Welcome to “Risk and Exploration—Earth, Sea, and the Stars.” Today’s session is entitled “Why We Explore,” but I’m hoping that, mostly, we can make it a dialogue, up close and personal. I’m John Grunsfeld. I’m the NASA chief scientist and an astronaut. I think we have started getting into the discussions on risk and exploration, into some of the thorny questions about how do we make decisions. How do we use our judgment? How do we, as institutional managers of a public institution, make decisions on behalf of the American people, and with oversight of the Congress, that can stand the test of time, without being so risk averse that we don’t do anything interesting? There’s a couple of things I’d like to show this morning that are personal, that are professional as chief scientist, and then, representing the Agency, and then, looking forward. I think we’d be remiss in all of this discussion if we avoided the  topic of why we’re not sending a Space Shuttle back to the Hubble to service it. So I’ll address that in a second.

Why We Explore

Science & Math

National Aeronautics And Space Administration (nasa)

Astronomy & Space Science

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Three comprehensive official NASA documents chronicle the flight of Apollo 17, the sixth and final Apollo lunar landing featuring the first scientist-astronaut, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. Two technical mission reports, the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) Apollo Mission Report and the NASA Headquarters Mission Operation Report (MOR), provide complete details about every aspect of the mission. Apollo 17 MSC Mission Report: Mission description, pilots' report, communications, trajectory, command and service module performance, mission support performance, assessment of mission objectives, launch vehicle summary, anomaly summary (CSM, LM, government furnished equipment), conclusions, vehicle descriptions. Apollo 17 MOR: Mission design and execution, spacecraft performance, flight anomalies, detailed objectives and experiments, launch countdown, detailed flight mission description, back contamination program, contingency operations, configuration differences, mission support, recovery support plan, flight crew, mission management responsibility, program management, abbreviations and acronyms. Apollo 17 Press Kit: Detailed preview from countdown to landing. At 9:15:29 a.m. GMT Dec. 7, 1972, the command and service module, or CSM, was separated from the S-IVB. Approximately 15 min later, the CSM docked with the lunar module, or LM. Landing occurred at 7:54:57 p.m. Dec. 11, at lunar latitude 20 degrees, 10 minutes north, and longitude 30 degrees 46 minutes east. Apollo 17 was the last lunar landing mission. Three extravehicular activities, or EVAs, lasted a total of 22 hours, four minutes on the lunar surface. EVA No. 1 began at 11:54:49 p.m. Dec. 11, with Eugene Cernan egressing at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12. The first EVA was seven hours, 12 minutes long and was completed at 7:06:42 a.m. Dec. 12. The second EVA began at 11:28:06 p.m. Dec. 12, and lasted seven hours, 37 minutes, ending at at 7:05:02 a.m. Dec. 13. The final EVA began at 10:25:48 p.m. Dec. 13, and ended at 5:40:56 a.m. Dec. 14. The LM ascent stage lifted off the moon at 10:54:37 p.m. Dec. 14. Ronald Evans performed a transearth EVA at 8:27:40 p.m. Dec. 17, that lasted one hour, six minutes, during which time he retrieved the lunar sounder film, as well as the panoramic and mapping camera film cassettes. Apollo 17 hosted the first scientist-astronaut to land on moon: Harrison Schmitt. The sixth automated research station was set up. The lunar rover vehicle traversed a total of 30.5 kilometers. Lunar surface-stay time was 75 hours, and lunar orbit time 17 hours. Astronauts gathered 110.4 kilograms, or 243 pounds, of material.

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

U.S. Government

World Spaceflight News (WSN)

Independently published

This official NASA document provides the complete transcription of the Apollo 17 post-flight debriefing given by astronauts, with their first-hand description of the sixth and final lunar landing, and the only mission to feature a scientist-astronaut, Jack Schmitt. This ebook is an invaluable addition to the library of anyone interested in the Apollo moon landings. Contents include: SUITING AND INGRESS * STATUS CHECKS AND COUNTDOWN * POWERED FLIGHT * EARTH ORBIT AND SYSTEMS CHECKOUT * TLI THROUGH S-IVB CLOSEOUT * TRANSLUNAR COAST * LOI, DPI, LUNAR MODULE CHECKOUT * LUNAR MODULE CHECKOUT THROUGH SEPARATION * SEPARATION THROUGH LM TOUCHDOWN * LUNAR SURFACE * CSM CIRCUMLUNAR OPERATIONS * LIFTOFF, RENDEZVOUS, AND DOCKING * LUNAR MODULE JETTISON THROUGH TEI * TRANSEARTH COAST * ENTRY * LANDING AND RECOVERY * TRAINING * CSM SYSTEMS OPERATIONS * LUNAR MODULE SYSTEMS OPERATIONS * LRV OPERATIONS * EMU SYSTEMS * FLIGHT EQUIPMENT * FLIGHT DATA FILE * VISUAL SIGHTINGS * PREMISSION PLANNING * MISSION CONTROL * HUMAN FACTORS The lunar landing site was the Taurus-Littrow highlands and valley area. This site was picked for Apollo 17 as a location where rocks both older and younger than those previously returned from other Apollo missions, as well as from Luna 16 and 20 missions, might be found. The mission was the final in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo Program. These J-type missions can be distinguished from previous G- and H-series missions by extended hardware capability, larger scientific payload capacity and by the use of the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle, or LRV. Scientific objectives of the Apollo 17 mission included, geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region; deploying and activating surface experiments; and conducting in-flight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast. These objectives included deployed experiments, such as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, with a heat flow experiment; lunar seismic profiling, or LSP; lunar surface gravimeter, or LSG; lunar atmospheric composition experiment, or LACE; and lunar ejecta and meteorites, or LEAM. The mission also included lunar sampling and lunar orbital experiments. Biomedical experiments included the Biostack II experiment and the BIOCORE experiment.

These official NASA history documents include a Monograph in Aerospace History about the role of John Houbolt and others in advocating the successful Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) mission concept in the early part of Project Apollo, plus a NASA contractor report on the political and technical aspects of placing the American flag on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. Enchanted Rendezvous - John C. Houbolt and the Genesis of the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept: One of the most critical technical decisions made during the conduct of Project Apollo was the method of flying to the Moon, landing on the surface, and returning to Earth. Within NASA during this debate several modes emerged. The one eventually chosen was lunar-orbit rendezvous (LOR), a proposal to send the entire lunar spacecraft up in one launch. It would head to the Moon, enter into orbit, and dispatch a small lander to the lunar surface. It was the simplest of the various methods, both in terms of development and operational costs, but it was risky. Since rendezvous would take place in lunar, instead of Earth, orbit there was no room for error or the crew could not get home. Moreover, some of the trickiest course corrections and maneuvers had to be done after the spacecraft had been committed to a circumlunar flight. Between the time of NASA's conceptualization of the lunar landing program and the decision in favor of LOR in 1962, a debate raged between advocates of the various methods. John C. Houbolt, an engineer at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, was one of the most vocal of those supporting LOR and his campaign in 1961 and 1962 helped to shape in a fundamental way the deliberations. The monograph that is printed here is an important contribution to the study of NASA history in general, and the process of accomplishing a large-scale technological program (in this case Apollo) in particular. In many ways, the lunar mode decision was an example of heterogeneous engineering, a process that recognizes that technological issues are also simultaneously organizational, economic, social, and political. Various interests often clash in the decision-making process as difficult calculations have to be made and decisions taken. What perhaps should be suggested is that a complex web or system of ties between various people, institutions, and interests brought forward the lunar-orbit rendezvous mode of going to the Moon in the 1960s. Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon - This paper examines the political and technical aspects of placing a flag on the moon, focusing on the first moon landing. During their historic extravehicular activity (EVA), the Apollo 11 crew planted the flag of the United States on the lunar surface. This flag-raising was strictly a symbolic activity, as the United Nations Treaty on Outer Space precluded any territorial claim. Nevertheless, there were domestic and international debates over the appropriateness of the event. Congress amended the agency's appropriations bill to prevent the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from placing flags of other nations, or those of international associations, on the moon during missions funded solely by the United States. Like any activity in space exploration, the Apollo flag-raising also provided NASA engineers with an interesting technical challenge. They designed a flagpole with a horizontal bar allowing the flag to "fly" without the benefit of wind to overcome the effects of the moon's lack of an atmosphere. Other factors considered in the design were weight, heat resistance, and ease of assembly by astronauts whose space suits restricted their range of movement and ability to grasp items.

James R. Hansen

Anne M. Platoff

World Spaceflight News

Incorporating a complete reproduction of the final review board report, this authoritative compilation of official NASA documents provides unique insights into NASA s first major tragedy, the Apollo 1 launch pad fire. Contents include detailed biographies of the Apollo 1 crew, overview histories of the Apollo 1 tragedy and recovery, the complete final report of the Apollo 204 review board, and excerpts from the technical appendices covering the review board minutes, a detailed narrative description of the sequence of events in the accident, witness statements and releases, and the report of the medical analysis panel. On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident. A seven-member board, under the direction of the NASA Langley Research Center Director, Dr. Floyd L. Thompson, conducted a comprehensive investigation to pinpoint the cause of the fire. The final report, completed in April 1967 was subsequently submitted to the NASA Administrator. The report presented the results of the investigation and made specific recommendations that led to major design and engineering modifications, and revisions to test planning, test discipline, manufacturing processes and procedures, and quality control. With these changes, the overall safety of the command and service module and the lunar module was increased substantially. The AS-204 mission was redesignated Apollo I in honor of the crew. The fire which claimed the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee stunned the nation and rocked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The disaster had the potential to bring a permanent halt to American efforts in space exploration. Rather than bury its head in the sand, NASA launched a full-scale investigation of the fire, and voluntarily put the entire Apollo program, including its administration, policies and procedures under the scrutiny of a review board. Based on the board's findings, NASA rolled up its sleeves and went to work to resolve the problems that had been identified. A successful failure is a mission which fails to reach its objectives and yet still achieves an element of success. Apollo I never left the launch pad. However, the information gained from this fatal mission paved the way for a totally redesigned Apollo spacecraft, eleven Apollo space flights and six lunar landings. Although Grissom, White and Chaffee never walked on the moon, their sacrifice helped to make it possible for us collectively to take "one giant leap for mankind". It is crucial to remember the hard lessons learned from Apollo I and eulogies are part of that remembering. Yet, Grissom, White and Chaffee may be honored best by continuing the work they began. Each of them believed that reaching the moon was not meant to be an end but a beginning. Thirty years ago, Grissom considered manned missions to Mars and crews assembling, living and working on space stations as realistic follow-ups to a lunar landing. While he recognized the place of ever-improving technology, White was emphatic about the need for manned missions: "You'll never satisfy man's curiosity unless a man goes himself."

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program: Apollo 1 Tragedy (grissom, White, And Chaffee) Apollo 204 Pad Fire, Complete Review Board Report, Technical Appendix Material, And Medical Analysis Panel

Three comprehensive official NASA documents - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - chronicle the incredible journey of Apollo 10, which tested the Lunar Module in lunar orbit for the first time, paving the way for the Apollo 11 landing mission. It was conducted by astronauts Stafford, Cernan, and Young in May 1969. Two technical mission reports, the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) Apollo Mission Report and the NASA Headquarters Mission Operation Report (MOR), provide complete details about every aspect of the mission. Apollo 10 MSC Mission Report: Mission description, pilots' report, communications, trajectory, command and service module performance, mission support performance, assessment of mission objectives, launch vehicle summary, anomaly summary (CSM, LM, government furnished equipment), conclusions, vehicle descriptions. Apollo 10 MOR: Mission design and execution, spacecraft performance, flight anomalies, detailed objectives and experiments, launch countdown, detailed flight mission description, back contamination program, contingency operations, configuration differences, mission support, recovery support plan, flight crew, mission management responsibility, program management, abbreviations and acronyms. Apollo 10 Press Kit: Detailed preview from countdown to landing. The Apollo 10 mission encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. It was the first flight of a complete, crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the moon. Objectives included a scheduled eight-hour lunar orbit of the separated lunar module, or LM, and descent to about nine miles off the moon's surface before ascending for rendezvous and docking with the command and service module, or CSM, in about a 70-mile circular lunar orbit. Pertinent data to be gathered in this landing rehearsal dealt with the lunar potential, or gravitational effect, to refine the Earth-based crewed spaceflight network tracking techniques, and to check out LM programmed trajectories and radar, and lunar flight control systems. Twelve television transmissions to Earth were planned. All mission objectives were achieved. Apollo 10 launched from Cape Kennedy on May 18, 1969, into a nominal 115-mile circular Earth-parking orbit at an inclination of 32.5 degrees. One-and-a-half orbits later, translunar injection occurred. The S-IVB fired to increase velocity from 25,593 to 36,651 feet per second on a free-return trajectory. Twenty-five minutes later, the CSM separated for transposition and docking with the LM, similar to the maneuver performed on Apollo 9. The orbital vehicle was comprised of the S-IVB stage, and its payload of the CSM, the LM and spacecraft-lunar module adapter, or SLA, shroud. The Apollo 10 crew members were Commander Thomas Stafford, Command Module Pilot John Young and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene Cernan. The first live color TV transmissions to Earth began three hours after launch when Apollo 10 was 3,570 miles from Earth and concluded when the spacecraft was 9,428 miles away. The transmission showed the docking process and the interior of the CSM. About four hours after launch, Apollo 10 separated from the S-IVB sage, which was followed by another telecast from 14,625 miles out. A third TV transmission of pictures of Earth was made from 24,183 miles out, and a fourth telecast of the Earth was made from 140,000 miles. The LM flew over Landing Site 2 in the Sea of Tranquility. During this run, the LM landing radar was tested for altitude functioning, providing both "high gate" and "low gate" data.

This official NASA document provides the complete transcription of the historic Apollo 8 post-flight debriefing given by astronauts Frank Borman (Commander), William A. Anders (Lunar Module Pilot), and James A. Lovell Jr. (Command Module Pilot). Every aspect of the first manned flight to the moon is discussed from launch to landing. This is an invaluable addition to the ebook library of anyone interested in the Apollo moon landings. Contents include: INGRESS AND STATUS CHECKS * POWERED FLIGHT * FLIGHT OPERATIONS * LANDING AND RECOVERY * SYSTEMS OPERATION * VISUAL SIGHTINGS * PREMISSION PLANNING * MISSION CONTROL * TRAINING * CONCLUDING COMMENTS Apollo 8 launched from Cape Kennedy on Dec. 21, 1968, placing astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr. and William Anders into a 114 by 118 mile parking orbit at 32.6 degrees. During the 20-hour period in lunar orbit, the crew conducted a full, sleepless schedule of tasks including landmark and landing site tracking, vertical stereo photography, stereo navigation photography and sextant navigation. At the end of the 10th lunar orbit, at 89 hours, 19 minutes, and 16 seconds, a three-minute, 23-second trans-Earth injection burn was conducted, adding 3,522 feet per second. Only one midcourse correction, a burn of five feet per second conducted at 104 hours, was required instead of the three scheduled. Six telecasts were conducted during the mission: two during translunar coast, two during lunar orbit and two during trans-Earth coast. These transmissions were telecast worldwide and in real time to all five continents. During a telecast on Christmas Eve, the crew read verses from the first chapter of Genesis and wished viewers, "Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you -- all of you on the good Earth." All telecasts were of excellent quality. Voice communications also were exceptionally good throughout the mission. Separation of the command module, or CM, from the SM occurred at 146 hours, 31 minutes. A double-skip maneuver conducted during the re-entry steering phase resulted in an altitude gain of 25,000 to 30,000 feet. The re-entry velocity was 24,696 mph, with heatshield temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees F. Parachute deployment and other re-entry events were nominal. Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 10:51 a.m. EST Dec. 27. The splashdown was about 5,100 yards from the recovery ship USS Yorktown, 147 hours after launch and precisely on time. According to prior planning, helicopters and aircraft hovered over the spacecraft, and pararescue personnel were not deployed until local sunrise, 50 minutes after splashdown. The Apollo 8 crew reached the recovery ship at 12:20 p.m. EST.

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

This official NASA document provides the complete transcription of the historic Apollo 12 post-flight debriefing given by astronauts Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon. Every aspect of the incredible adventure of the second moon landing, which landed next to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, is discussed - from moonwalking to personal hygiene issues, launch through landing. This is an invaluable addition to the ebook library of anyone interested in the Apollo moon landings. Surprising facts, comments, and anecdotes are included in this debriefing. Did you know, for example, that Conrad was so hungry on the moon, he ate some of Al Bean's food? Or that Conrad briefly feared that Bean was critically injured during the splashdown: "We really hit flatter than a pancake, and it was a tremendous impact, much greater than anything I'd experienced in Gemini. The 16-mm camera, which was on the bracket - and we may have been remiss in this and I'm not sure, but it wasn't in the checklist - whistled off and clanked Al on the head to the tune of six stitches. It cold-cocked him, which is why we were in stable II. Although he doesn't realize it, he was out to lunch for about 5 seconds. Dick was hollering for him to punch in the breakers, and in the meantime, I'd seen this thing whistle off out of the corner of my eye and he was blankly staring at the instrument panel. I was convinced he was dead over there in the right seat, but he wasn't, and finally got the breakers in." Contents: Suiting and Ingress * Status Checks and Countdown * Powered Flight * Earth Orbit and Systems Checkout * TLI Through S-IVB Closeout * Translunar Coast * LOI Through Lunar Module Activation * Lunar Module Checkout Through Separation * DPI Through Touchdown * Lunar Surface * CSM Circumlunar Operations * Liftoff, Rendezvous, And Docking * Lunar Module Jettison Through TEI * Transearth Coast * Entry * Landing and Recovery * Geology and Experiments * Command Module Systems Operations * Lunar Module Systems Operations * Miscellaneous Systems, Flight Equipment, And GFE * Visual Sightings * Premission Planning * Mission Control * Training * Medical and Food * Miscellaneous The primary mission objectives of the second crewed lunar landing included an extensive series of lunar exploration tasks by the lunar module, or LM, crew, as well as the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, which was to be left on the moon's surface to gather seismic, scientific and engineering data throughout a long period of time. Other Apollo 12 objectives included a selenological inspection; surveys and samplings in landing areas; development of techniques for precision-landing capabilities; further evaluations of the human capability to work in the lunar environment for a prolonged period of time; deployment and retrieval of other scientific experiments; and photography of candidate exploration sites for future missions. The astronauts also were to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which had soft-landed on the moon April 20, 1967, a short distance from the selected landing site of Apollo 12. The flight plan for Apollo 12 was similar to that of Apollo 11, except Apollo 12 was to fly a higher inclination to the lunar equator and leave the free-return trajectory after the second translunar midcourse correction. This first non-free-return trajectory on an Apollo mission was designed to allow a daylight launch and a translunar injection above the Pacific Ocean. It also allowed a stretch of the translunar coast to gain the desired landing site lighting at the time of LM descent, conserved fuel and permitted the Goldstone, Calif., tracking antenna to monitor the LM descent and landing.

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See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by National Aeronautics And Space Administration (nasa). BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Why We Explore

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program: Apollo 1 Tragedy (grissom, White, And Chaffee) Apollo 204 Pad Fire, Complete Review Board Report, Technical Appendix Material, And Medical Analysis Panel

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program