WEBVTT - July 24, 1969 / Red Planet or Bust! 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.800 Nine Days in July is a production of I Heart 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.920 Radio and Trade Traft Studios in association with High five Content. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.280 Just half an hour after the Saturn five bearing Apollo 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.560 eleven lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Vice President Spirou Agnew 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.560 sat down with Walter Cronkite, anchorman for the CBS Evening News. 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.760 After a brief discussion about the launch, Cronkite said the following, 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.319 you know, it's a nature of the American and the 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:30.479 people on the space program, particularly to constantly look beyond 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.120 where we are. This is the nature of the man 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.960 who wants to go to the Moon. However, Cronkite reminded 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.760 the Vice President that he had recently said, I think 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.000 the United States should undertake a very ambitious new project 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.760 in space. I think we should attempt interplanetary exploration in 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.479 a man's sense. At the time Agnew sat down with 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.600 America's most beloved newsman, Apollo eleven had just reached dorbent, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.680 it would be four more days before it reached the Moon, 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.240 and no one knew if the first lunar mission would 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.280 even be successful. Despite that context, the Vice President of 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.480 the United States felt that American needed to articulate a 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.520 broad objective for the future. It's very easy to forego 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.360 the optimistic, long range approach to these things because you 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.160 can always find a hundred reasons not to do it 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.480 or why it may fail. But with the way science 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.840 has advanced in the past fifty years, I don't think 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.880 we'd be out of line and saying, for example, we're 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:31.840 going to put a man on Mars by the end 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.920 of this century. And when it came to Mars, Agnew's 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.280 objective was clear, and I think we should do it 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.920 by the end of the century. In nineteen sixty nine, 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:46.039 the year nine seemed a long way off. As of 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.240 the time of this recording was already two decades ago, 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.400 and we are still decades from landing on Mars. If ever, so, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.480 what happened, Why did everything just stop? Where did we 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.120 go wrong? And is there any hope for humanity's space 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:09.760 faring future. About five hours before their planned splashed down, 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.000 the crew of Apollo eleven wake and prepare for landing. 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.560 Like excited kids waiting to open presents on Christmas morning. 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.919 They are up even before Houston attempts to rouse them. 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.440 Apollo eleven Good morning. To muse them all, Roger, we 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.320 saw you're up to turn around, and we're you're probably 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.440 leading your breakfast there about the maroon bugle, all of 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.799 fanning by here to give you the morning news. To 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.079 hear it. It's the last day of the news, okay. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.359 Apollo eleven remains the prime story with the world awaiting 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.639 your landing today at about the eleven am used in 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.160 time President Nixon that surprised your wise with a phone 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.040 call from San Francisco just before reboarded a plane to 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.400 fly out to meet you. President Nixon is flying out 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.880 to the aircraft carry you're assigned to retrieve the crew 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.400 once they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Eric Canada 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:08.120 says it has accepted twenty three hundred reservations for flights 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.079 to the Moon and the past five days, it might 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.680 be noted that more than one has been made by 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.560 men for their mothers in law. The fun stuff out 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.040 of the way, now it's time to get down to business. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.640 Remember that last night before they went to sleep, mission 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.960 control informed the crew that a sudden storm had moved 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.000 into their landing zone. The night before the caps that 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.560 was forced to land in the Pacific Ocean. There n 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.680 from Hawaii, there were thunder storms, and so Mass had 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.640 decided to change to splashdown location just that night before, 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.960 two hundred fifty miles closer to Samoa, so the ship 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.560 had to steam all not loan to get down. That's 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.360 John Wolfram. John was a Navy seal who had already 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.960 done one tour in Vietnam and was about to embark 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.000 on another. But first he was chosen to be part 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.920 of A. Paulo Levin's recovery team. I was the youngest. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.920 I am the team at the town. We'll have lots 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.360 more from John, the first person to greet the crew 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.120 of Apollo eleven upon their return. In just a minute. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.280 The weather forecast in the landing area right now is 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:18.400 two thousands entered high added ten miles when about zero 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.200 eight zero at eighteen knots uh. You'll have about three 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.520 to second foot ways and it looks like they'll be 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:32.080 landing about ten minutes before sunrise over okay, Cluck shows 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.919 where five and a half hours away from entry interface 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.360 point at which Apollo living winner of the RK's atmosphere. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.000 It really gets bigger up there, follow eleven. There the 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.039 hornet is on the station, just far enough off the 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.479 target point to keep from getting hit a recovery one 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:59.080 are the coppers. They're they're on station. However, as John 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.760 wolf From said, the Navy had to race full speed 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:03.960 ahead to the new landing area in order to get 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.039 on station on time. The ship assigned to recover the 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.599 capsule and crew is the USS Hornet, an Essex class 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.760 aircraft carrier that saw action up and down the Pacific 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.960 during World War Two. And I guess we're expanding by 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:22.400 for you to whip into the entry attitude. Okay, we 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.240 just been thanking a couple of lass manufacturers. Roger might 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:32.159 hid that may never come in there. Jim Lovell told 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:33.960 buzzing the crew to make sure they come in B 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.680 E F. That means blunt and forward. That's the heat 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.120 shield side astor not humor. I can see the moon 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.359 flight and by the window, and it looked at what 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:47.360 I considered to be a correct sign. I follow control 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.920 at one fifty minutes Follow eleven systems now eleven thousand, 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.680 four hundred sixty three nautical miles, approaching at the velocity 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.280 of seventeen thousand three hut per second. We were just 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:04.240 under an our away from the scheduled command module of 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:09.560 service Michul separation. If you had fallen into a coma 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.280 just after the first Moon landing in nineteen sixty nine 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.400 and awoke in two thousand and nineteen, you could be 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.640 forgiven for assuming the mission sparked a long and robust 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:23.880 era of interstellar exploration At DASA, The truth is, enthusiasm 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.120 for the Moon mission started to wane almost immediately. Though 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.680 we returned to the Moon five more times, it would 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.440 have been six if Apollo thirteen hadn't been forced to abort. 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:37.080 Deploying ever more sophisticated experiments and gaining greater scientific insights, 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.400 Apollo's budget was soon slashed, and the entire project was 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.200 halted just three years after Neil and Buzz first set 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.280 foot on the Moon. While some assumed that the Moon 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.040 was just the beginning of America's exploration of space, others, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.920 like those in control of the Federal Purse, felt that 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.880 we'd beat the Soviets and won the space race. Why 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.960 did we need to keep going back, Andy Aldren, It 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.800 was kind of inevitable. We got into race, we won 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.720 the race, and so after the race, you've kind of 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.000 warmed down a little bit, and then you go look 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.640 for the next race. And it wasn't one. What happened 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.800 after Apollo was kind of the normalization of space. There 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.680 were a few significant last gasps. Rather than let its 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.320 left over rockets go to waste, the US built a 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.880 space station under the third stage of a Saturn five. 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.920 Between nineteen seventy three and seventy four. Sky Lab was 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.560 occupied for about twenty four weeks, demonstrating that humans can 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.280 live and work in space for long periods of time, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.360 what more leisure. It was not uncommon for the men 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.400 of sky Lab who indulge themselves in the fluidity of 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:44.360 movement in zero G. And in July of ninety exactly 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.000 six years after Neil, Buzz and Michael went to the Moon, 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.520 a command module docked in Earth orbit with a Russian 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:55.280 Soyu spacecraft and three US astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.360 visited each other's spacecraft. With the final goodbye. The astronauts 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.559 of Apollo and the cosmonauts US ended their historic meeting 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:09.240 in space, and that was it. After decades of intense rivalry, 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:13.679 the space race was officially over and Apollo was grounded. 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.160 It wasn't just the Apollo spacecraft coming down, it was 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.000 the curtain the last Apollo mission once he beat the Soviets, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:26.040 who care Space historian Amy Shearer title Nixon okayed a 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.880 space shuttle program, but hecated as the Shuttle to nowhere. 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.439 It was just a vehicle that could go up. It 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.280 couldn't go very far. It couldn't land anywhere but on 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.480 a runway. So we ended up in like NASCAR and space. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.840 We ended up just kind of like running labs. While 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.600 I was alive for the sky Lab and Apollo Soyus missions, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.200 I was too young to remember them. I grew up 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.480 with a Space Shuttle. I remember seeing the prototype Enterprise 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.679 during its international tour in nineteen three, which, as a 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.040 colossal Star Trek fan even then, delighted me to no end. 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:58.839 As an adult, I was lucky enough to witness three 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.920 Space shut launches and a landing. I loved that ship. 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.400 But while the space shuttles did great things, including launching 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.320 the Hubble Space Telescope, which gave us an unparalleled look 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.080 at our galactic home, and lift off of the Space 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.959 Shuttle Discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope our window on 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.880 the universe, and building the International Space Station, ensuring we've 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.280 had humans living and working in space continuously for more 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.680 than two decades. Tonight, I am directing Nasha to develop 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.720 a permanently manned space station, and to do it within 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:35.679 a decade. The Space Shuttle was an indisputable technological step backwards. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.080 We went from a spacecraft capable of deep space flight 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:41.959 to one that couldn't even leave lower th orbit. It 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.440 was a perfect landing as the Atlantis touched down after 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.840 a thirteen day mission delivering supplies to the International Space Station, 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.600 a final voyage that brings the Shuttle programming to an end. 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.440 And when the last Space Shuttle touched down on July 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.199 twenty one, two thousand and eleven, America no longer had 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.760 the technology to get to space. To get to and 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.680 from the International Space Station, it had to begin buying 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:14.240 seats on Russian spacecraft. Spacecraft distance eight thousand, ninety will 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.040 bring autical miles a lot of the nineteen thousand, five 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.559 twelve second back in ninety nine. Apollo eleven is nearly home. 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.480 Rescue and the aircraft are reported on the station and 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:33.679 Horner helicopters containing with swimmers are reported. Airborne weather still 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.959 holding real fun the recovery area, and I signed going 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:41.000 down on Steal darkn as you heard earlier, the crew 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.840 will splash down just before sunrise. As they draw nearer 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.520 to the Earth, they find themselves shrouded in the darkness 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.679 of the Earth's night side. They are now traveling down 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.160 the barrel of a forty mile wide entry corridor. In 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.400 the command module, Michael swears he can feel the gravity 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.080 of his planet pulling him home. The men swallow anti 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:05.040 nausea pills. Assuming everything goes according to plan, they will 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.000 soon be bobbing in seas with three to six foot waves. 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.960 The men have gone over their entry checklists numerous times already. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.559 They have too much time on their hands, and it's 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:18.280 beginning to create some anxiety. And we're about ten minutes 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.679 away from the scheduled separations time. Now it's time to 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.880 lose the service module, the largest portion of their spacecraft, 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.120 containing most of their power, fuel and rocket engine. They 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.040 can't enter the atmosphere if it's still attached. We see 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.199 you getting ready for sent Everything wants to find to 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:40.520 find down here, we're awaiting confirmation of separation. When Apollo 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.320 eleven launched, it weighs six million pounds. The only thing 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.480 left of the once massive Saturn five is the eleven 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.680 thousand pound triangular shaped station wagon sized command module. Once detached, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.640 thrusters on the service module fire to push it far 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.200 from the crew. They don't want it burning up anywhere 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.520 near them. Away confirmed separation. Now from on my ground 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:07.400 reading telemetry, we can confirm separation. And also was mindul 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:12.160 taking good carabous? You want to take you to a 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.880 camp in Houston. I used to look at mighty fine 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:20.839 here your player for landing. I appreciate every d gears 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:25.400 down a lock more astronaut humor. We got the modulet 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.640 going by a little high coming across now right to left. Buzzes. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.240 Words that you just heard were actually classified for years. 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.600 The thrusters that were supposed to move the service module 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.240 away didn't work properly. The crew is about to begin 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.199 their re entry and the service module is diving into 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.840 the atmosphere right beside them. Hello, I'm gonna lined up 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.280 right down the mid a little bit. Entry corridors now 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.400 thirty five thousand, five seventy eight ft per second. We're 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.959 a minute in forty five seconds from entry. Blackout will 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.920 begin eighteens second after once the ship strikes the atmosphere 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.760 and becomes wreathed in plasma calms with mission control will 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.840 be impossible. They will be coming down in the blind 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.480 over the hill. You're looking mind to find that we're 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:21.520 an entry time black guys. Very shortly, there's a black 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:28.319 guy at am Houston time, four thousand feet above Australia, Columbia, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.439 hits the atmosphere and more than thirty six thousand ft 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.839 per second, or ten times faster than a rifle bullet. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.400 We had to be able to use the atmosphere to 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.640 slow us all the way down, uh until we got 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.400 into a velocity that will allow us to put up 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.920 the parish. That was Apollo eight and Apollo thirteen astronaut 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.920 Jim Level. Tracy Caldwald Dyson is a current NASA astronaut. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.600 She went to space twice, once on the Space Shuttle 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.640 and the second time to live aboard the International Space Station. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.199 To get home from that trip, she had to take 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.640 a ride in a Russian soy Use capsule and you 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.640 see the the atmosphere that you're about to go through, 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.880 and then you fire this one burn. It's a long burn, 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.360 and it's directed precisely to put you at the right 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.000 angle and at the right spot to pass through the atmosphere. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.240 If Michael didn't calculate the precise right angle, the command 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.960 module will be vaporized too shallow, and it will bounce 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.720 off the atmosphere and be flung into space. The blackness 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.640 the guys were talking about earlier is now gone. Out 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.960 their tiny windows. The astronauts now begin to see ravenous 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.520 flames as ionized gases created by the heat re entry 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.720 begin enveloping the ship. Calms are gone for the next 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.160 four minutes. No one on Earth will know what's going 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.120 on inside apollow eleven, or indeed whether they successfully made 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.640 it through the atmosphere or disintegrated on re entry. Where 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:56.280 three minutes since entry blackout shoot in about three minutes 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:01.240 fifty three seconds after entry, or about eleven minutes lay 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.280 back in mission control, Evans at Capcom optimistically attempts to 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:13.880 raise the ship. There is no answer. Inside Columbia, the 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.040 astronauts can no longer see the service module. They are 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.920 enveloped in incandescent protoplasm. If you could see them right now, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:27.640 they appear as a blazing comment. The astronauts are falling 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.720 through a tunnel of colors orange, yellow, blue, even lavender, 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.760 which finally gives way to pure white. Michael feels as 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:39.200 if he's sitting inside of an enormous light bulb. Jim Level. 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.480 We could, of course look out the windows and see 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:46.040 the hate shield material. Flaky's all as the flames going 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.960 passed us. You never go through grade school thinking you're 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:50.720 going to be in the middle of a fireball, but 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.920 that's exactly what happens as you go through the atmosphere. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.960 Your spacecraft is a blating and designed to do that. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:01.680 Pieces of embers as your window, and you can smell 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.480 the charring, so you can feel the g forces building. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.240 What they can't see is that the service module is 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.480 being torn into fiery pieces. If any of the dying 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.600 vessels fragments collide with the command module, it will almost 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:31.920 certainly kill everyone aboard. Right, we tried going to the 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.320 Moon again. Inspired by all that that has come before, 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.000 and guided by clear objectives, today we set a new 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.800 course for America's space program. We will give NASA new 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.480 focus and vision for future exploration. We will build new 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.320 ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.080 a new foothold on the Moon, and to prepare for 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.480 new journeys to the worlds beyond our own on January 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.800 two and four, President H. W. Bush said, we will 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:05.359 undertake extended human missions to the Moon as early as 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.679 with the goal of living and working there for increasingly 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.960 extended periods of time. We even tested one of the 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.800 rockets that was going to get us there, the Cognition 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.760 lift off of Harry's one X festing concepts for the 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:26.439 future of new rocket design. On top of the arias 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.200 was going to be a new command module named Oriyan, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.399 and blueprints were being drafted for a new lunar module 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:37.199 dubbed Altaire. However, when the Obama administration took over, they 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.520 found the program over budget and behind schedule, and they 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.280 shut it down. Yes, pursuing this new strategy will require 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.639 that we revise the old strategy. In part. This is 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.240 because the old strategy, including the constellation program, was not 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:54.320 fulfilling its promise in many ways, and in the organization 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:58.120 like NASA, where lead times for developing technology are so long, 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.200 if you suddenly change the general objective of things every 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.840 four years, it has a huge impact. We have to 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.879 stop pushing the reset button every time there's a change 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.440 of power. In Washington, they've been pushing the reset button 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.560 on NASA again. And again and again, and it's been 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.200 really harmful to the progress of the program. To keep 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.480 moving the goal post the entire football stadium. That's destructive. 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.040 That was NASA chief historian Bill Berry and Apollo historian 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:30.399 Andrew Chaken. Under Obama, NASA proposed a new mission landing 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.560 humans on an asteroid, but that too soon withered on 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.920 the vine, and all the while American astronauts kept getting 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.840 two and from space on Russian equipment. Then in two 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.399 thousand and seventeen, nearly a decade after Constellation was shelved, 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:49.480 NASA announced the Artemis program. Fifty years ago, we went 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:54.480 to the Moon. We called it Apollo. Well many people 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.520 don't know is that Apollo had a twin. She was 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.760 a woman named Artemis, the goddess of the Moon. As 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:09.920 Tracy calledwell Dyson. She represents our next era of exploration 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.760 in space. Artemis encompasses how we're going to get to 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.920 the Moon and what we're gonna do when we get there. 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.800 NASA's goal is landing the first woman in man on 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.280 the Moon. By just four years from now, we are 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.440 returning to the Moon as a new generation of explorers, 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:32.359 this time to stay. Artemists is intended to be the 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.400 first step in setting up a long term human presence 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.360 on the Moon and perhaps even creating a lunar economy. 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.159 And this is all to explore the surface of the 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:46.360 Moon and utilize the resources there. We found an ideal 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:51.960 fuel in the soul when materials on the Moon for 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.800 fusion power production. It's called helium three. Apollo seventeen moonwalker 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.640 and geologist Harrison Schmidt Iste imp that fuse with itself 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:06.920 produces absolutely no radio activity. It creates energetic particles that 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:11.160 can be converted to electricity at much higher efficiencies than 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.920 any other kind of power systems. Artemis is the most 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.480 ambitious thing NASA has done since Apollo. It is nearly 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.760 done building the SLS, a new rocket even larger and 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.240 more powerful than the Saturn five. NASA is building the 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.000 Space Launch System, comprising of a cargo hold and exploration 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.600 upper stage, a massive course stage, and two extended solid 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:36.720 rocket boosters. Altogether, this is the world's most powerful rocket 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.480 and it exceeds the legendary Saturn five of the Apollo 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:44.800 era in numerous ways. The fl F is Space Launch System, 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.400 and it is the greatest rocket we've ever built. Yes, 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.600 it will be more powerful than the Saturn five. The 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.520 Ryan Capsule is the spacecraft that is going to return 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:02.040 humans to the Moon and destinations beyond. Just as the 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.560 Command Module is the only part of the Saturn five 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.479 to survive the trip, so two is the Orion Capsule 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.520 the only thing to survive Constellation. This is their deep 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.760 space human rated spacecraft called Orion. The crew module. We're 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.160 up to four astronauts will live and work throughout the flight, 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.399 and while the original Command Module could hold only three people, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.359 the Orion Capsule has seating for four. Other than the 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.000 new lemb which will discuss in just a moment, NASA 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:30.919 has added something to the Apollo architecture, the Gateway. Building 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.680 on the lessons learned from the International Space Station, the 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.320 key to sustainable lunar missions is establishing an orbiting lunar 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:40.840 outpost that we call Gateway, a small space station. The 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.480 Gateway will be placed in orbit around the Moon and 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.920 provide the astronauts living quarters and their research lab. The 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:52.280 Apollo missions were inspired by a space race. Artemis is 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.680 also a global partnership. We're not a race, We're a partnership. 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.840 We're going to explore the Moon for purposes that benefit 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.640 mankind to learn more about it and use it as 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.960 a platform to then go further. I'm profoundly grateful that 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:12.160 we are setting our sights on the Moon again after 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:16.719 so much time when the Moon seemed to be sideline. However, 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.520 Chicken is skeptical, and I just am not convinced that 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:23.680 we can, even with the most talented people that we 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:27.000 have at NASA and elsewhere. It's asking a lot to 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.240 do it in just five years. But I'm glad we're 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:33.000 talking about it. I want to see it happen. I 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:35.920 just don't want to see us do it without the 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.960 same care and the same diligence, because if we don't 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.480 do those things, we're gonna pay the price that they 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:47.320 paid an Apollo with accidents and perhaps even fatal accidents. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.560 And he's not the only one. Space historian Amy Sharer 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:52.960 title feels the same way. Yeah, I feel like we're 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:56.040 in that compleateding where we have to manage expectations with 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:58.760 the reality of how hard space it. That's fine, because 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.480 space is hard, but you know, let's let's be realistic 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:03.080 and say we're going to do this, and we're going 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:05.000 to do it in the time that it needs to take. 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.320 For her part, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who's in line to 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:10.840 be the first woman on the moon, thinks NASA is 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.840 doing just that. We know things take time, and they 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:18.879 take time because human lives are at stake. Everything in 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:22.000 space takes longer. And then in this day and age 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.320 where everything is so instant, we have to take time 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.959 or else we're not gonna get there smartly, and then 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:32.800 we could end up parting somebody in the process. One 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:35.080 of the ways NASA is hoping to alleviate time and 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:38.840 stress is by allowing commercial interests to take over human 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.360 and cargo flights to the I s s. That way 0:23:41.680 --> 0:23:44.359 they can focus on bigger things. There are a group 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:48.240 of billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and some 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:50.840 others who are leading sort of the growth of a 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:55.120 commercial private space industry that has been over the last 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:59.560 decade or so slowly eroding the government's long held but 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:03.960 not lee on space. That's Chris Davenport. I'm a reporter 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:07.119 at the Washington Post, where I write about space and 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:09.920 um also the author of a book called The Space 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.440 barns Well. NASA and other global governments have dominated space 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:18.320 exploration given its expense and risk. Private entrepreneurs Chris is 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:21.680 aptly named space Barns are beginning to move in on 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:26.200 their domain, bringing with them new technologies and innovative manufacturing 0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:30.280 processes that drive costs down and get the job done faster. 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:33.760 First and foremost elon Musk SpaceX. I mean, they are 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:36.400 the ones who sort of broke down the barriers from 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:39.040 the very beginning and said we are going to enter 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.160 this market and try to disrupt the space launch market. 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:44.960