Guest: Dr. David Carrier; Topics: We talked with our guest about his experiences training the Apollo astronauts for being on the lunar surface. His new book, "Apollo Memories," tells the story through his work and his eyes.
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We welcomed Dr. David Carrier to the program for a two part 92 minutes discussion about his new book, "Apollo Memories," and his work in training the Apollo astronauts to work on the lunar surface. Our discussion started with Dr. Carrier telling us about his book and why now. We then talked about the state known lunar science in the late 60s and all during the Apollo era. For example, one of his tasks was to figure how far into the lunar soil might the lander and the astronauts sink when they were on the lunar surface. Don't miss how he figured this out then finding out he was very accurate. This was just one of the many fascinating stories he told us during the show about his working with the astronauts in preparation for walking and working on the lunar surface.
Our guest talked about the limitation of computer power back then and how that factored into astronaut preparation and mission operations. In this part of the discussion, our guest ran some of the math for mass on the lunar surface to determine how far they might sink in lunar regolith. During this discussion, we took our first email question from Todd who wanted to know if our guest trained Dr. Jack Smith differently from the others since he was actually a real geologist. The short answer was no but listen to all of what our guest said in response to this question.
A recurring topic during our interview focused in on returning samples form the Moon, especially HE3 (helium 3). Our guest suggested many times the importance and value of the HE3 on the Moon so don't miss his commentary on this subject. You might want to post comments about it on our blog. An email from Linda in Seattle asked if the lunar soil had the same degree of toxicity everywhere on the Moon or might there be places with no regolith toxicity. The answer was followed by an explanation of the problems created by the very fine lunar dust which causes lots of widespread problems for the astronauts and their equipment.
I asked our guest to tell us some of his favorite stories from his book. Dr. Carrier then told us several stories including one about the Apollo 17 mission. Also he spoke about a field trip for Apollo 11 training that was supposed to take place in West Texas but got changed by extreme fog. Later, after a few more stories, I asked our guest what the differences would be today from back then were he to be the briefing and training persons for an Artemis lunar walk and work on the surface of the Moon. I suggested that since we know so much more about the Moon and the surface of the Moon, the briefing would likely be very different from what he did during the Apollo missions. You might be very surprised by his answer so don't miss it.
Ben from Phoenix asked our guess if there was a limit to the amount of weight for equipment that could operate on the Moon. Just how big could we go with mining gear, habitats, and more. Listen to what he said in response to this question. Once again, you just might be surprised by what you hear.
I asked our guest about lava tubes back then and now. He was skeptical of using them for lunar living because he did not know how structurally safe they might be. He spoke in detail on this subject. He was then asked if lava tubes on Mars might be different. He replied the same way when asked about Martian lava tubes. Our guest then proceeded to tell us another of his stories, this one about drilling into the surface of the Moon. This was a longer story but don't miss a word of it.
Listener Ellen sent a note asking what he did and where was he during Apollo 13. Our guest had much to say about this but note he was not in Mission Control but clearly tuned into what was happening. This was another great story from his book, "Apollo Memories." Later in response to a question from George in Atlanta, our guest mentioned editing a key lunar book from the 1980s still valid today. Listen for it, you might want to get a copy.
As we were nearing the end of the program, I asked our guest if he had access to Soviet information about the lunar surface. He had much to say about Soviet lunar missions, lunar soil analysis and the comparisons to what we knew about the lunar soil. At one point our guest even said that the Soviets put out disinformation about Russian lunar soil analysis. Don't miss these comments.
Closing in on the end of the program, Roger in the D.C. area asked about returning to the Moon. Once again, HE3 factored strongly in what our guest had to say. He favored going back to the Moon, mentioned the Chinese plans, and his support for Artemis. He was asked about space tourism and resorts on the Moon, scientific outposts, and if he thought the private sector could do it without the government. You will want to hear all of what our guest said in commentary on these subjects. He then provided us with a short summary of his book, the subjects we discussed,, even mentioning that Apollo was a Cold War program which dictated a different type of program from today. He talked about new lunar information, the information coming from LRO and once again strongly supported going back to the Moon, plus he provided reasons for why we need to get back there.
Please post your comments/questions for Dr. Carrier on our blog for this program. You can reach Dr. Carrier through me. In addition, if you buy the book through Amazon, please use the OGlF/SpaceShow portal you will see on our home page so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to The Space Show.
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