar electric, propulsion the, power comes from the Sun we. Use solar, panels to convert, sunlight into electricity and, then that electricity, is used to power both the spacecraft, and the electric propulsion system, so, how we roll solar electric, propulsion helped. NASA get, to the moon and eventually to Mars well, since solar, electric propulsion doesn't, have to take all that fuel with it and it uses the sunlight for energy then. That, spacecraft. Instead, of having to take all that fuel can take things like oxygen water communications. Equipment science, experiments, anything, else the astronauts, need to complete the mission that, makes the build and design of that spacecraft a lot easier and the efficiency, of the electric propulsion helps, us make the mission more achievable Mike, very exciting, thank you so much thank you and NASA's. Giant, leaps continue. Down at Space Center Houston. But. First as you see from our show today NASA really is everywhere. With technological. And economic impacts. All across, the country in a vation for exploration, has an impact on our daily lives, just, as it did in the Apollo era. All. Engine, running. Nathan. Extraordinary, elevator. This, nation should commit itself to, achieving the goal of, landing. Returning, him safely to, the year. I. Think. Landing on the moon changed. The sky, from. A barrier, into. A doorway, it. Turned. The sort of this the backdrop, of all, of, human history the sky into. An invitation, I would. Give anything to remember that moment my mom promises. I saw it but. I don't. Remember a thing. It. Might be one of the reasons where I'm a little obsessed with the moon landing I have have, the special New York Times edition, when they were on their way to the moon July, 17th. The models, of the moon that's where, are we that's that, there. It is that's. Sea. Of Tranquility that's, that's where they landed right there. Can. I bring my family with me yes yes I would go to Mars. They. Got water there and everything and methane, what more do you want. Hi, we're at Johnson, Space Center's official, visitor center joined by president, and CEO of Space Center Houston William, Harris thanks, Brandi welcome to Space Center Houston we're, a dynamic, learning destination. Where we share what NASA is doing every, day where. We spire people of all ages through the wonders of space exploration. Thanks. William for hosting this segment for us and we are joined here today by Apollo, 7. Astronaut, walk Cunningham, Walter. Was on the first manned at a command. F the, man's mission of Apollo and I, gave us the first live views, of astronauts, from space as well as performing some critical checkouts, of the command module thanks, for joining us Walt it. Was really a pleasure to be with you people here after all of, these years we. Appreciate. It. Was like living, and working on that command module for 11 days. Well. In. Retrospect that, that, 11 days was probably, the best 11 days of my life. We. Had worked actually. I had worked five years, to. Get up to that there. Was three different scheduled. Flights and overcoming. Various obstacles, and to this day that's still a longest, most. Ambitious, most, successful, first test flight of any, new. Flying, machine ever. So I I. Feel. Very fortunate, to have been there we're. Fortunate, to have you here with us having, had the longest most, successful, flight test of a new spacecraft do, you have any advice, for, the astronauts you're going to be going up on those first missions, for Orion, and Artemis well.

I Probably would have some advice but I I don't, believe that the astronauts, have as much authority. In. Preparing. For these things today as we did 50 years ago that means, a lot a, lot, of things have been perfected. At. The same time the. Society, has changed and, the, astronauts, are not driving. Everything, like we used to get away with. As you can see there's a lot of excitement here about the about, the follow anniversary, that's what you're hearing in the background but. Also here with Walt and I we have Laura Kearney who is one of the people in charge of some of the new technology, were developing. To send people to, the moon Laura is the deputy program manager of, Gateway so that is what a key part of getting astronauts. To the moon will be in lunar, orbit so, tell us a little bit about what that is Laura sure. The. Gateway is gonna be an orbiting, platform basically the. Circles. The moon it. Will provide basically. An aggregation, point, where lunar landers, can. Go, from the earth to the gateway and they can aggregate there and will be able to fly missions to, and from the moon the great thing about the Gateway is it's going to give us access to the entire surface of the Moon how, will it be different from the International, Space Station it. Will, be different in a few ways for, one thing it's going to be much smaller than the International, Space Station the, space station is it's, basically the size of a football field roughly. The, gateways going to be much smaller maybe a tenth of the size so, just a fraction. We. Also where the space station is, inhabited. 24/7. 365. The. Gateway will only have people on it when Orion is visiting, so one, to, start out it'll be about once a year maybe 30 days at a time so. Our spacecraft is gonna have to be a lot more autonomous, than today's, space station and then of course the obvious we're gonna be much farther away and. This is a pretty new program, for us so where are we in the development, of gateway you, know we are really making a lot of progress really, fast the, first elements, that make up what we're calling phase one of the Gateway should. All be in place in order for us to make. And, support that 2024. Boots on the moon mandate, that we have so our, first element is the parent propulsion, module, and, it, should launch in 2022. We. Just announced, the contractor. That's going to help us to build that module max our technologies. So. They are well on their way the. Second module that we put up will be a habitation, module, it will dock with that power. And. We. Are very very close to, getting, that modulo, in contract, and on its way here in probably the next month or two and then the, third element that will be part of that first 2024. Phase one is our logistics, module and we ought to have it on contract, by, the end of this calendar year so a lot of progress is happening really fast yeah lots of balls moving now well, is, there anything that you. Know hearing about gateway you wish you had on Apollo 7, or that having, had 11, days in space on Apollo 7 that you would recommend having on the Gateway. Personally. I find it very difficult to. Compare. Things. Today and what they were then, 50 years ago. It's. Because the, organization's, become, more organized.

Many. Of the problems we have been I won't say solved, but are like. 98, 99 percent, compared, to 50. Percent but. I do, see, a difference, in attitude in. Exploring. Space today, for what it was back, 50. Years ago when. Everybody. Was a fighter pilot test, pilot, and, we saw it basically. As an opportunity to stick our necks out a little. To do it and. What's. Amazing for. Me when I look at that is here we are 50, years later and. I. Never, in my life could have projected. This. Amount of interest. And. Association. Was, what we were doing back, then and. Also at the same time since. It's a. Civilian. Operation. Wasn't. Military if, we had all military trained fighter, pilots, but what's going to happen is a. Hundred years from now two, hundred five hundred years from now there's only going to be probably. One thing they remember about, the 20th century and that's a man went to the moon and. Neil. Armstrong. He's. Going to be going down, in, history. Appreciate. Your role in helping us get to where we are today and, we're thankful, that you're celebrating, with us well. I I feel, very fortunate I feel more fortunate, today because. What I was taking for granted back. On Apollo 7 which to this day is still the longest most. Ambitious most. Successful, first s fight, back. In those days it, was a challenging. Job to do we, were committed to it we've got to do whatever was necessary to make that a success and. Now. 50, years later I, look. At it in perspective with. Our overall, accomplishment. Apollo. And, frankly. I am proud to played one. Small step. In that with Apollo 7, thank. You so much we are looking forward to also having some big milestones, to celebrate, in the upcoming years. The, good part of that and getting people that come to the moon is going to be gateway it's gonna be cutting edge technology, and that's saying something since, we had cutting, edge technology, 50 years ago you. Probably, know that the spacecraft. To get us to the moon was incredibly, complicated but. Do you realize that there were 6.1. Million, parts in the, saturn v launch vehicle, in the apollo spacecraft that, had to be assembled and, it all had to work correctly for, us to get to the moon in, July in 1969. And welcome. Back to, the Saturn 5 Center at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida a look at the lunar, module that, was supposed to be for Apollo 15, but actually never flew once they decided they were gonna take moon, Rovers, up to the moon but, they say it works and it could have gone to the moon yeah. And it's it's it's one thing to see it you know the pictures of it are magnificent. On camera but when you're up close and personal right next to it you really see you know all those little details and it's just amazing, that we what we were able to accomplish together as a nation you're absolutely right and back. Here at the Kennedy Space Center if you're just joining us we are of course celebrating the, 50th anniversary of, Apollo and looking forward to our plans for the next giant leap to the moon and on tomorrow and a reminder that we're taking your questions online using, the hashtag, Apollo 50th, and that will have a fun reveal coming up a little later about our Artemis, program at the end of the show a fun reveal yeah, you tell me now well, know then it wouldn't be a reveal show, you got away all right I'm gonna w

2019-07-22 09:20

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