Guest: Col. William R. (Bill) Pogue: Topics: Col. Pogue's experiences as a Korean war combat pilot, a member of the AF Thunderbirds, & astronaut on Skylab. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. Also visit Col. Pogue's website, www.williampogue.com. We welcomed Bill Pogue back to The Space Show to discuss his new autobiography, "But for the Grace of God: An Autobiography of an Aviator and Astronaut," and his experiences as an USAF aviator and astronaut. In our first segment, we talked about his enlistment in the AF and his going on to fly combat fighter bombers during the Korean War. His book has lots of stories in it we did not get to during the program, including bombing the wrong target & the surprise ending of the incident. He talked about many of his experiences, the planes he flew such as the F-84, and how he handled the N. Korean flak fired at him and the other pilots. We then talked about his joining the AF Thunderbirds and formation flying. These are interesting stories that we don't get to hear that often from the person actually making the history. We then did a fast forward to get to his NASA career. Here, he had many stories and experiences to share with us all the way from astronaut selection to working with other astronauts such as Alan Bean, Wally Schirra, Al Shepherd and others. You will enjoy these stories as well as learn new things about the personalities of those making up our early space program. Bill talked about being selected as part of the backup crew for Apollo 16 and why that crew was never announced publicly. He then told how he joined the Skylab team with fellow astronauts Jerry Carr and Ed Gibson. Bill took us through his training, crew dynamics, his near record seven plus hour space walk and more. In the second segment, he said the Skylab training spanned three years. The intellectual training was mostly devoted to the solar observatory to image the sun in ultra violet and x-rays for the first time. He talked about his exercise routine to combat the problems associated with microgravity and radiation issues. He applied the radiation concerns to a Mars mission. I asked him to compare a space walk then to a modern one on the Shuttle or the ISS, including the differences in EVA suits. Don't miss this comparison. Bill had much to say about the view on a space walk as compared to inside the station. In our final segment, we honed in on crew size. He said they had no crew issues because they united in facing the common enemy, Mission Control. Don't miss what he said about this. We talked about space tourism, ordinary people going up for two week trips, commercial launchers, and more. He supports these activities and sees no issues, especially if its a two week trip. Near the end, we talked about modern space policy, more on commercial launchers, American space leadership & NASA human spaceflight oversight. He had much to say on these issues as well as the risks facing us regarding the loss of our space leadership status. He concluded with the takeaways from Skylab & his experiences then to today. Post your comments & questions on the blog URL above.
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