1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works, and I love all things tech. 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: And we are, in fact continuing our journey into space, 6 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: or at least the history of space travel. And I 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,159 Speaker 1: know we talked a lot about space. We're gonna be 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: talking more about space for the next few episodes because 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: it's a fascinating topic and I love looking into it 10 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: and there's so much to talk about. The this episode, 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: we're going to focus on the later Apollo missions, and 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: we will also switch over and talk about the development 13 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: of the Soyuz spacecraft, the Soviet spacecraft that was intended 14 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: to be a competitor to Apollo and is a workhorse 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: for space travel now, I mean, it's the only spacecraft 16 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: spoiler alert that will actually bring people back and forth 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: between the International Space Station. In upcoming episodes, I'll talk 18 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: more about launch vehicles, which we frequently will refer to 19 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: as rockets, and I will also talk about the Space 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: Shuttle program, and then after that we will move on 21 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: to non space related topics. I know it talked a 22 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,119 Speaker 1: lot about it, but I could have gone into even 23 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: more detail about the various spacecraft in their subsystems and 24 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 1: how they all worked, but I realized that it would 25 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: be over at kill and I didn't want to go 26 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: absolutely nuts. So let's pick up where we left off, 27 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: which was after the return of the Apollo eleven capsule. Now, 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: Apollo eleven wasn't just a phenomenal achievement in science, engineering, 29 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: astronaut training, although it was definitely all of those things, 30 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: but it was also effectively the end of the space 31 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: race that had started when the Soviet Union launched sput 32 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Nick into orbit and put that out as the first 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: man made satellite in Earth orbit. The Soviets had won 34 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: those early victories, Sputnik being the first one, but also 35 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: they were the first to put a human into orbit. 36 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: They were the first to put a woman into space, 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: but the Americans had managed to be the first two 38 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: docs spacecraft in orbit, and no one else was able 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: to put people on the Moon, although the Soviets did 40 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: try to do that too, and I'll talk more about 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: those efforts later in this episode. Apollo eleven pretty much 42 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: sealed the deal, and after that success, the space race 43 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: was effectively over. Symbolically, it would not be over for 44 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: a few more years, but the Apollo projects still had 45 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: several more missions before it would end. Apollo eleven was 46 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: not the end of the Apollo program. Apollo twelve was 47 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: the second mission to have a lunar landing. The crew 48 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: would deploy tech called the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package 49 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: or all SEP a l s EP. This was a 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: collection of geophysical instruments. Apollo eleven had a more modest 51 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: collection of experiments that they carried. That one was called 52 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: the Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package or a SEP. That 53 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: one had two official experiments and then two additional experiments 54 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: that were not officially part of a SEP. This is 55 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: where I start looking into NASA records and I say, 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: what's the difference between officially being part of something and 57 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: not officially being part of something but still going along 58 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: for the ride of being left on the Moon. But 59 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: maybe that's just me getting confused by semantics. NASA on 60 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: Apollo eleven was mostly focused on landing people on the 61 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: freaking Moon and then getting them back home safely, So 62 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: science was sort of a secondary priority, right. It was 63 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: not the highest priority for NASA. For that. For the 64 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: Apollo eleven mission, they had some scientific experiments they wanted 65 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: to include, but mostly they just wanted to concentrate on 66 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: getting people on the Moon and then getting them back 67 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: home safely. The purpose of all SEP was to monitor 68 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: the environment of and a region close to the Apollo 69 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: landing site for at least a year after the end 70 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: of the visit to the Moon. Apollo seventeens version of 71 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: all SEP was designed to to operate for two years, 72 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: and so there The Apollo twelve one was just the 73 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: first all step. All of the other following Apollo missions 74 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: would bring similar packages along. Some of them worked for 75 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: up to eight years before Mission control would shut down 76 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,679 Speaker 1: all remaining all SEP projects on September nineteen seventy seven, 77 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: so some far outlasted their their projected useful lifespan. The 78 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: all SEPs history is pretty darn interesting all in its 79 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: own right. It's it's just the the list of experiments 80 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: is fascinating. The projects started way back in March nineteen 81 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: sixty three, so they knew that the plan was to 82 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: go to the Moon. Kennedy had made the announcement in 83 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, But what could we do once we 84 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: got there, what kind of data would we try to collect? 85 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: And that began a long series of discussions to select 86 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: which experiments would be conducted on the Moon's surface, And 87 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: they had to consider a lot of different factors when 88 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: they were making these choices, not just what was going 89 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: to be the most scientifically interesting, that was obviously one 90 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: of the really important factors, but also what was just 91 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: going to be practical, because the experiments would need to 92 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: be relatively simple in design, because there was no chance 93 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: of sending out a technician to repair a complicated piece 94 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: of equipment once the lunar module would lift off the Moon. 95 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: You know, you can't make a service call and have 96 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: a repairman go to the Moon to fix something. They 97 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 1: also could not be too heavy, both for the purposes 98 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: of planning out the payload for the launch vehicle, but 99 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: also how you deploy it. How How would you know 100 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: cause the astronauts the how would they actually take it 101 00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: out of the lunar module, take it to the rights 102 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: it and set it up it. It was too heavy 103 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: and too complex. Although really heavy wasn't the big problem. 104 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: Bulky was the problem. I mean, on the Moon you 105 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: have one six the Earth's gravity, so it would have 106 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: to be incredibly heavy to be problematic, but bulky was 107 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: an issue that and where the weight was distributed was 108 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: an issue. There were several all steps where astronauts found 109 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,119 Speaker 1: it difficult to carry them, not because necessarily the weight, 110 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: but because there was no convenient way to carry them 111 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: on the Moon's surface. During those discussions, Nassa identified questions 112 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: that scientists felt we should try to answer with these experiments. 113 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: So before designing any equipment or deciding what technology to 114 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: send along, they said, well, what is it exactly do 115 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: we want to learn, and that that will guide us 116 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: into designing these experiments. So those questions included stuff like, 117 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: what is the internal structure of the moon, What is 118 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: the actual geometric shape of the moon? What is the 119 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: present inter internal energy regime sam of the Moon? Where 120 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: where is energy going? Is the Moon shedding energy as 121 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: it absorbing energy? Was the composition of the lunar surface 122 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: wasn't made out of cheese? It turns out no, What 123 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: principal processes were responsible for the present structure of the Moon. 124 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: Why is the Moon the way it is? Was the 125 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: present tectonic pattern and distribution of tectonic activity on the 126 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: Moon are their moon quakes? What are the dominant processes 127 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: of erosion, transport and deposition of material on the lunar surface? 128 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: How does this stuff move around? What volatile substances are 129 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: present on or near the lunar surface? Is there any 130 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: evidence of organic or proto organic molecules on the Moon? 131 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: How old is the Moon? And what is the history 132 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: of dynamic interaction between the Earth and the Moon. A 133 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: follow eleven's ACEP contained a passive seismic experiment package, so 134 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: it would measure essentially moon trimmers, and it had four 135 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: seisometer is that were powered by two solar panels, and 136 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: that would that would study any moon quakes or vibrations 137 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: from meteorite impacts, and it would ultimately record somewhere between 138 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: a hundred and two hundred meteorite impacts during the course 139 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: of its useful lifespan. The second experiment on the ace UP, 140 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: the official experiment, was a lunar dust detector that would 141 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: measure the amount of dust accumulating on the lunar surface 142 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: and would also monitor damage to solar cells caused by 143 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: high energy radiation. Because the Moon does not have the 144 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: same level of protection from radiation as the Earth does. 145 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: Lacking an atmosphere, it doesn't absorb as much of that 146 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: radiation outside of the surface. That is in addition to 147 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: the two official DECEP experiments, they did have two other 148 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:51,239 Speaker 1: ones I mentioned earlier. Those were a lunar ranging retro reflector, 149 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: which is a fancy way of saying a very reflective surface. 150 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: It was actually an array of one cubes made of 151 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: fused silica, and this reflect the surface was positioned on 152 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: the Moon so that if you had a sufficiently powerful 153 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: laser beam and you knew exactly where that reflective surface was, 154 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: you could aim the laser beam at the surface and 155 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: have it reflect back to the Earth. And if you 156 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: did that with a laser and a sensor, so that 157 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: you've fired the laser and then you had a sensor 158 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: there to detect what the time difference was between firing 159 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: the laser and picking up the reflection, you could get 160 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: very precise measurements of how far away the Moon was, 161 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: to a degree of accuracy of up to eight centimeters, 162 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: which is pretty incredible. You know how close the Moon 163 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: was within eight centimeters. That experiment was operational until June. 164 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: The solar wind composition experiment was the second non ACEP 165 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: experiment deployed by buzz Aldron during Apollo eleven, and it 166 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,439 Speaker 1: used a panel of alunium foil, which was really pretty 167 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: much the same stuff is what you would use to 168 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: wrap up leftovers, and that foil panel was it to 169 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: collect atomic particles that were emitted by the Sun. That 170 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 1: experiment wasn't left on the Moon, so instead they deployed it. 171 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: They unfolded it and set it up and then left 172 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: it alone for about an hour or so and then 173 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: collected it and stored it in the Lunar Module, and 174 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: they brought it back aboard the Man's Service Module on 175 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: the return trip home, and once they landed, they turned 176 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,439 Speaker 1: over that experiment to a group of scientists from Switzerland. 177 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: It was the group of scientists who had actually designed 178 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: that experiment. The step and the all set packages called 179 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: the Scientific Equipment Bay aboard the Lunar Module their home 180 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: until landing on the Moon. This bay, it's kind of 181 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: like a trunk in a car in a way. It 182 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: was designed so that would allow for easy unloading on 183 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: the Moon's surface, so it's height with such that the 184 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: astronauts didn't have to try and bend far down in 185 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,079 Speaker 1: those big bulky spacesuits to get that things, they could 186 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: kind of reach and grab it and pull it out. 187 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: The bay also had boom arms that would help offload materials, 188 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: particularly the bulky ones that might require both astronauts to 189 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: work together. Remember, the lunar module would have two astronauts 190 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: in it and the command module would have the third 191 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:13,440 Speaker 1: astronauts still in orbit around the Moon. Uh This was 192 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: important to have those boom arms because sometimes the lunar 193 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: module would land in such a way that it wasn't 194 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: really level on the Moon's surface. You might land at 195 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: the edge of a little dip, or one of the 196 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: legs of the lunar module might sink a little further 197 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: into the dust on the surface, So they wanted to 198 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: make sure they had systems in place to help with 199 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: the unloading in case the lunar module wasn't perfectly level. 200 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: The general procedure for deploying the all set packages was 201 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: that you would have to find a spot about a 202 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,240 Speaker 1: hundred meters to the west of the lunar module and 203 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: make sure that you were not in the shadow the 204 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,119 Speaker 1: path of the shadow of the lunar module for sunrise, 205 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: because solar panels would often be part of those experiments, 206 00:11:55,679 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: So you needed to have uh unblocked access to sunlight, 207 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: and you had to find someplace that was, you know, 208 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: fairly level, which was always the Finding areas on the 209 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: Moon that met these criteria wasn't always easy. The all 210 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: set aboard Apollo twelve and the ones on each of 211 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:20,680 Speaker 1: the Apollo missions following until Apollo seventeen included some other 212 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: pieces of equipment. Central to the experiment was a station 213 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 1: that acted as a power source. It was kind of 214 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: like a a little power generator right in the middle, 215 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: and it had a radio isotope thermoelectric generator. And yet 216 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: that means that the experiments were powered by the heat 217 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: generated by radioactive material undergoing decay. Specifically, they were using 218 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: plutonium to thirty eight in oxide form. The generator could 219 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: produce seventy watts of direct current electricity, and all of 220 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: the generators from Apollo twelve to seventeen are on the Moon, 221 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: with the exception of one, the generator for Apollo thirteen, 222 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: which was forced to abandon its mission in the wake 223 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: of an emergency. That generator is somewhere at the bottom 224 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: of the Pacific Ocean, so they're somewhere in the Pacific 225 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: Ocean is a radioisotope thermoelectric generator with plutonium to thirty 226 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: eight in it. Now that meant that all the experiments, 227 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: and there were many, that these central stations would provide 228 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: power to actually drew less electricity than what would be 229 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: needed to power a seventy five what lightbulb, which is 230 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: pretty incredible. Experiments included stuff like what was uh included 231 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 1: in the Apollo eleven package that that was in many 232 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,079 Speaker 1: of the other ones as well. But the Apollo twelve 233 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: siometer experiment not only detected when the lunar module crashed 234 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: into the Moon upon being jettisoned from the Command Service Module, 235 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: but found that the Moon vibrated or rang like a 236 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: bell for more than fifty five minutes after that impact. 237 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: So this was done on purpose the jettison the lunar module. 238 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: Everyone else was aboard the Command Service module for the 239 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: return trip home and it was on crash course with 240 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: the Moon, and it was specifically done so that they 241 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: could measure the the seismic activity. So why did it 242 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,959 Speaker 1: vibrate for so long for nearly an hour? Well, according 243 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: to Dr Ross Taylor, the reason is because the lunar 244 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 1: soil is devoid of moisture, which would literally dampen vibrations. 245 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: Moisture absorbs vibrations, water absorbs them. In fact, when we 246 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: talk about the Space Shuttle program, I'll talk about how 247 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: water was used specifically for that purpose. So without moisture, 248 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: the vibrations could continue much longer than they would on Earth. 249 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: Other experiments would look into stuff like the heat flow 250 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: of the Moon. They found that the interior of the 251 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: Moon is warmer than the surface, so heat flows from 252 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: the center of the Moon out towards the surface and 253 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: then dissipates in space. They also had experiments that had 254 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: magnetoma meters or magnometers if you prefer, but that I'm 255 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: almost certain that's not the right way to say it. Magneto. 256 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: They had the x Man magneto or x Man Villain 257 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: magneto to study the magnetic field of the Moon. They 258 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: had ion detectors to measure the number and types of 259 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: ions on the Moon charged particles on the Moon. Mostly 260 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: those ions were deposited by the solar wind. Other experiments 261 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: would look for charged particles or cosmic radiation, and the 262 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: packages on different Apollo missions contained different experiments. Some would 263 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: be repeated with follow up missions, so you might have 264 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: an experiment that's on Apollo fourteen that's also on Apollo sixteen. 265 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: Others were unique to their specific mission. When we come back, 266 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: i'll talk about an experiment aboard the Apollo seventeen that 267 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: gave astronauts a bit of a headache when they were 268 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 1: deploying it. But first let's take a quick break to 269 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. So one experiment that did not quite 270 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: go as planned was the Lunar Surface Gravimeter aboard the 271 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: Apollo seventeen, and scientists at the University of Maryland designed 272 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: this experiment, and its purpose was to search for evidence 273 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: of gravity waves. Gravity waves were something that Einstein had 274 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: predicted in his theories, but no one at that point 275 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: had found any actual observable evidence of gravity waves, so 276 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: this device was supposed to look out for that kind 277 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: of stuff. It was also meant to study the response 278 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: of the Moon to the Earth's title poll, and it 279 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: could also supplement data gathered by the various seismometers that 280 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: were distributed on the Moon's surface. The business end of 281 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: the experiment, the part that was that at issue was 282 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: a spring balance that was incredibly sensitive and it had 283 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: special mass weights attached to it to provide the proper 284 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,760 Speaker 1: tension on the spring balance. But while designing this particular 285 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: piece of technology, the team made a mathematical error and 286 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: the mass was not correct, so it wasn't actually putting 287 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: enough tension on the spring. The astronauts try to set 288 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,200 Speaker 1: the experiment to null when calibrating it, and they so 289 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: setting it to a neutral position, but they foundly couldn't 290 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: get the meter to register a neutral position, even though 291 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,439 Speaker 1: they verified the experiment was on a level surface and 292 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: that the gimbal inside the device could move freely. Only 293 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: then did NASA realized there was a tiny but sufficiently 294 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: irritating error. The mass weights were two percent lighter than 295 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,639 Speaker 1: what they needed to be in order for the device 296 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:33,159 Speaker 1: to operate properly. Making things worse, The sensor was adjustable, 297 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: so you could adjust for error, but it would only 298 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: adjust to correct for an error of up to one 299 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: point five cent, and the mass of the weights was 300 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: a two percent error, so it was greater than what 301 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: the device could allow for. So they started using some 302 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: other methods, and one of those methods turned out to 303 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: be what we in the tech business would tend to 304 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: call percussive maintenance, which means an astronaut hit the experiment 305 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: to make it work better. Seriously from a NASA website 306 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: about this alsup experiment, Schmidt, which is a reference to 307 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 1: Apolo seventeen astronaut Harrison Schmidt, wrapped the exposed top plate 308 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: on the gimble, rocked the experiment in all directions, re 309 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,640 Speaker 1: leveled the experiment, working the base well against the surface, 310 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: and verified the sun shade tilt. These actions were taken 311 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: to free a mass assembly or a sensor beam that 312 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,959 Speaker 1: was suspected of being caught or bound, but no change 313 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,880 Speaker 1: was apparent. The problem was at least partly overcome by 314 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,159 Speaker 1: applying pressure on the beam with the mass changing mechanism 315 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:40,400 Speaker 1: beyond the design point, by addition of all included masses 316 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: so that it contacted the beam much valuable e v 317 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: A time as extra vehicular activity. About thirty minutes was 318 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: spent on the attempt, which is kind of a polite 319 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: way of saying they wasted half an hour trying to 320 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 1: get this darn thing to work. All of this is 321 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: to say that the missions after Apollo Oven we're meant 322 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: to further our scientific understanding. Numerous experiments would gather information. 323 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: Some for years after we left the Moon, astronauts would 324 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: gather samples of the dust and the rocks on the 325 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: Moon and bring them back. They deployed equipment starting with 326 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,199 Speaker 1: Apollo fifteen. They also got to tool around on the 327 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: Moon's surface with the lunar rover. I could do a 328 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: full episode just about the lunar rover. The Apollo fifteen 329 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: was the first of Apollo's missions to spend more than 330 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: just a few hours on the Moon's surface. In fact, 331 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: the whole mission for Apollo fifteen lasted about twelve days. 332 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: The CSM pilot spent nearly as much time in lunar 333 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,359 Speaker 1: orbit as the entire length of the Apollo eight mission. 334 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: That was the first Apollo eight mission to orbit the Moon. 335 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: Apollo seventeen, the last of all the missions, launched on 336 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: December seven, ninety and returned to Earth on December nineteenth, 337 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. It would be the last time so 338 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: far that any humans would set foot on the Moon. Now, 339 00:19:57,600 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: when I say the last mission, I do mean the 340 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: last lunar mission. There was one more Apollo mission that 341 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 1: I'll talk about a little bit later. Each of these 342 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,880 Speaker 1: missions were really important, and I could do a full 343 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: episode about any single one of them. Now, before I 344 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: transition to talk about the say Us, I thought it 345 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: would be good to at least talk a little bit 346 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 1: about Apollo thirteen and what happened there, because it had 347 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: the famous malfunction, the subject of many documentaries and films, 348 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: including the film Apollo thirteen. The mission, which carried astronauts 349 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 1: John Swiggert, Fred Hayes, and James Lovell, had a bumpy start. 350 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: Literally a few minutes after lift off, the astronauts felt 351 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: a little vibration in the command Service module. The Launch 352 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: Vehicles center engine shut down two minutes earlier than planned, 353 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: but the four remaining engines were able to fire for 354 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: a little bit more than half a minute longer than 355 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:57,080 Speaker 1: planned in order to compensate for that early burnout, and 356 00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: the S four B stage had to prepare hell the 357 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 1: spacecraft and extra nine seconds as well. But despite all that, 358 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: everything else seemed to be going really smoothly, so much 359 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: so that forty six hours into the mission, so nearly 360 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: two days into the mission, ground control said that the 361 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: spacecraft was in such good shape and everything was going 362 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: so smoothly, it was frankly pretty darn boring. Just a 363 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: little before the fifty six hour of the mission, and 364 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: oxygen tank in the service module blew up. A second 365 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: oxygen tank failed, the command module lost electricity, water, and light, 366 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,640 Speaker 1: and that's when we get the famous phrase, Houston, we've 367 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: had a problem here, which typically gets paraphrases Houston, we 368 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: have a problem. The crew would move into the lunar module. 369 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: Remember with these lunar missions, right after going into orbit, 370 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: the Command Service module would detach from the S four 371 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,120 Speaker 1: B and would rendezvous with the S four B two 372 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: dock with the lunar module on the end of the CSM, 373 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: So you have the lunar module kind of kind of 374 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: balanced on the end of the CSM for the rest 375 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,679 Speaker 1: of the journey to the Moon. So it was already 376 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: connected to the CSM. So they had this this lunar 377 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: module where the life support systems were still working. But 378 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't ideal to move everyone in there because the 379 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: lunar module was meant to support two crew members for 380 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: less than two days, and instead there would need to 381 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: be three crew members aboard this lunar module for four days. 382 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: They also had to cut way back on water consumption 383 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: because the water was important, not just for them to drink, 384 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: but also to be used as a cooling system for 385 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: the various systems aboard the spacecraft. And as a result, 386 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 1: because they had to cut so far back on water, 387 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: they all became severely dehydrated. In fact, collectively the crew 388 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,919 Speaker 1: would lose thirty one and a half pounds during this mission, 389 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: almost all of it water weight. So at one point 390 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: Level had to resort to using the Sun as a 391 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: navigational star. He had to align the attitude of the 392 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,879 Speaker 1: lunar module according to the directions he received from ground control, 393 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,199 Speaker 1: which is pretty phenomenal to think about navigating by the 394 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: stars when you're out in space. The conditions in that 395 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: spacecraft were admittedly really tough. The temperature sank down to 396 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,880 Speaker 1: about thirty eight degrees fahrenheit that's about three degrees celsius, 397 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: and no one was sure if the command module would 398 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: power up properly. And the command module was absolutely necessary 399 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: because that was the spacecraft that was outfitted for re entry. 400 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,439 Speaker 1: The heat shielding and everything that was on the command module, 401 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: not the lunar module, so they were still connected at 402 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: this point. There's a lot of condensation inside the command module. 403 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: When it became time for them to to transfer back over. 404 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 1: That raised a lot of concerns about possible short circuits. 405 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: When they were powering up the command module, they thought, well, 406 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: there's a lot of water pooling on the surface. There's 407 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: probably water underneath the panels as well, which could make 408 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 1: a short circuit issue. The astronauts were able to jettison 409 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: the service module from the command module, and they were 410 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: able to use the lunar module's propulsion system to pull 411 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,639 Speaker 1: away from the service module to a safe distance so 412 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: that it wouldn't collide with the rest of the craft. 413 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: And then before re entry, they moved back into the 414 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: command module, strapped themselves in, they jettisoned the lunar module, 415 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: and they re entered the art atmosphere. So all of 416 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: that was amazing. It was phenomenal that they were able 417 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: to achieve this. The parachute deployed as it was supposed to, 418 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: they splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on April seventeenth, 419 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, and that the astronauts and ground control were 420 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: able to solve these critical problems dynamically. They were able 421 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: to improvise using various systems that were available to them. 422 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,159 Speaker 1: They didn't have the full suite of capabilities of the 423 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 1: spacecraft available. They had to make do, and their challenge 424 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,120 Speaker 1: was very real and very critical. It could have ended 425 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: in tragedy. So this is one of the greatest stories 426 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,439 Speaker 1: of achievement I've ever read about. When you're talking about, 427 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,199 Speaker 1: you know, figuring out how to make use of what 428 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: you've got left in order to to make it out 429 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: of a terrible situation. So keep in mind, like getting 430 00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,239 Speaker 1: to the Moon was an incredible challenge, right, that was 431 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: insane in some ways, and it involved years of careful 432 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: planning and calculations. Getting the crew of Apollo thirteen home 433 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: in one piece meant that scientists and engineers had to 434 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,679 Speaker 1: work out creative solutions with limited options in just a 435 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: couple of days. They didn't have months to plan this out. 436 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: They had to do it in hours, and they did it. 437 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: The ultimate cause of the explosion was determined to be 438 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: a problem with the heaters and the oxygen tanks. Uh 439 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,680 Speaker 1: The command module had been upgraded to provide sixty five 440 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,640 Speaker 1: volts of direct current power to these heaters. The older 441 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: design of the command module had only provided twenty eight volts, 442 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: so this was a step up and voltage, but the 443 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: problem was the thermostatic switches on the heaters had not 444 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: been modified to accept that higher voltage. They were still 445 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: designed for the volts, so the operation of the heaters 446 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,640 Speaker 1: ended up creating an overheating problem, and that ended up 447 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: affecting the wire ring surrounding the heaters, and that in 448 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: turn degraded the teflon installation around the oxygen tanks and 449 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: made it possible for that explosion to happen. There was 450 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: one final flight of the Apollo program that was not 451 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 1: part of the lunar missions. It didn't get a number 452 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 1: like Apollo seventeen, and that was the Apollo Soyuz mission 453 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: because it involved a rendezvous and docking with a Soviet 454 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: Soyuz spacecraft, which happened in nineteen So I figure it's 455 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 1: time I take a quick trip over to the USSR 456 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: to talk about the development and technology of the Soyus, 457 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: a spacecraft that we still depend upon decades later. But 458 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: before I do that, let's take another quick break to 459 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: thank our sponsors. If you've listened to my earlier episodes 460 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,679 Speaker 1: about the Soviet space program, you know it started with 461 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: the relatively primitive Vostok spacecraft, which had extremely limited capabilities 462 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: in space, and then you had the vosh Kod spacecraft, 463 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: which was like a souped up Vostok, and the Voshkod 464 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: lacked the carrying capacity to supply a crew of two 465 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,159 Speaker 1: or three cosmonauts with enough air, water, and food to 466 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: make a trip to the Moon and back feasible. So 467 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union needed a new approach. Those earlier spacecraft 468 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: really meant to try and get the Soviet Union up 469 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: into space ahead of the Americans, and to do things 470 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: like simple, relatively simple docking maneuvers. I use the word 471 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,679 Speaker 1: simple in relative terms because it's actually incredibly complicated. But 472 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: it was more of a display of the principle of 473 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: docking than any useful application of it. Anyway. That was 474 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: all meant as almost like propaganda or political warfare. But 475 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: to get to the Moon was going to require more 476 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: than just these quick fixes. Complicating matters, however, was that 477 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: the lead designer of Soviet spacecraft, Sergei kor Lev, had 478 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 1: died on January fourteenth, nineteen sixty six. Kor Lev was 479 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,919 Speaker 1: the heart and soul of the Soviet space program. He 480 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: was very much in charge of design, the lead designer, 481 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: and he had battled with politicians during much of the 482 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: space race, he was trying to balance the unrealistic deadlines 483 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 1: and the low budgets he was being given by politicians 484 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: with what he could actually accomplish. He died during a 485 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: surgical procedure, and his successor, Vasily Mission, had to pick 486 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: up the pieces, and there was still a lot of 487 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: political pressure to get the Soviets to the Moon before 488 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,719 Speaker 1: the Americans. But at this point the Soviets were kind 489 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: of getting a little bit behind the Americans, especially with 490 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: launch vehicles, which I'll talk about in the next episode. Originally, 491 00:28:57,760 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: the plan was to create a spacecraft that could concern 492 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: list of three large segments, and each segment would be 493 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: put into orbit on a different launch vehicle or rocket, 494 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: and then assembled in orbit by cosmonauts. One stage would 495 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: contain the crew compartment, while the other two would hold 496 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: the propulsion system and the fuel tankers. But ultimately the 497 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: Soviets decided that approach was impractical. Obviously, if there was 498 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: anything that went wrong with any one of those launches, 499 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: it would mess up the entire thing, so they scaled 500 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: it back. Originally, they scaled it back as a two 501 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: part spacecraft, so it would still need two different launch vehicles, 502 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: and then ultimately they just said this also probably wasn't 503 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 1: the best idea and decided to go with a single 504 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: launch vehicle spacecraft design. So it was a spacecraft that 505 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: would only need one launch to get into space and 506 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: that and that it would just be a complete spacecraft 507 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: top to bottom. The spacecraft had been updated several times, 508 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 1: but in general here's how it shakes out. Because the 509 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 1: general design of the Sayers space craft has remained consistent, 510 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: the details are very very different because obviously technology has 511 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: advanced considerably since the nineteen sixties. The spacecraft is about 512 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: twenty three feet or seven meters long. Like the Apollo spacecraft, 513 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: it consists of three modules, right, the Pollo spacecraft has 514 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: the command module, the service module, and the lunar module. Well, 515 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: the sail Us has the orbital module. That one is 516 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: sort of spherical in shape. It's at one end of 517 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: the spacecraft, the section UH. The the spherical section has 518 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: the docking mechanism that would allow the soil Us to 519 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: dock with other spacecraft or space stations. UH. The Russians 520 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: put up a couple of space stations in orbit and 521 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: also participated with the International Space Station. So this is 522 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: the part of the spacecraft that would dock with those facilities. 523 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: It also has the living facilities for orbital phases of missions. 524 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 1: Behind the orbital module, so if you had it standing 525 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: up on end, it would be the next section down 526 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: uh is what is called the descent module. It's kind 527 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,920 Speaker 1: of shaped like a bell and it has a space 528 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: for three people. It's used during ascent, descent, and landing, 529 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: so going up, coming down, and actually when it lands 530 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: on the ground. Behind this section is a cylindrical module 531 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: called the service module, which has propulsion, life support, electrical 532 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: systems for the spacecraft. All of those are located in 533 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: that section. The first Sawyer's mission with a crew ended tragically. 534 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: It was supposed to involve to spacecraft. You're supposed to 535 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: have the Saya's one and the Sawyers two, and the 536 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,959 Speaker 1: two spacecraft were meant to dock in orbit, and this 537 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: would have happened in April nineteen sixty seven, about a 538 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: year after the Gemini eight docked with an unmanned a 539 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: Gina target vehicle. So while the Americans had already shown 540 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: a successful orbital rendezvous and sucking, this would actually be 541 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: a an example of two crude spacecraft to spacecrafts with 542 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: people in them docking together. Uh. The docking system aboard 543 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: the Soyus relied on an automatic system, so it didn't 544 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 1: require pilot and put the way the Gemini and Apollo 545 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: ones did with the Soya's two grounded because of whether 546 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: the Soyuz one was to just return to Earth the 547 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,080 Speaker 1: day after it launched, so the Sayers two never takes 548 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: off the Soyas one is in orbit and then is 549 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: supposed to return the next day. But the parachute for 550 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,600 Speaker 1: the Soyuz one failed to deploy and cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir 551 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: Komarov died in the resulting crash. Along with a parachute, 552 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 1: the Soyus capsule also had a solid fuel rocket that 553 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 1: was intended to ignite one meter before landing to help 554 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 1: with a soft landing, since like the Volskad, the Soyus 555 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: was meant to land on solid ground, which would make 556 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: it a little less ring. Actually, when you watch video 557 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: or film, I should say, of the Sawyus landing for 558 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: the h COD landing, it looks pretty scary because there's 559 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: a big flash just before it lands. It looks like 560 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: there's an explosion, but in fact that's the solid fuel 561 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: rocket that at the last second is giving just that 562 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: little bit of not a little bit, a considerable amount 563 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: of thrust in order to reduce the impact of landing. 564 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: Saya's two was an unmanned craft, and saw Us three, 565 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: which had a crew, were then meant to conduct the 566 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: first automatic docking procedure in orbit in October ninety eight. 567 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: The two spacecraft ended up getting really close to each other, 568 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: but they did not dock. Saw Us four and five 569 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: would dock in orbit in January nine. The Sawyers five 570 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 1: had a full three cosmonaut crew, the Sawyer's four only 571 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: had a pilot named Vladimir Shat The Love and the 572 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: two craft would dock together and two crew members from 573 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: the Sayus five would transfer over to the Soyas four, 574 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: and both spacecraft returned to Earth safely. Now, while the 575 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 1: Soviets planned to use the Sayers to go to the Moon, 576 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: they were going to rely on a very similar strategy 577 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,239 Speaker 1: to Apollo, with a lunar landing module that would put 578 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: the cosmonauts on the Moon and then return them to 579 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: rendezvous with the Soyas spacecraft in the lunar orbit. The 580 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: success of the Apollo eleven mission in nineteen sixty nine 581 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:27,000 Speaker 1: effectively made the Soviets cancel those plans because it was 582 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 1: gonna be very expensive, very difficult. They had not yet 583 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: completed the design of the lunar module, and it just 584 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:37,799 Speaker 1: didn't make sense to keep going after a goal that 585 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: the Americans had already achieved. But the Soyus lived on 586 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: just not as a spacecraft to take people to the Moon, 587 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: but to take people to orbit. Sure, there was one 588 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,319 Speaker 1: other Soyo's catastrophe that resulted in the death of an 589 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: entire crew. This one was was pretty scary and and 590 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: and sad as well. It happened on June ninety one, 591 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,879 Speaker 1: and it with the Says eleven. The crew had successfully 592 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: docked with the Salut one. The Saliot one was the 593 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: very first space station in Earth orbit. This was also 594 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: the first successful docking procedure. The Sawyers ten, the mission 595 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 1: immediately before Sawyer's eleven, was supposed to dock with the 596 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: Salut one, but had to abandon the mission after some 597 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:24,799 Speaker 1: technical malfunctions had prevented docking. So the crew of the 598 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 1: Sayers eleven successfully docked with the space station. They board 599 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,360 Speaker 1: the space station to actually stay on the space station 600 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:38,759 Speaker 1: for twenty three days, but then they disconnect because there 601 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,440 Speaker 1: was a some technical malfunctions that led to an electrical 602 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: fire aboard the space station, so for safety, the crew 603 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: got back aboard their spacecraft, the Sawyers eleven. They disconnected 604 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: from the space station, they piloted the craft to re 605 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 1: enter the Earth's atmosphere. Then we're not entirely certain exactly 606 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: how things went from there, but the capsule landed, parachute deployed. 607 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,479 Speaker 1: Everything went as planned, but when the retrieval crew got 608 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,480 Speaker 1: to the capsule, they found that all three crew members 609 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 1: inside had died. An investigation concluded that a pressure valve 610 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: at some point during re entry had failed and that 611 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: resulted in a loss of cabin pressure, and the crew 612 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: were not wearing pressurized suits. The Soviets had decided that 613 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: pressurized suits would not be necessary with the Soyas, and 614 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,840 Speaker 1: that tragedy ended up changing the minds of the Soviets, 615 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,280 Speaker 1: and from that point forward, all Soviet crews were required 616 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,759 Speaker 1: to wear pressure suits during missions. But because the crew 617 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: was not wearing them in this one, they died from 618 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 1: the rapid depressurization. And I alluded to this earlier, but 619 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:51,240 Speaker 1: back in nine there was a special joint mission between 620 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 1: the United States and the Soviet Union space agencies. The 621 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,080 Speaker 1: U S would send up an Apollo Command Service module 622 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: only given the designation of follow. Some people in the 623 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,319 Speaker 1: media would informally refer to it as Apollo eighteen, but 624 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 1: that was not the official designation. In fact, there had 625 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: been a planned Apollo eighteen mission, but that had already 626 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: been canceled. The Saya's spacecraft was technically connected to a 627 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:18,040 Speaker 1: mission called Saya's nineteen in the Soviet Union. This was 628 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: the final flight of an Apollo spacecraft, and the docking 629 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: pilot for the craft was Donald K. Deek Slayton. He 630 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 1: was one of the Mercury Seven, one of the original 631 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 1: astronauts picked for the Mercury program. He was the one 632 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,880 Speaker 1: who was grounded for health reasons when they found an 633 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:38,880 Speaker 1: irregularity in his heartbeat, and he finally got the clearance 634 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: to fly again, so he got to go up into 635 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: space on the final Apollo mission. The Apollo spacecraft was 636 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,800 Speaker 1: fitted with a special docking mechanism to make it compatible 637 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,680 Speaker 1: with the Soya's spacecraft, and the two craft docked on 638 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:55,920 Speaker 1: July seventeenth, ninety The crews were able to meet with 639 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 1: each other. They shook hands with one another, and that 640 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: symbolically brought the space race to an end, though again 641 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,120 Speaker 1: you could argue quite convincingly that the moon landing had 642 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 1: effectively done that a few years earlier. Both crews were 643 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,920 Speaker 1: able to return home safely, although on the return trip 644 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,919 Speaker 1: home the Apollo crew ended up being exposed to an 645 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 1: oxidizer that's really toxic. It's nitrogen tetrox side, and there 646 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:22,799 Speaker 1: was a switch that had been left open when it 647 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,319 Speaker 1: should have been closed, according to the crew. The crew 648 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: member who claimed responsibility said he did he failed to 649 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,680 Speaker 1: hear the commander called that out on a checklist, and 650 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 1: it was his fault that the the switches were not closed. 651 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 1: All three were able to recover. They spent a couple 652 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,680 Speaker 1: of weeks in a hospital in Honolulu, so not the 653 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: worst place in the world, although I guess if you're 654 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,800 Speaker 1: in a hospital room, it's not like you're really enjoying 655 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 1: the surroundings. So Sayers was not going to go to 656 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: the Moon, and instead the focus was on the orbital 657 00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:58,320 Speaker 1: version of the Sayers. Like the seven K O K 658 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,840 Speaker 1: variation of the craft. There have been a lot of 659 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,239 Speaker 1: variations of the Soyos over time. Like I said, there's 660 00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:07,240 Speaker 1: been a lot of updates, upgrades, variants, but the basic 661 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 1: design has remained pretty consistent, just with updated subsystems and materials. 662 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 1: For several years. After the space Shuttle program was shut 663 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 1: shuttered in two thousand eleven, the Sayers was the only 664 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: spacecraft capable of docking with the International Space Station that 665 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,479 Speaker 1: would still be in service to this day. It's the 666 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,560 Speaker 1: only spacecraft that has is allowed to take people to 667 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: and from the space station. Space x is Dragon two 668 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,600 Speaker 1: capsule will eventually be able to do that, assuming everything 669 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,359 Speaker 1: continues to go well for that program, but for right now, 670 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 1: the say Us is the only way up or down 671 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 1: if you happen to be a human. Today, the space 672 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,480 Speaker 1: x Dragon capsule is able to dock with the space station, 673 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 1: but only for taking stuff up or bringing stuff back down, 674 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 1: stuff being non organic, so we're talking like experiments and things. Uh. 675 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: Space x is still work with NASA to develop a 676 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,840 Speaker 1: version of that capsule that will be piloted by a crew. Also, 677 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: the space station has a Saya's spacecraft docked with it 678 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,760 Speaker 1: all the time that can be used as an emergency lifeboat, 679 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:18,880 Speaker 1: so there's an emergency Soyo's capsule attached to the International 680 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 1: Space station, and if there is ever an emergency that 681 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:26,280 Speaker 1: requires evacuation, the crew can climb into the Saya's capsule 682 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:30,880 Speaker 1: and detach and head home. Um NASA and SpaceX do 683 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,720 Speaker 1: have a contract for up to six crude flights again 684 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,279 Speaker 1: crude as a manned not you know, c R E 685 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 1: W E D, not c R U D, but they 686 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 1: have a contract for up to six of those to 687 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:44,440 Speaker 1: this space station. Once that Dragon two capsule is cleared 688 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 1: for such duties, and then the Sayers will be just 689 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,040 Speaker 1: a little less special. The current version of the Sayers 690 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:54,239 Speaker 1: has the designation Saya's MS. That one entered service in July. 691 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,440 Speaker 1: It still has the three module design of its predecessors, 692 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:02,160 Speaker 1: so it isn't dramatically different, at least in basic construction, 693 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 1: but it does have modern power systems, communication systems, navigation systems, computers, 694 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 1: all that kind of thing. Everything has been updated from 695 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,440 Speaker 1: that perspective. There's also a black box like system inside 696 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:17,040 Speaker 1: of it that records voice and data during descent phases, 697 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:21,840 Speaker 1: so if anything does ever go catastrophically wrong, the retrieval 698 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,800 Speaker 1: crew could have a chance of retrieving the black box 699 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: and studying the data to find out what happened and 700 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,040 Speaker 1: of course, there's no longer a Soviet Union, says MS 701 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,440 Speaker 1: now falls under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federal Space Agency. 702 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,880 Speaker 1: So that's a big difference from when the Sayers was 703 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: first created, and that kind of concludes my overview of 704 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,839 Speaker 1: the Apollo missions and the Saya's space spacecraft. I am 705 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:51,840 Speaker 1: still amazed the spacecraft that was designed in the nineteen 706 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,840 Speaker 1: sixties is still being used regularly today, although granted it 707 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 1: is obviously updated versions of that same spacecraft. So this 708 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,399 Speaker 1: was a great journey for me. I learned a lot 709 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,280 Speaker 1: as I looked into this, and in our next episode, 710 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,800 Speaker 1: we're gonna dive into the scary world of rocket science. 711 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:17,399 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about these launch vehicles that have been 712 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: used with various spacecraft, and I'm really going to focus 713 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: on the launch vehicles for the spacecraft that carried people. 714 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna look at a whole lot of the 715 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:30,440 Speaker 1: like there were. There have been dozens of launch vehicles, 716 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 1: some of which have been used only to put things 717 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: like satellites and stuff up. I say only there's still 718 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: in an incredible achievement. But I'm going to focus mainly 719 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:40,799 Speaker 1: on the ones that were used to put people up 720 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,319 Speaker 1: into space. That will be our next episode. But if 721 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: you have a suggestion for a future episode, maybe it 722 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,720 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with space, send me an email. 723 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: I've been getting some great messages lately. You guys are 724 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,960 Speaker 1: killing it. Keep up the great work. The email address 725 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,879 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. Also, 726 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:00,880 Speaker 1: don't forget, we now have a merchandise door. Is that 727 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,800 Speaker 1: t public dot com slash tech Stuff? That's t e 728 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:08,279 Speaker 1: public dot com slash tech Stuff. You can find all 729 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,880 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff. We're talking about shirts, stickers, phone cases 730 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,800 Speaker 1: with different designs. Go check out the tech Stuff logo 731 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,600 Speaker 1: designs on their. Guys. Just imagine you could whip out 732 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,880 Speaker 1: your smartphone and your protective case with the tech stuff 733 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: logo and everyone's gonna know how cool you are. So 734 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,960 Speaker 1: check that out. Don't forget. You can also get in 735 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:32,720 Speaker 1: touch with me on Facebook or Twitter with the handled 736 00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:36,839 Speaker 1: text Stuff hs W and follow us on Instagram and 737 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:45,879 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon for more 738 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. 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