When astronaut Gene Cernan stepped off the moon in 1972, he didn’t think he’d be the last human ever to touch its surface. But no one’s been back. Hear astronaut Cernan’s reaction to being the last man on the moon, the reasons why President Kennedy launched the Apollo program, and why Americans haven’t returned.
Now other countries – and companies – are vying for a bigger piece of the space pie. Find out who – or what – will be visiting and even profiting. Will the moon become an important place to make money?
Plus, the moon landing was a great step for “a man,” and “men not machines” make space history. But what about women? More than a dozen were qualified for space flight in the early 1960s. Hear from one of these original “Mercury 13,” and find out why NASA grounded them.
Guests:
Gene Cernan – Retired American naval officer, former NASA Astronaut.
John Logsdon – Professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
Al Hallonquist – Aerospace historian
Robert Richards – Founder and CEO of Moon Express
Sarah Ratley – Former pilot, member of the "Mercury 13"
Dan Durda – Planetary scientist, Southwest Research Institute.
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Are We Over the Moon? | Big Picture Science podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
