NOVA; Interview with John Leland "Lee" Atwood, engineer, aerospace executive, and overseer of the Apollo program, part 2 of 2 : To the Moon
Description:
John Leland "Lee" Atwood, engineer, aerospace executive, and overseer of the Apollo program, is interviewed about the Apollo 1 fire. Atwood describes the period after the fire as being difficult for everybody involved, and talks about the verdict of the Phillips Report, which Atwood did not see until the 1980s. The Phillips Report reviewed the roles of the factory, engingineering, assembly, and materials of the Apollo 1 spacecraft, and found that key elements along the way had had issues, resulting in the fire. Atwood's career was not heavily impacted at the time of the fire because of his imminent retirement, unlike Stormy Storms and Joe Shea. The interview closes with a Atwood's opinion that the two most important projects he worked on in his aerospace career were the creation of the P-51 Mustang Fighter in WWII and the Apollo lunar landing. This remarkably crafted program covers the full range of participants in the Apollo project, from the scientists and engineers who promoted bold ideas about the nature of the Moon and how to get there, to the young geologists who chose the landing sites and helped train the crews, to the astronauts who actually went - not once or twice, but six times, each to a more demanding and interesting location on the Moon's surface. "To The Moon" includes unprecedented footage, rare interviews, and presents a magnificent overview of the history of man and the Moon. To the Moon aired as NOVA episode 2610 in 1999.