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January 2004

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Gene Cernan     Listen to this show

		On Sunday - January 25th, 2004 - our guest was astronaut Gene Cernan. In 1972 Gene Cernan commanded the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon and became, as he hates to say, "The Last Man on the Moon". No one expected that more than thirty years later he would still have that title. In 1999 he used that phrase as the title for his autobiography. We had the opportunity to interview him at that time while he was on tour promoting his book. Suzanne suggested that we re-air that interview from 1999 today, since it is even more timely now than it was back then.
The Last Man on the Moon is Gene Cernan's frank and honest autobiography. In it he tells not just the story of his life as an astronaut, but gives you insights into the choices he made in his life. He isn't afraid to tell about times when he screwed up and made mistakes, like we all do. But what impressed me most about his stories was that he never made excuses for himself and always took responsibility for his actions. Like the time he was 'hot dogging' in a helicopter and crashed while the decision about who was going to command the Apollo 17 mission was still up in the air. In the post-crash debriefing Deke Slayton offered him an easy way out from this embarrassment. "So, exactly when did the engine quit on you?" asked Deke. "It didn't. I just screwed up", was Gene's answer. The two men went over this issue several times, but Gene never waivered. He knew what he did and knew he had to be responsible for his actions. In the end the honest story about what happened was the one that was reported and Gene Cernan went on to get command of the last mission to the Moon. To many Gene Cernan is a hero because he was an astronaut who flew to the Moon. But in my mind he's a hero because he took responsibility for his actions and was honest about what he did and why he did it. His book, The Last Man on the Moon is most highly recommended and is not to be missed.
Image Credit: NASA		Cover Copyright © 1999 St. Martin's Press
On December 7, 1972 night was turned into day as the last of the Apollo missions to the Moon was launched into space.
Image Credit: NASA
Gene Cernan exuberantly leaps into the air and salutes the flag while on the last Lunar expedition of the Apollo program. This picture was taken over 30 years ago. It is now time for the ground to shake again with the roar of humans traveling to other worlds. Gene Cernan might currently be 'the last man on the Moon', but that is a title he would gladly give up. And with the President's recent announcement of a plan to send humans back to the Moon and beyond, that might be happening soon.

Dateline: Mars

Opportunity Last night the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity successfully landed on Mars in the region known as Meridiani Planum. Within a few hours color images were coming back to Earth and the scientists were growing impatient for their robotic sibling to go off exploring.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Shown above is the first color image returned by the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover. The sandy surface is quite unlike the rocky plains seen by other Mars landers. Those circular marks on the ground are thought to be the impressions left by the spacecraft's airbags when it bounced down on Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Above you see one of the early black and white images returned by Opportunity. Those rocks off in the distance are thought to be an example of bedrock peeking out from beneath the sands of Mars.

Spirit Meanwhile, on the other side of Mars, the Spirit rover continues its mission of exploration. There were some heart-stopping moments when the spacecraft was unable to communicate with the Earth for more than a day. But the engineers and scientists at JPL have been working the problem and they are back in communication with Spirit. They think they will be able to solve the problem and have Spirit back on-line and working in a matter of days or weeks. Till then, we have these images of Mars to whet your appetite.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

On January 19, 2004 the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft snapped this picture from orbit showing the landing site for the Spirit rover. The detail of this image is so high that you can even see the lander/rover sitting on the Martian surface and the marks left on the ground when the spacecraft bounced down on Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

As the Spirit rover rolled off its landing stage it turned its camera back to take this photograph of the vehicle that had delivered it to the surface of Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Show above is a 360 degree panorama of the Martian surface as seen by the Spirit rover. To view a wondrous QuicktimeVR version of this image that will take your breath away click here. Warning, that QuicktimeVR image is large and bandwidth intensive. But well worth it! It's like you are there, in person, on Mars looking around at a landscape that is just waiting to be explored. Let's go!

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	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:01:54} Or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening. {30:04} Click here for our interview with Gene Cernan. {29:04} Click here for the show's closing.{2:05} Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

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Michael Cassutt     Listen to this show

		On Saturday - January 10th, 2004 - our guest was screenwriter and author Michael Cassutt, talking about his new space techno-thriller Tango Midnight. Science Fiction has a long history of popular writers who are also 'working' scientists and engineers, such as Greg Benford, Charles Sheffield, Vernor Vinge, George O. Smith and many others. And it is their proximity to the frontiers of science that gives their fiction a special flavor. But what are we to make of Michael Cassutt? He isn't a working scientist or engineer. And yet when he writes a novel about spaceflight he gets all the details right and captures the flavor of the 'space business' better than just about anybody I know.
I'm not going to try and analyze how he does what he does. I'm just going to tell you that he does it really well. The amount of thought and research that goes into his books is amazing. As is his obvious love of the subject. Whenever he releases a new novel about the space program I know I'm in for a good read. And that is as good a reason as any to have him back on Hour 25. Tango Midnight is a techno-thriller set on the International Space Station that draws its background from events happening in the world around us; from terrorism to biomedical research, from NASA office politics to space policy, from space tourism to the difficulties of balancing your personal life with your career. I was unable to put this book down once I started reading it and was wanting more as soon as I finished it. Michael did a great job of crafting an exciting story that didn't play fast and loose with the technical realities of spaceflight. Michael has my unending appreciation for his willingness to do the hard work of crafting a story within the constraints of 'how things really work' and for not taking the easy way out by playing fast and loose with the facts when the writing got difficult. Tango Midnight is a really good book. I enjoyed it greatly and recommend it most highly.

Dateline: Mars

Image Credit: NASA/JPL		Image Credit: NASA/JPL
A week ago the first Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit - successfully landed on Mars. After spending six months traveling through space at speeds of thousands of miles per hour it plunged into the Martian atmosphere where aerodynamic forces quickly slowed it to a speed of a few hundred miles per hour. A parachute controlled its descent until it was close to the Martian surface and then braking rockets brought the vehicle to almost a complete stop not far from the surface. The parachutes were then released and the rover fell to the ground, protected by multiple airbags. After bouncing a few times the Mars Exploration Rover came to rest on the Martian surface, enclosed within the spacecraft that had carried it from the Earth.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL		Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Not long after it stopped bouncing the Lander unfolded its triangular sides and exposed the Rover to the Martian environment. After a period of several days, after the Rover has been carefully checked out by engineers on the Earth, it will drive off the lander and start its studies of the Martian surface. If all goes well - and so far it has - this will happen in the next few days. After leaving the Lander the Mars Exploration Rover will embark on a three month period of Martian exploration. Guided by engineers and scientists on the ground it will traverse the Martian surface and give us an unprecedented look at the surface of a world that has filled our dreams with wonder and a desire to go there. With any luck, it will not be too many years before human footprints join the wheel prints of the the Spirit Rover on the surface of the Red Planet.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Presented above is a color image of the area where the Mars Exploration Rover landed. In a few days the Rover will be driving through that rock field, taking photographs, gathering information and following our dreams to the never ending horizon.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Show above is a 3D anaglyph of the Martian surface taken by the Mars Exploration Rover. You'll need red/Cyan glasses to see the 3D effect, but trust me - this is way more cool than any 3D movie from the 50's 'cause it's real. To view many more Martian 3D images be sure to go to the Mars Unearthed web site. They even have some 3D images created from pictures taken by orbiting spacecraft that are wondrous in the extreme. Most highly recommended!

Dateline: Deep Space

Image Credit: NASA/JPL		Image Credit: NASA/JPL
A little over a week ago the Stardust spacecraft successfully executed a fly-by of the Comet Wild 2 at a distance of approximately 150 miles. Whilst doing that it extended a sample collection arm and retrieved numerous small particles from the gaseous coma that surrounds the nucleus of the comet. Those samples are now tucked into an re-entry capsule within the Stardust spacecraft which is on a trajectory taking it back to Earth. When it arrives back here in a couple of years the re-entry vehicle will plunge into the Earth's atmosphere and land in the Utah desert. Studies of these samples will give us a window into the conditions that existed during the origin of the Solar System. But in addition to getting samples of the Comet's coma, the Stardust spacecraft also returned a series of images of Wild 2. Two of those images are shown above. Studies of the structures found on this comet will give scientists great insights into the physical processes occurring on cometary surfaces.

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:38:47} Or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening. {31:50} Click here for our interview with Michael Cassutt. {1:05:18} Click here for the show's closing.{1:58} You can also listen to the interview we did with Michael in 2001 where we discussed his book Red Moon. Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

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