Commentaire par grantss

Apollo 15 is being planned and NASA's attention is now turning to using the moon landings for scientific discovery. In particular they are looking to explore the geology of the Moon and ideally determine the origins of the Moon. However, NASA's astronauts lack the knowledge and enthusiasm to make the landings meaningful in that respect. A geology professor is called in to get them up to speed and enthused.

I realise this series is on all moon landings but it's difficult to get overly excited about any mission since Apollo 11 (Episode 6) as that achieved the (initial) aim of NASA's space program. Episode 7 (Apollo 12) was great but that was largely due to the character of Al Bean and the lightness of the episode.

So, just when I'm thinking, "Why are they still going to the moon? Surely it was mission accomplished with Apollo 11?", I get an answer. The initial aim was to walk on the moon because it hadn't been done before and to one-up the Soviets. Now the aim is to further mankind's knowledge of the Moon and this episode shows the pursuit of this goal in great detail.

Quite interesting and edifying the way the astronauts are taught applied geology and how then get to apply it on the moon. The scientific implications are also well explored.

Excellent episode.