the explorers journal

the explorers journal EST. 1921 destination moon SummEr 2009 a new era in global space leadership bu z z a l d r in b il l “E a r T hr i S E ” a n d E r S right place, right time moon dreams PETEr diamandiS v ol . 87 no .2 i $ 8 . 0 0 i w w w.E x P l or E r S .org i the explorers journAl s umme r 2 0 0 9 editor’s note A giAnt leAp indeed In his 1951 work, The Exploration of Space, Arthur C. Clarke outlined the extraordinary challenge of building a rocket capable of reaching the 25,000-mile-per-hour velocity necessary to simply escape Earth’s gravitational pull, much less carry a payload and enough fuel for a return voyage. He stated that, “When one allows for this, the initial weight of a chemically fuelled spaceship on taking off from the Earth would be not hundreds but hundreds of thousands of tons—and the whole project becomes, if not impossible, certainly fantastic.” Fantastic indeed, but possible, thanks to the pioneering efforts of visionary rocketeers such as Wernher von Braun, whose Saturn V rocket propelled us to the Moon. In describing the launch of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin told The explorers Journal, “Gulping 15 tons of fuel a second, cooled by water cascading at 50,000 gallons a minute, the Saturn V rocket rose with the force of 100,000 locomotives, burning 5,000,000 pounds of fuel in the first 150 seconds, getting a full five inches to the gallon.” On July 20, it will be 40 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped foot on the Moon. This issue, in celebration of that momentous event, we have brought together a number of luminaries and new comers in the field of lunar exploration to share with us their thoughts not only on where we have been but where we are going in the realm of space exploration. So, leave your cares below, pull the switch, let’s go— Destination Moon! A pionEEr of AmEriCA’s spACE progrAm, WErnhEr von BrAun stAnds By thE fivE f-1 EnginEs of thE Saturn V lAunCh vEhiClE, dEsignEd And dEvElopEd By roCkEtdynE undEr thE dirECtion of thE mArshAll spACE flight CEntEr. EACh of thE f-1 EnginEs BurnEd 15 tons of liquid oxygEn And kErosEnE pEr sECond to produCE 7,500,000 pounds of thrust. WhEn AssEmBlEd, thE Apollo Saturn V, soArEd to A hEight of 111 mEtErs (363 fEEt), And fully fuEllEd, WEighEd 6.5 million pounds. imAgE CourtEsy nAsA. angela M.h. schusTer, Editor-in-Chief moon “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the Moon. July 1969 a.d. We came in peace for all mankind.” On July 20, it will be 40 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the Moon in one giant leap for humankind. Between July 1969 and December 1972, 12 astronauts spent 160 hours on the Moon, traveling 100 kilometers across its surface both on foot and in lunar rovers. In addition to thousands of photographs, the astronauts collected 837 pounds of rocks from the lunar regolith for study, rocks that continue to yield important information, not only about our celestial companion but also about the birth of our solar system. Yet it has been 37 years since our last manned mission there. Some blame the delay on politics—the end of the Cold War and the space race. Others contend it is just a matter of money. But, of course, there’s the plain old danger inherent in space travel. As Buzz Aldrin told the explorers Journal in the wake of the February 2003 Columbia disaster, “The most dangerous part of our Apollo 11 Moon landing, the descent to the lunar surface, was accomplished in the face of onboard computer failures, faltering telemetry, a field of boulders, and only seconds of remaining fuel, which prompted Flight Director Gene Kranz to quip, ‘You’d better remind them there ain’t no damn gas stations on the Moon.’” In a recent interview with explorers Journal columnist Jim Clash, Neil Armstrong amplified Aldrin’s remarks, saying, “Our landing was a very high-risk situation. Walking on the surface was, in my opinion at the time, far less risky. But it was genuine exploration at a place where no other human, as far as we knew, had ever stepped before.” destination DESTINATION MOON #1 A new Age in global space leadership by Buzz Aldrin As many of my fellow Americans and people the world over mark the fortieth anniversary of my flight to the Moon aboard Apollo 11, we should understand the true legacy of that pioneering mission. Beyond the science, beyond the engineering excellence, beyond the Cold War 20 challenge, Apollo was much more. The entire space program, with special emphasis on the attention given to Apollo, was a crown jewel in America’s strategic global vision. It was not only a testament to the strength of America’s capitalist economy and technical prowess, but a vision of Buzz AlDrIN flOATS IN SpAcE DurINg ThE gEMINI XII MISSION, NOvEMBEr 12, 1966, IMAgE cOurTESy NASA. leadership that we wished the world to emulate. Cast in terms of a peaceful quest for scientific and engineering excellence, it was a powerful foreign policy tool. Nations that may have opposed U.S. foreign policies, such as our presence in Vietnam, and even our Cold War adversaries, admired America for the boldness and openness of its lunar exploration program. While NASA went to the Moon, it did so with the hopes, dreams, and the admiration of the people of Earth, who embraced the journey as an endeavor for humankind. We went to the Moon, but it was a journey shared and embraced by all. New global partnerships were formed and cultural exchanges made. It became a shining symbol of all that America aspired to be, and why we sought to be the world’s leader in science and technological progress. During the three decades since Apollo, however, America has decidedly remained in low-Earth orbit. With a space transportation system that has been hobbled by budget cuts and two avoidable Space Shuttle accidents, the nation’s resolve to fully support human space travel has been weakened. And sadly, our leadership tradition, forged during the glory days of the early space program, has given way to a focus on hardware and not on a broader vision. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If we wish to resume our leadership role in global space exploration we need to return to strategic thinking in terms of the value of space exploration. Today, the American space program’s most successful achievement—the building of the International Space Station (ISS), our permanent home in Earth’s orbit—has been overshadowed by cost overruns, political turf battles, and a colonial mentality in which the U.S. dictates who gets to play and who doesn’t. In this context, the ISS has yet to realize its full potential as a truly international endeavor for space-faring nations across the globe. While many international partners helped to create this incredible engineering achievement, we have not always treated them as true partners. Access to the station is limited, and it is difficult for new partners to become players in this new high frontier. Instead of using the ISS as a symbol of America’s strategic leadership and technological capability, its use is limited to only a handful of nations. In this year of Apollo commemorations, it is time to open the space frontier to the world—for all who would choose to participate in it. As we near completion of the International Space Station, we should rededicate it to a purpose that is worthy of its name—an international global commons for the space-faring community of nations—led by, not dominated by, America. It is time that every nation that would like to play a role in the ISS be given an opportunity to do so. If we, as Americans, seek to improve our image aboard, then we can better do so with engagement than with competition. And, we should add these new players to the ISS as true partners, not just participants. We should see their quest for space in the same light as own: for national strategic values and for technological development. With the support and agreement of our current partners, by welcoming nations with space ambitions such as China, India, and Brazil to the station, we enhance our own stature, not weaken it. We should take full advantage of China’s manned space program to carry American astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. We currently purchase flights aboard the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and with our expanded partnerships we would also have opportunities to partner with China for use of its Shenzhou for this same purpose. We should also welcome India’s new fledgling manned space program to the new global commons that the space station can represent for the world. Through partnering and using the resources of many nations, we will lower the cost of access to space while forging stronger bonds that we can build upon to journey to more distant destinations in space—the Moon, Mars, and beyond. It will be a true low-Earth orbit outpost that brings the strengths and accomplishments of each partner into developing research capabilities, logistics vehicles, and launch support to sustain the station well beyond current plans to end its life by 2016. With global use, the station can continue to serve mankind—and Americans—for many years to come, reaping the rewards from the billions we have invested in its use. But we must start in Earth’s orbit. It is time we made the International Space Station truly international. BIOgrAphy A Fellow of The Explorers Club and recipient of its lowell Thomas Award (1989), Buzz Aldrin served as pilot of the Gemini 12 mission in november 1966 and as lunar module pilot for Apollo 11 in July 1969. For more on Buzz, visit his website at www.buzzaldrin.com the explorers journAl INTErNATIONAl SpAcE STATION The international Space Station as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-119 in March 2009. in view are the four pairs of solar arrays mounted along the newly completed integrated Truss Structure. 22 hE’S A MArS MAN: cATchINg up wITh A po llo 11 ’ S MI k E c Ol l IN S Astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the Moon in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin piloted down to its surface, isn’t interested in rehashing the past—only looking to the future. When asked to describe his thoughts as Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, Collins, 78, and author of the acclaimed Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey, bristles a bit. “If I ever knew the answer to that, I’ve said it so many times it’s gotten trite.” Same response when asked about the significance of the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic lunar landing this July. “I don’t know how I feel 40 years later. Those questions I’m not good at answering.” But bring up the subject of Mars and, like Aldrin, he comes to life. “You can put me down as being a Mars fan,” says Collins. “I would like us to have Mars be our next objective, and I’m a little concerned the focus today is too much Moon and not enough Mars. I have the feeling that a base on the Moon could be—in terms of money, time, effort, and focus—a bottomless pit,” he continues, “and it’s going to postpone the exploration of Mars, a much more interesting place and the closest thing to a sister planet. If we spend too much time on the Moon we’re not going to get to Mars, not in my lifetime, nor in your lifetime.” —Jim Clash the explorers journAl “MArS AT ThE MOON’S EDgE,” July 2003. phOTOgrAph By rON DANTOwITz, clAy cENTEr OBSErvATOry. DESTINATION MOON # 2 Moon in hd Ja p a n’s S el e n e m i s s i on 24 NOrTh pOlE ArEA Of ThE MOON. IMAgE cOurTESy JAXA/Nhk. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer (Selene) project, launched in September 2007 by Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. The aim of the 22-month-long mission has been to gather data on the Moon’s origin and evolution—its elemental and mineralogical composition, topography, surface and subsurface structure, and the nature of its remnant magnetic and gravity fields. In October 2007, Kaguya, the Selene project’s main satellite, began orbiting the Moon at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the lunar surface, capturing images of it with a high-definition television camera aboard the craft while two smaller units—a relay satellite and a VRAD satellite—were put into polar orbit. This past February, Kaguya descended to an altitude of 50 kilometers, and in April began orbiting at 30 kilometers above the surface to continue the data-collection process. In addition to the HD imagery, a laser altimeter aboard Kaguya has enabled scientists to generate a global lunar topographic map with a spatial resolution of less than 0.5°, providing lunar topography at scales finer than a few hundred kilometers. Equipment installed on Kaguya has also allowed for the observation of plasma and high-energy particles. The mission ends this June with a controlled drop of Kaguya on the lunar surface. For more on the project, visit: www.kaguya.jaxa.jp. —AMHS DESTINATION MOON # 3 Moon dr e A Ms by PETEr H. diAMAndiS It has been 33 years since any nation placed a robotic explorer on the lunar surface. Now, national space agencies around the globe—in China, India, Japan, Russia, Europe, and the United States—are racing back to the Moon with a bevy of planned orbiters, landers, and, eventually, human crews. These important national space programs may lose this race to one of the many entrepreneurial teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize. The first era of lunar exploration lasted for a decade and a half, with robots and human explorers alike accomplishing the unthinkable and giving us our first glimpses of our celestial dance partner. The six Apollo missions that put our human footprints on the Moon remain to this day one of the crowning achievements of our species, and spawned new dreams of humankind playing ambassador to the universe, conducting our explorations of ever more remote planets. But as the political fire that ignited the space race began to dwindle, so did the enthusiasm of those responsible for allocating taxpayer funds for these missions. Exploration as bragging rights proved not to be a sustainable model, and our tenuous presence off Earth was drawn back to the confines of low-Earth orbit. At last, a new era of lunar exploration has begun. Unlike our first forays into lunar exploration, this new generation of explorers has the potential to sustain our presence off-planet, for this time, a fleet of private companies, as well as the governmental missions, are making their way toward the Moon. Dozens of privately funded entities around the world are casting their eyes toward the heavens as they compete for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, the largest international incentive prize ever offered. Like famous explorers and prizewinners before them, they are all motivated by scientific curiosity and by profit motive as much as by the quest for glory. These teams—18 of them thus far, working in more than 40 countries—represent the future of space exploration. Together, they are pioneering radically new low-cost approaches that will allow more frequent and diverse opportunities for reaching out to the cosmos, paving the way for a much larger pool to participate in the lunar equivalent of a gold rush. In competing for the Google Lunar X Prize, these groups will be demonstrating the capacity to repeatedly and cheaply carry payloads to the Moon for prices within the grasp of university labs, research and development companies, and even individual aficionados, breaking down a barrier and unleashing a flood of potential pioneers. Although it is too early to say which Google Lunar X Prize team will be the first to make it to the lunar surface, the biggest beneficiary will be the world’s space agencies. In the same way that NASA and ESA don’t have to build their own computers—they can buy them now from Apple, IBM, or Dell—one day, the agencies will be able to fly their science on board standardized, and low-cost lunar lander systems provided by entrepreneurs. Imaginations are sure too be rekindled and an interplanetary wanderlust will again emerge. Registration for the prize ends December 31, 2010. INfOrMATION For Google lunar X Prize guidelines, information on registering for the competition, or to follow the blogs of those already in the running, visit googlelunarxprize.org BIOgrAphy A fellow of The Explorers Club since 1994, Peter H. diamandis, Ph.d., is the Founder and Chairman of the X PrizE Foundation, an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. the explorers journAl blAst-off, bounce, and roll illustrations by AndrEw ColliS CHAndAH Balls that roll, legs, and a rocket-propelled car are among the ideas put forth by the 18 teams now in the running for the Google lunar X Prize. Half the contestants are going minimal, doing just enough to fulfill the prize requirements of landing, roving, and sending back video. Seven have advanced payloads as part of their mission architecture. Bonus money will be awarded for craft that survive the lunar night, find H 2 o, or visit earlier lunar mission sites. More money is on offer for finding Helium-3, a commodity that could create the lunar equivalent of a gold rush. —R oss von B uRg EurolunA AdvAEroS TEAM FrEdnET AEronAuTiCS And CoSMonAuTiCS roMAniAn ASSoCiATion (ArCA) indEPEndEnCE-X AEroSPACE ASTroBoTiC TEAM iTAliA 26 JurBAn oMEGA Envoy lunATrEX SElEnE MiCro-SPACE STEllAr nEXT GiAnT lEAP SynErGy Moon odySSEy Moon liMiTEd wHiTE lABEl SPACE the explorers journAl DESTINATION MOON # 5 catching up with Bill “Earthrise” Anders Right Pl ace, Right time interview by Jim Clash On Christmas EvE 1968, William andErs, Frank BOrman, and JamEs lOvEll BECamE thE First humans tO tr avEl tO anOthEr WOrld, OrBiting thE mOOn tEn timEs in thEir 30 Apollo 8 spaCECr aFt. up tO that pOint, thE FarthEst intO spaCE man had vEnturEd Was a FEW hundrEd kilOmEtErs intO Earth OrBit. Apollo 8 FlEW nEarly 377,000 kilOmEtErs EArthrisE PhotograPh by bill anders, courtesy nasa (234,000 milEs) tO thE mOOn On thE pOWErFul sAturn V rOCkEt, at thE timE untEstEd in mannEd Flight. it Was On OnE OF Apollo 8’s initial lunar OrBits that andErs shOt EArthrisE, a phOtOgraph that BECamE an iCOniC imagE OF thE t WEntiEth CEntury. exPloReRs JouRnal COlumnist Jim Clash Caught up With andErs, nOW 75 and a rEtirEd usaF maJOr gEnEral, at his hOmE in OrCas island, Wa, WhErE hE runs thE William a. andErs FOundatiOn and hEritagE Flight musEum. Jim clash: You have said the Apollo program was more politically motivated than scientific. Why is that? Bill anDeRs: A lot of people think that because NASA pushed the thought, Apollo was a program of exploration. And yet, as Frank Borman is fond of saying, it was just another battle in the Cold War. To many people who weren’t born or old enough to absorb what the Cold War was about, it is hard to imagine the United States and Soviet Union poised on the brink of mutual annihilation. And that things like the missile gap, who got into space first, whose education system was better, were such strong political drivers of the 1950s. President Kennedy, with the suggestion of [vice president] Lyndon Johnson, was grasping for ideas to show the world that America wasn’t a second-rate country, that capitalism wasn’t a flawed theory. That was the main motivation for Apollo. It was not exploration, more a jingoistic program demonstrating national technological preeminence that would catch the imagination of the American public. So when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the flag on the Moon, in a sense Apollo was over. The momentum kept rolling for a while but it became apparent to the Nixon administration, where I was working at the time, that risks associated with further lunar flights didn’t equal the return of a few more lunar rocks. Personally, I was very interested in the exploration part, but most Americans weren’t—and still aren’t. Jc: Your Apollo 8 mission wasn’t originally scheduled to go to the Moon, just orbit the Earth. Why was it moved up? Ba: We were in a race with the Soviets, and the Moon happened to be the line that Kennedy had drawn in the sand. When it looked like, from the CIA’s perspective, the Soviets would launch a capsule around the Moon, George Low had insight in thinking that if the Soviets did that they’d get 90 percent of the PR value of landing just by orbiting. So there was a change, this bold move—NASA couldn’t do it today because they have so much oversight they’d tangle in their underwear—to leapfrog our flight over the one in front of us, and go on the Saturn V manned for the first time to the Moon. It’s important to note that I believe the Russians never thought they were in a race to the Moon. Kennedy was the one who said we were, and I think it caught the Russians by surprise. They, with a certain amount of intellectual justification, figured maybe we ought to focus on going around the Earth initially, not try a stunt. But it turned out they did have a modification of their Earth orbit program with a more powerful rocket that could make a big figure eight around the Moon. Jc: How did you feel about the flight change? Ba: Frankly, I was disappointed. I wanted to land on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and I had been teamed up in Gemini. After the [Apollo 1] fire, he and I were the first two to check out in the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle and I thought, with a certain amount of justification, that we would be a lunar crew. I don’t think Deke [Slayton] had picked out yet who would be first on the Moon, but his obvious favorites—you could tell by body language— were Borman, Armstrong, [James] McDivitt. They were considered good leaders, and I thought that with me assigned to the Lunar Module in Earth orbit, I would turn around and get on the fourth or fifth lunar landing flight later. But when Apollo 8 was moved up and my Lunar Module taken away with the “battlefield promotion” to Command Module pilot, it screwed me for landing on the Moon. And it didn’t take long to realize I was in the Command Module rut. I mean, can you name all the guys who flew in the Command Module around the Moon not getting to land while their colleagues, in some cases juniors like me, bounced around on the surface? Who was the Command Module guy on the last lunar landing flight? I’m not sure I can tell you. In retrospect, being first around the Moon, taking the Earthrise picture and all that is like being a Viking voyager or somebody who went to the New World but didn’t go ashore. We did cross the ocean, so it wasn’t a bad gig. But I would have been a lot happier to swap Apollo 8 for a lunar landing on Apollo 15 or something like that. the exPloReRs JouRnal Jc: So you’re disappointed you never walked on the lunar surface. Ba: Oh yeah. I was the boy amateur geologist in the program—Jack Schmidt [the geologist who landed on the Moon on Apollo 17] was a late add. When NASA had geology trips, I’d volunteer—I even did a couple of them twice! And probably suffered a bit in the eyes of the hard-bitten test pilots, because it’s not “the right stuff” to be interested in lunar rocks. I was also good at landing the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. So, given my choice, I’d rather have landed. But I don’t have big angst over the fact I “only” was on the first flight away from the Earth. Jc: As a matter of fact, some say Apollo 8 was more adventurous than Apollo 11. Ba: If you break it down into three phases—getting from Earth to Earth orbit, from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, and from lunar orbit to the lunar surface—I would probably not volunteer for the second one. We had better calculations on how to get into Earth orbit, and if you are still trapped by Earth’s orbital mechanics you are always going to come back. You may come back too fast, but you can’t bounce out. And once in lunar orbit—I don’t want to depreciate the job of the Lunar Landing Vehicle—it’s pretty much an engineering issue of how to get down. You only have to deal with lunar gravity, and we certainly had great simulators in the LLTV. So I don’t really tout this to my lunar-landing friends, but I think getting from here to there the first time was indeed an historic step. Jc: Once in orbit around the Moon, describe what you saw on the mysterious dark side. Ba: You just made a common error. The backside isn’t necessarily the dark side. The dark side depends on what phase the Moon is. The front and back appear constant because the Moon is locked into a synchronous rotation—its rotational period is exactly the same as its orbital period. So we always see the same side, as if a string were tied to the front middle of the Moon whirling around. Jc: Okay then, seeing the Moon’s backside, was there much difference from photos you had seen taken by unmanned spacecraft? Ba: Indeed there had been Soviet and U.S. orbital photography of the back. But those photos weren’t that clear. It didn’t jump out at us at 32 first that there was much difference. Yet when we got into lunar orbit and had our first sunrise backwards with our rear end pointed at the sun looking down, the surface was amazingly rougher than expected. There is still debate as to why the back is so much rougher than the front. Both have been hit by asteroids and meteors, so there must be something in lunar physiology that has flooded the front more with smoothing-out lava, maybe gravity imbalances. Jc: How about isolation on the Moon’s backside— anything palpable? Ba: You bet. We knew we were the only three humans back there and could only talk to each other. If anything happened, nobody could fix it or would know for decades. One interesting, cute thing is that Frank, who was the trajectory guy, decided a hard way to check whether the computers were on the right trajectory was whether they could compute the instant of loss of signal as we went behind the Moon. Because the signals are line of sight, like a laser—not long-wave radio waves that bend over the surface of the Earth. In all of our simulations, Frank really got focused on that thought. “Okay Anders, make sure you can get LOS (loss of signal).” So in the simulator, I always said “Right on, Frank,” but I’d forget to say it sometimes. And he’d say, “How was it?” and I’d say, “Right on, Frank.” When we were actually going around the Moon, they gave us an LOS time and, sure enough to the second, the static came up over the radio. Frank asked, “How was that?” I said “Right on, Frank, but remember, those guys down there are our buddies and probably pulled the antenna whether they calculated right on or not!” We had a good chuckle but it all worked out. Now going backwards into the dark portion of the Moon, after we’d been in sunlight all the way from Earth, it was suddenly blacker than pitch and the heavens just blazed away with stars, so many you couldn’t tell the constellations. We hadn’t seen any stars until then because of scattered light from water and urine crystals floating around in the spacecraft. So there were massive stars everywhere you looked, except backwards, the direction we were going. On my side of the spacecraft was this black hole, the Moon. It was eerie. We were headed right toward it and only going to miss by what, 60 miles? That’s like if you were racing a train to the intersection in your hotrod, and you missed by the skin of your paint. Jc: Tell me about your famous Earthrise photo. Ba: After two revolutions, it became clear that the Moon was kind of boring. On Earth, you have rivers, oceans, continents, highlands, and mountains, but the Moon looks like one beat-up, sandblasted ball with hole upon hole. I use the unpoetic description “dirty beach sand”—you can imagine the poets give me hell. Once we circularized orbit and ended up going forward for the first time, me, Lovell, and Borman suddenly say at once, “Look at that!” And here was this gorgeous, colorful, beautiful planet of ours coming up over this ugly lunar horizon. All of us are fighter pilots, engineers, astronauts— not photographers. But when the Earth came up, we clamored for cameras. I had them all on my side. Borman says, “Give me a camera, Anders!” I was using one with a short lens and black-and-white film and, him being the boss, I scooted that one over in zero G. Lovell also wanted one, so that left one for me with a long lens and color film. I did not like the long lens because it was more weight and could bang into the instrument panel. We all started blazing away. My side window was clear—the rest had an oil scraped on them—and my great photographic technique was to point this thing at the Moon and click, changing f-stops with every click. As it turned out, one of my color long-lens pictures was decided by NASA to be the official Earthrise. So I’m getting Emmys and being made a member of the photographer’s union, all the while thinking this is a little phony. Earthrise isn’t that good a picture if you really look at it; it’s not quite in focus. Photographers are probably jealous this was picked as one of the top pictures of the twentieth century. I mean, you’ve got to be kidding! But right place, right time. Jc: How many photos did you take of Earth rising? Ba: I’d guess 10, maybe 30. We were saving film. Our objective was not to take pictures of the Earth. There were lots of lunar craters I was supposed to take, and approaches to landing sites, but here I was off mission taking unauthorized pictures. I felt a little bit of guilt. Jc: Wasn’t there discussion later about whether you or Frank took Earthrise? Ba: There’s always been a semi-humorous debate. Borman honestly thinks he took the first picture. And it may be that he did. I’ll let him have that honor. But it’s not Earthrise because he had black-and-white film! Jc: Just what is it about that particular photo? BA: The view points out the beauty of Earth—and its fragility. That little atmospheric thing you and I are enjoying now is nothing more than the skin on an apple around the core. Earthrise helped kickstart the environmental movement. I gave a nice print to Al Gore, which he used in the first scene of Inconvenient Truth. I got no credit and he probably now thinks he took it right after he invented the Internet. It’s curious to me how the press and people on the ground have kind of forgotten our history-making voyage, and what’s symbolic of the flight is the Earthrise picture. Here we came all the way to the Moon to discover the Earth. Jc: When you look at the photo, can you believe it was 40 years ago? Ba: I keep thinking: Is this true or just an old man’s dream that we went there? There are two other images that hit me in the solar plexus. The night before launch, I was in the parking lot with a couple of buddies looking up at the Moon with its tiny sliver on the right side. Every time I see that [phase] now, I won’t say it gives me a chill but let’s say there’s a hormone that sets in that’s close to the “holy crap” hormone—did we really do that? The other picture with a big message, which has not surfaced yet, is one I took with a normal lens that shows the Earth about the size of a fist at arm’s length. It’s a crappy little picture whose message is: “Hey, don’t think you’re so special down there Earth. At lunar distance, you’re the size of a fist at arm’s length. At 10 lunar distances, the Earth is onetenth the size of your fist. At 100 lunar distances, you’re down to a BB.” And 100 lunar distances is hardly anywhere, not even halfway to Mars. I think humans, even educated ones like you and me, have not really shifted from the Ptolemaic view of Earth as center of the universe. Earth is only a dust mote out there. There are billions of galaxies, solar systems, planets—probably lots of civilizations—yet, in terms of religion and politics, we still act like we’re the center, and that humans are not just some kind of freak, unimportant, leftfield type of event. the exPloReRs JouRnal WHAT WERE THE Y THINKING? great moments in exploration as told to Jim Clash RIdING BomBS with Kathryn D. Sullivan TwenTy-five years ago, KaThryn D. sullivan, now a DirecTor aT ohio sTaTe’s John glenn school of Public affairs, became The firsT american woman To walK in sPace (ocTober 11, 1984) ouTsiDe The shuTTle Challenger. JusT over a year laTer, ThaT sPacecrafT exPloDeD 73 seconDs inTo flighT, Killing a crew of seven. unDaunTeD, sullivan flew again—in 1990 on DisCovery anD in 1992 aboarD atlantis. JC: Tell us about that first space walk? KS: It is intense. There’s nobody there but you, and the equipment—the only thing in between a hard vacuum—so you tend to pay close attention. It’s a good idea to get it right. The walk is a lot like swimming in the pool we trained in. But the view’s a whole bunch better. I looked down and there was Venezuela sliding beneath my boots. JC: Are you a role model for other women? KS: That would have been my first space walk if 10,000 people had done it before me. From that point, the little historical fact doesn’t play any role. But when it’s parents, teachers, or young high school folks figuring their way through the world and I’m identifiable as having something worth saying, it’s an extraordinary opportunity. So, whenever possible, I do what I can. 64 JC: Where were you when Challenger exploded? KS: I was en route to a connection in Dallas when I got the news—and, of course, went right to the space center because, who can go home at that point? Words don’t come. What could have done it? There are long phases of being numb, then you fall into necessary activity patterns of looking after families and showing proper courtesies. Finally, the world begins to move again, and you get into trying to figure out what really happened, what are we going to do about it. JC: Ever think, “I’m not going back up?” KS: We were there because this was important work. If that painful moment was grounds to give up, we had made the wrong estimation. I grew up with families who know what airplane crashes and explosions are. This business consists of riding bombs. And if you do absolutely everything right, you can marshal the energy to do something astonishing, like put yourself into orbit. If you do even a few things wrong, it’s going to act like a bomb. more of Jim clash’s columns and videos can be found at www. forbes.com/tothelimits or www.youtube.com/jimclash. The explorers Journal The official quarTerly of The explorers club since 1921 http://www.explorers.org Dare To go where no one has gone before! subscribe online to The explorers Journal today! From vast ocean depths to the frontiers of outer space, The explorers Journal offers firsthand reporting from those pushing the limits of knowledge and human endurance. Founded in 1904 to promote exploration “by all means possible,” The Explorers Club is an international organization dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific inquiry. Among our members are leading pioneers in oceanography, mountaineering, archaeology, and the planetary and environmental sciences. image by Cristian Donoso, Diving in western patagonia the explorers journal Please send this letter to: 46 East 70th strEEt NEw York, NY 10021 212.628.8383 Editor@ExplorErs.org w w w.ExplorErs.org Y Es, i must h av E thE E x plorErs JourN a l… ❑ ❑ For myself* As a gift* ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ Four quarterly issues for $29.95 Eight quarterly issues for $54.95 Twelve quarterly issues for $74.95 the explorers journal 46 East 70th Street New York, NY 10021 USA attn: subscription services I would like to support the publication of The Explorers Journal with a gift of $ Your NamE (plEasE priNt) addrEss Cit Y CouNtrY s tat E Email Zip gift rECipiENt’s NamE addrEss Cit Y s tat E Zip CouNtrY Email m a k E C h E C k paYa b l E t o t h E E x p l o r E r s C l u b , o r f i l l o u t Y o u r C r E d i t C a r d i N f o r m at i o N b E l o w. * forEigN ordErs, add $ 8.00 pEr YEar for shippiNg aNd haNdliNg. ❑ Check ( m u s t b E d r aw N i N u . s . f u N d s o N a u . s . b a N k ) ❑ American Express Card NumbEr E x p i r at i o N d at E s i g N at u r E / / ❑ Visa ❑ Mastercard