All language subtitles for B T W S02E03 1080p WEB h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

- Hi, I'm Matthew Burchette.

- I'm Gene Kranz.

This is Behind the Wings.

Nice vest.
- Thank you.

This program was made possible

by Wings Over The Rockies,

educating and inspiring
people of all ages

about aviation and
space endeavors

of the past, present and future.

(pleasant music)

This program made possible by...

- Little learners can
read, write, talk,

sing and play at
Arapahoe Libraries.

Make a playdate,
join a storytime,

build a masterpiece and
present a puppet show,

all in one morning.

More at arapahoelibraries.org.

- [Matthew] This episode
made possible by...

- Do Denver's 300
days of sunshine

make the smiles a little wider?

They definitely make the
energy here stronger.

So your family can enjoy
every unexpected encounter

and outdoor adventure.

Denver, soak it all in.

(upbeat music)

- [Matthew] Now
I say this a lot.

But how cool is this?

(helicopter propeller humming)

This is Lieutenant Zach Farrell.

Dr. Janet Kavandi.

The amazing Gene Kranz.

You've never seen
aerospace like this.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

In 1962, President
Kennedy challenged NASA

to send a man to
the moon and back

before the end of the decade.

- We choose to go to
the moon in this decade

and do the other thing--

- [Narrator] Under the
direction of Vice President,

Lyndon B. Johnson,
Congress appropriated funds

and NASA expanded its programs

to achieve President
Kennedy's vision.

Two significant projects
came before Apollo

to gain insights on space
travel and survival.

The first was Project Mercury,

which sent the first
American into space in 1961.

Six astronauts were
successfully launched

during the Mercury program,

for a total of 54
hours in space.

From 1965 to 1966,
Project Gemini

continued to develop techniques

for long duration space travel
during 10 space missions.

The Gemini spacecraft
carried a two astronaut crew

and advanced NASA's
understanding of
space rendezvous

and docking, re-entry
and landing methods

and the effects of longer
space flights on astronauts.

The first Apollo missions
began in 1967 with Apollo one,

which was a flight test for the

Apollo Command and
service module.

Tragically, a cabin fire
during a launch rehearsal

killed all three crew members,

leading NASA to suspend manned
Apollo flights for 20 months

while the module's
shortcomings were addressed.

Over the next two years,
Apollo 4 through 10

continued to prepare NASA
for achieving the goal

of landing a man on the moon
before the end of the decade.

- [Armstrong] Very,
very fine grain.

As you get close to it,
it's almost like a powder.

- [Matthew] On July 20th 1969,

history was made as
Apollo 11 astronauts,

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin,

successfully landed
on the moon's surface.

While astronaut, Michael
Collins, orbited overhead.

After Apollo 11, NASA
conducted six more missions

to the moon with
Apollo 12 through 17.

Only Apollo 13 failed
to make a lunar landing

when an accident in
route to lunar orbit

forced the crew return to Earth.

The last mission, Apollo 17,
occurred in December 1972.

Over the course of
the Apollo program,

a total of 12 astronauts
walked on the moon

where they conducted
increasingly

sophisticated
scientific studies,

yielding new insights into
the evolution of the moon.

Each mission explored new
areas of the lunar surface

and left behind
scientific instruments

that continue to send back
data to Earth years later.

Now, let's talk to someone
who made Apollo history.

He was NASA's flight director
for nine Apollo missions,

including Apollo 11,
the amazing Gene Kranz.

In 2019, we celebrated
the 50th anniversary

of the Apollo moon
launch, Apollo 11.

What is it like to
think back on that time?

- It's really a opportunity
to actually think about

what America was in those days.

You know, the space
program was just

one of the things
that was moving.

You had the Civil
Rights Movement,

you had the Peace Corps.

You know, all of America was
in the process of moving,

and they're making
something happen.

This is, I think, the
change in today's world.

People want to
watch things happen

as opposed to getting involved.

And for me, it was basically a,

I was 50 years younger,

the day I walked
into Mission Control.

I mean, it just, it was
just like I was back there

that day at that
time in that place

with my team and with
the leaders I had,

this was a time of
leadership within our nation,

time of unity within our nation.

We were one moving
towards a goal established

by President Kennedy.

Take the man to the
moon, get him back safely

and do it within the decade.

Marvelous challenge.

- When you guys
started the countdown

and all that's
associated with it,

did you have any idea
what it was gonna

do for the human race?

- We were so busy in those days.

We were flying just
generally about a mission

every two to three months.

So as soon as we
finished one mission,

we basically debriefed, had
a few days break, time off,

went into training, we
got in the next mission.

I don't think any of
us really recognized

the impact that we would have.

We'd go home when we'd
read the newspaper and say,

"Yeah, that's pretty neat."

Okay, and they say,

I think about my people.

My people were the
ones that was that,

I just loved them.

They were young
pups, young kids,

basically, or on the console,

stepping up to one of the
greatest responsibilities.

And they did it and
they did it perfectly.

- Do you miss it?

- Yes, I do.

I look at it, you know, I sorta

connect it to the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal,
when it was built,

tied to oceans together.

Apollo 11, when we
landed on the moon,

tied two worlds together,
Earth and deep space.

And I think this was
sort of a challenge

to the people that
we have today.

Continue to press,
explore, demand

as much as you
can of yourselves,

make things happen.

Get involved.

- Where do you see us
or where would you like

to see us in the next 50
years in space travel?

- I think there's many
answers to that question.

I think the first
thing I'd like to see

is see this country come
together as one again.

Because I think that
the key to our future

is establishing the unity
necessary to be successful

in whatever you set out to do.

I would like to see
us back on the moon

with stations there,
permanent stations

on board the moon
serving industrial,

economic doing military
purposes right down the line,

and I guess I
shouldn't say that,

military purposes on the moon,

but I think that we have
to continue to address

the use of space for all
reasonable activities

that we got there.

Then once we have learned
to live on the moon,

we can then move
further than that.

We can move into Mars.

We can continue this
process of exploration.

But before that, you
have to learn to live

in a hostile environment for
an extended period of time.

I talk about this as if camping.

The first time you
go out camping,

you think about all
those things you brought

that you didn't need and
those things that you forgot.

It takes about four or five
times to get that together.

And I think that's one
of the principal reasons

to go back to the moon.

I believe it to be.

I wish I was 50 years younger,

and I could be one
of the young pups

in Mission Control today,

living that kind of an
experience all over again.

- [Matthew] After my
conversation with Gene,

it was time to explore a
state that was significant

to the Apollo
program and continues

to push the frontier
of space travel, Ohio.

First stop, the small
town of Wapakoneta.

If we're talking about Apollo,

why am I sitting on the
front steps

of a house?

That's because this house
was the boyhood home

of none other than
Neil Armstrong,

the first man to
walk on the Moon.

The other thing that's
really interesting

is that he used to work for NASA

at the Glenn Research Center,

which at the time was called
the Lewis Research Center.

That's just up the
road in Cleveland.

And there is a ton
of information there

that I wanna check out.

So, let's get going.

(gentle music)

So we drove up from Wapakoneta.

And now we're at the
Glenn Research Center

here in Cleveland.

And I've got John Oldham,

who's the exhibit
specialist here on campus.

Thank you so much,
and I gotta say,

I understand you're actually
a fan of Behind the Wings?

- Absolutely, love the show.

- Awesome.
- Done a great job.

- Gotta get that plug in.

You heard him here, he said
we're doing a great job.

So, tell us a little bit about

what Glenn Research has
done for the Apollo program.

- [John] Sure, well, firstly,

the Glenn Research Center

started as the Lewis
Research Center.

It was an aero center
back in the 40s.

We didn't become
Glenn until 1999.

That was ai honor of
John Glenn, hometown guy.

But in the interim as
Lewis Research Center,

we were faced with part of
the big challenges of Apollo.

One of the things
Glenn had been,

or Lewis had been
working on at the time,

was hydrogen fuels.

Basically, we had to
push a 363 foot tall,

7 million pound rocket in and
get it to 17,500 miles an hour

in less than 100 miles.

So the fuel problem was solved

by the folks at
Lewis with hard work,

dedication, and they were
kinda the spear point

of getting hydrogen
under control

that would later be used to
enable us to do some missions.

So there were 16
missions that flew,

prior to manned
missions to the moon,

that Glenn was involved with,

spacecraft like the
Ranger Spacecraft rangers

were lunar probes that were

not quite capable
of soft landing,

they made hard landings,

we'll leave it at
that, on the moon.

They sent back some very nice
pictures on their way in.

And in addition to that we
had Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft

that would stay in
orbit around the moon

and provide great
photography and some data

to help us kinda
pick those spots

where we would put ourselves
eventually on the moon.

(upbeat music)

- [Matthew] All right, John,

you have a amazing set of toys,

but this, come on.
- This is the real deal.

Yeah, so what we have
here is an Apollo A7L.

It is the basic suit
to go to the moon in.

This particular suit
belonged to William Anders,

who was the Command
Module Pilot for Apollo 8.

It was not a flown suit,
it was his flight spare.

You know, bolt for bolt and
stitch for stitch identical

in how they were made.

There were form made
for the astronaut.

In this particular suit,
you could not sit down.

There's no stitching
in there to allow you.

If you remember Apollo 11
when Neil and Buzz landed,

they were standing.

When you landed
in a lunar module,

you were not sitting in a chair.

There was no chair
in the lunar module.

So you couldn't even
bend all the way

because it would require things

that would compromise
the safety of the suit

to the point where they
decided to delete that.

- So on the helmet,
- Yes

this does not look like
the helmet that you see

in all the photographs.
- Sure.

A lot of people
believe that that big,

beautiful helmet
with the gold visor

was the actual pressure helmet
for the moon, it wasn't.

You have this pressure bubble

that keeps this
astronaut breathing,

nice, breathable air.

You don't wanna take
that out on the moon

and take the chance of
tripping and breaking it.

If you had a hard hat
you could put over that,

which is what they had.

They called the Apollo
helmet, the LEVA,

the Lunar Excursion
Visor Assembly,

and it was a hard hat
that went over this

and had a series of
visors, that gold visor,

that would lift.

So that was over the
top of this bubble.

So you still required this.

- Can I try that on?
- Absolutely.

Sure we can make that happen.

So you'll wanna tilt it back

and then back over your
head just like that.

There you are.

- I love It.

I sound like really
cool in here.

Aside from this super
awesome space suit,

John had one more Apollo
artifact to show me.

Let's do this.
- Let's dive in.

- [Matthew] But
before we get to that,

let's talk a little more about

what's currently
going on at Glenn.

As one of 10 NASA centers
around the country,

Glenn is situated
on 350 acres of land

and contains more
than 3000 employees.

Within their dedicated teams,

Glenn's primary
purpose is to research,

develop and test
innovative technology

for aeronautics and spaceflight.

Need an example?

Check this place out.

This is the SLOPE laboratory,

also known as the Simulated
Lunar Operations Laboratory.

Part of their
mission is to improve

how we get around on
other planets' surfaces,

which explains the giant sandbox

in the center of the room.

It also explains this
collection of unique tires.

They have exact
replicas of the tires

used on the lunar rover,
which were surprisingly light.

And newer models
that will support

even heavier lunar vehicles.

Another lab doing
interesting work

is the Exercise
Countermeasures Laboratory,

which evaluates exercise devices

that astronauts use in space.

This lab simulates the
zero gravity of space

by hanging test subjects
from the ceiling

and having them run on
this vertical treadmill.

Unfortunately, I wasn't
allowed to test it out.

But I did try on this
super groovy harness

that was developed at Glenn

and is used by the astronauts

in the International
Space Station.

Ever been told it's
not rocket science?

Well, this lab is
rocket science.

Specifically, it's the Electric
Propulsion and Power Lab,

which, like the name implies,
tests electric propulsion.

They're currently
testing thrusters

in these huge vacuum chambers

that will ionize xenon gas
and make it into a plasma

that's thrust out the
back of spacecraft

to propel it forward.

Like I said, rocket science.

Back with John, the artifact
he was dying to show me was

Apollo moon rocks.

- Let's dive in.

So the first rock
I wanna show you is

a rock from Apollo 15.

So this rock has a name.

Its name is 15058.192.

The 192 is a section
of that sample.

So this rock was sectioned
off into multiple pieces.

And this piece was
separated from those pieces.

So keep in mind,
picked up in the vacuum

of space on the moon,

and the only atmosphere on earth

this rock has ever
seen is nitrogen.

We use nitrogen as an inert gas

to keep from reacting with any
of the minerals in that rock.

And these pieces were sealed
in this material called Lucite.

My mom used to wax
the kitchen floor

with Lucite floor wax, right,

similar kind of material
but that's 50 years old,

it's been in that
material for 50 years.

So it's protecting it and
it's not seen our atmosphere.

- And this came from Apollo...

- 15.

So that is a Jim Irwin rock.

Jim Irwin is the
actual astronaut who
picked up that rock.

- [Matthew] Thanks, Jim.

- The rock I'm gonna show
you now is quite different

and it was kinda special,
even among moon rocks.

So this is a sample
from Apollo 16.

This is lunar anorthosite.

And anorthosite represents
the older parts of the moon.

That's 4.2 billion years old.

And the biggest surprise we
found in these two samples,

and consistently in all of the
842 pounds we brought back,

40% oxygen by weight.

The moon is full of oxygen,
it's mineral oxygen,

it's gonna require some work,

it's gonna take some chemistry,

it's gonna take some physical

and mechanical
processes to do that,

but it's loaded with oxygen, so.

(pleasant music)

- [Matthew] We have
seen some amazing things

here on the Glenn
Research Center's campus.

But now we're talking
to Doctor Janet Kavandi,

who flew on STS-91, 99 and 104,

a full fledged astronaut.

Thank you so much
for being here.

- It is my pleasure.

- So Glenn is one of
10 research centers

scattered throughout
the country.

What percentage does Glenn play

in this whole overall kind of
push to get back to the moon?

- [Janet] There are, you
know, maybe four centers

that really push the space side,

and that would be the
Johnson Space Center,

the Kennedy, the Marshall.

And then we are probably next

with contributions
to spaceflight.

- Well you guys are
kind of important.

You're doing propulsion.

- [Janet] Yeah, the
propulsion part is kinda,

so there's two kinds
of propulsion too.

There's chemical propulsion.

So if you see the vehicles
launch off the pad,

there's a lot of fire
and stuff, right.

That's Marshall's specialty.
- [Matthew] Okay.

- And what we did is
electric propulsion system.

So I believe you saw--

- [Matthew] We saw that earlier,

which is really cool stuff.
- [Janet] Yeah,

which is the xenon.

Yeah, low thrust, but very
very energy efficient.

- [Matthew] That is really cool.

Now on the space side of things,

you, you've got Orion
working, the Gateway

and who knows what else.

- [Janet] Oh, a lot of stuff.

So, let's start
with Orion, okay.

So with Orion, we have
a new crew capsule

that will go back to the moon.

Under the capsule
where the crew sits

there's a module called
the service module.

And the Glenn Research Center
is responsible for that.

And it is actually
manufactured in Europe

in Bremen, Germany by Airbus.

And then they have
shipped the first element

to the Kennedy Space Center.

It's being integrated
with the crew capsule,

and then we will bring that
whole integrated stack here

to the Plum Brook station
in Sandusky, Ohio,

and we will do vacuum
testing on that module

in the world's largest
vacuum chamber.

So it's very important
to make sure that we

test this vehicle properly

to make sure it
doesn't have any flaws

so that when we put humans
on it for the first time,

that will be safe
for them to fly.

- Do we have kinda
a rough estimate

of date when that might happen?

- [Janet] Yeah, well the
equipment will come here

this fall and test here,

and then we will ship it back

and we should be able to
fly by the end of 2020.

- And that's the
unmanned mission?

- [Janet] That's the
unmanned mission.

- Okay, and then between
unmanned to man will be?

- [Janet] Yeah, it'll
be a couple of years

probably in between.

And in this case, we wanna
put humans on the moon

but we're doing it to stay
for longer periods of time.

And we're going to do
a lot more science.

Learn how to build
habitats on the moon,

how to protect ourselves
from radiation,

how to grow food on the
surface of the moon,

and just be sustainable.

Because what we learn there,

we can take input on
Mars at a future date.

- Talking with John, he
showed us some moon rocks.

And I asked him if
I could have one.

And he so rudely said no,

but since you run the joint,

can I have a moon rock?

- [Janet] No.

Even if I were able
to give you one,

I would not give you one.

I can't have one.

- [Matthew] That's right.

You come first.

All right, fair enough.

While I didn't get a moon rock,

Doctor Kavandi
scheduled me a tour

of Glenn Research
Center's second facility

in Sandusky, Ohio,
Plum Brook Station.

The facilities here are
designed to simulate

environmental conditions
found on Earth,

in low Earth orbit,

on the surfaces of
planets and in deep space.

Meeting us in the
world's largest

space environment
simulation chamber

is the director of NASA's
Plum Brook Station,

General David Stringer.

- You're standing in the
Vibro-Acoustic Test Complex.

A fancy name for a
very strong facility,

six to eight foot thick
reinforced concrete walls.

We have a reverberate
acoustic test chamber

with 36 horns in it, the
most powerful in the world.

You wanna make sure
that the pressure

of going into space
doesn't somehow

snap mechanical
components in spacecraft.

So you test the shape
in a wind tunnel

to find out what the
force of gravity,

the G-loads are on a device.

And then you can
build the device,

put it in here, check it
against that launch environment,

and then inspect it afterwards

to see if you've
snapped anything.

The second thing you're on
here, we're standing on,

it's called a modal plate,

which allows you to find out

what the natural frequency
of that object is,

if you don't know it.

Everything that's man
made, and even you and I,

have a natural frequency.

If you hit it, it vibrates.

You take multiples
of that frequency

and exploit it on
this table here

which can handle
75,000 pounds or so

of spacecraft vibrated
at a G this way,

a G this way and a G
and a half this way,

that's exceptional.

Why?

Because things on a
spacecraft might slosh.

So we'll test things
that have tanks

with fluid, full,
empty and half full,

because you wanna see if
there's a coupled effect

to you operating on
a facility like this.

So we can do that.
- That's amazing.

- Then when you turn around

you get to see a
reinforced concrete door

that's 5 million pounds.

So on the other side of that,

which we can't see today, alas,

because it's under vacuum,

is the biggest thermal
vacuum chamber in the world.

It's a hundred feet
wide, 122 feet tall.

- [Matthew] Who besides
NASA would actually

use something that large?

- Anybody who wants
to get results

in a space that large
to fit their spacecraft.

We tested the SpaceXs,
payload fairings,

we've tested the Ariane
5 payload fairing

built by Oerlikon,
now named RUAG,

for European space agencies.

- So earlier you
mentioned Mars rovers.

Have those been tested
in the vacuum chamber?

- Actually, the inflation bags.

The rovers came
down in little bags

that looked like chewing gum

surrounding a rover
that would split

on the surface of Mars.

The bags were inflation tested
in the last facility we saw,

the in-space
propulsion facility.

And then we brought them in here

and slammed them against
rocks from Hawaii,

pretending to be Martian
rocks on an inclined plane,

to see if they would tear.

The last test was successful

after they'd launched
both spacecrafts to Mars.

- Wow, better to know
here than up there.

- It's much cheaper
and easier to fix it

before you launch than after.

- General, I hear that
Orion is coming to town

into this facility.

Remind us a little bit
of exactly what Orion is.

- Sure.

So, Orion is the replacement
for the space shuttle.

So it draws on Apollo design

in that it has a crew module,

which Lockheed
Martin is primed for,

and it has a service module,
a power pack, as Apollo did.

The service module in this case

is built by European
Space Agency,

three countries, Italy,
Germany, and France,

based out of Bremen, Germany,

assemble the service module.

They join in Kennedy
Space Center.

And that assembly will
come here to test.

And so through
that great big door

is where the testing
will happen for

about four months or so.
- Wow.

- Including about 60 days
of thermal vacuum test

to do two thermal cycles,
super hot, super cold.

And then once again, to
make sure that it can stand

the cold and vacuum of space,

and then not at a vacuum, just
in the space that it's in,

it will get electromagnetic
interference testing,

sparking radio waves in

to bay the spacecraft
in that radio wave

and see if the spacecraft
electronics, the avionics,

are interrupted in any way.
- Okay.

That is really cool stuff.

I love how much goes on here.

NASA is great about
sharing their facilities

and their knowledge
with other companies

and other countries.

That is a win win for everybody.

It's one of the most
significant milestones

in the field of aerospace.

And even 50 years later,

the accomplishments
of the Apollo program

are still being celebrated
around the world.

From gaining incredible insights

from NASA icon, Gene Kranz,

to visiting the boyhood
home of Neil Armstrong,

and even seeing what NASA
has in store for the future.

We've taken you behind the
wings of the Apollo program.

Hi, I'm Matthew Burchette.

- I'm Gene--

(Matthew laughs)

- The awesome drive
from Wapakoneta to...

Say that fast.

Doc, Doctor, Are you a doctor?

- No.
- Oh okay.

We were on a roll.

Mister Ben...

- We're now on a B roll.

- Yeah.

(Matthew and David laughing)

(upbeat music)

- Little learners can
read, write, talk,

sing and play at
Arapahoe Libraries.

Make a playdate,
join a storytime,

build a masterpiece and
present a puppet show

all in one morning.

More at arapahoelibraries.org.

- Do Denver's 300
days of sunshine

make the smiles a little wider?

They definitely make the
energy here stronger.

So you can enjoy the blue skies

and mountain view sunsets.

Denver, soak it all in.