NOVA; Interview with George Mueller, engineer and associate administrator at NASA, part 1 of 3 : To the Moon
Description:
George Mueller, engineer and associate administrator at NASA, is interviewed about his early days at NASA. Mueller says that the prospects of going to the moon within the decade were initially dim, and they had to convince Congress that they would be able to do it, in order to galvanize media and public support, and also had to build the program and figure out what they were going to build. To Mueller, Gemini was important in figuring out the developments that enabled Apollo's lunar accomplishments, but he argues that Apollo could have gone to the mono without Gemini. Gemini was also important in figuring out the medical limits of space, and helped NASA discover how to best work in space, and Mueller credits Buzz Aldrin with helping NASA figure out how to move and work in space suits. Mueller discusses rumours of Russian attempts to go to the moon, and talks about the Apollo 1 fire, which triggered a number of changes in the wiring and velcro of the spacecraft. On Mueller's brainchild, the Saturn all-up procedure, in which everything is tested at one time, Mueller explains how he came up with the procedure, the opposition he faced, and how it felt to see the Saturn craft do the test. 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.
