Judy: This is a big weekend for
nasa's plans to go back to the
moon, and eventually to Mars.
And it happens to come at the
same time as a milestone
anniversary of the original moon
missions.
Our resident space correspondent
miles o'brien has some
perspective on the moment.
Miles: The nearly month-long
artemis one mission to the moon
is slated to end on Sunday, with
a splashdown in the pacific
ocean.
On that very day 50 years ago,
December 11, 1972, the last
Apollo astronauts set foot on
the moon.
Apollo 17.
It was the longest mission to
the moon, and in many respects
delivered the most science.
What better time to check in
with space historian Andy
chaikin, author of the absolute
definitive account of the Apollo
missions, "A man on the moon."
Andy, good to see you again.
Andy: Thanks, miles.
It's great to be with you.
Miles: You were there 50 years
ago, the one and only night
launch of Apollo, Apollo 17.
Tell us about that experience.
Andy: Well, I was 16 at the
time.
>> All engines are started.
Andy: I was an Apollo fanatic.
It was utterly spectacular.
It was like a sunrise in the
middle of the night.
The emotion for me was just raw
excitement, you know, as only a
16 year old space fanatic could
feel, I suppose.
Miles: Fast forward to 50 years.
There's the space launch system
with the Orion capsule.
>> And lift off of artemis one.
Miles: Another night launch.
What was that like watching
that, considering your
experience when you were 16?
Andy: To me, it seemed like the
sls got going more quickly than
the Saturn 5.
Just really leapt off the pad
and was on its way.
Miles: It happens to fall,
coincidentally, on the 50th
anniversary of Apollo 17.
This is landing number six, the
longest stay on the surface.
Gene cernan, the commander, jack
Schmitt, the lunar module pilot.
He was the only scientist to fly
in the Apollo program.
What did jack Schmitt find
scientifically?
Andy: Jack found pieces of the
primordial crust, allowing us to
look back almost to the origin
of the moon itself.
You're looking at a surface that
hasn't changed hardly at all in
billions of years.
It's like getting led into the
rare book room of the cosmic
library and getting to page back
through the earliest chapter of
solar system history.
And the biggest surprise of the
mission, he discovered
orange-colored soil.
>> There is Orange soil!
>> Well, don't move it until I
see it.
>> It's all over!
Andy: And it turned out to be
beads of volcanic glass that
erupted in a fire fountain on
the moon billions of years ago.
Just in the last 10 or 15 years,
scientists have found that they
contain traces of water.
Everybody always thought that
the moon was bone dry, but that
Orange soil really told a
different story.
Miles: Let's talk about the
lunar rover.
That was an extraordinary
accomplishment on its own,
wasn't it?
Andy: The lunar rover was a
spacecraft on wheels.
It could carry supplies for the
exploration of the moon.
And, of course, it could range
over the surface for miles, even
up the sides of lunar mountains.
To some of the most spectacular
places on the moon.
Miles: This shot stands apart
among the Apollo shots of gene
cernan, kind of covered in dust
after a hard day's work on the
moon.
There's kind of a sense of
accomplishment, exhilaration,
and exhaustion all at once there
in that shot.
Andy: Absolutely.
This is a truly human moment
that this picture captures.
The other thing you notice is
that his face is smudged with
lunar dust, and that dust is
something that the astronauts
who go back to the moon on
artemis are going to have to
deal with.
When we go farther out to Mars,
we're going to experience the
same kinds of hazards, the same
kinds of difficulties.
And the moon is only three days
away.
It's kind of an outward bound
school for learning how to live
off planet.
>> ♪♪ I was strolling on the moon
one day ♪♪
miles: You get the sense that,
you know, they were actually
having fun.
>> ♪♪ In the merry merry month of
December ♪♪
Andy: No doubt, they were having
a blast.
And you can hear it.
You can hear the exuberance, you
can hear the laughter.
>> No, may.
>> ♪♪ May ♪♪
miles: What was it about seeing
our planet in that fashion that
stirs our emotions?
Andy: When you see the Earth
suspended in the blackness of
space above the barren, lifeless
lunar horizon, it's the contrast
that is so striking.
This is our home.
It has the emotional attachment
of home.
It's been so cool to see the
pictures from the Orion capsule
as it goes around the moon,
looks back at the moon and the
Earth.
And these pictures really give a
sense of how small the Earth
looks from lunar distance.
It is so small, in fact, that as
the Apollo astronauts talked
about, you can literally put out
your thumb and hide the Earth
behind your outstretched thumb.
And that really gives you a
sense of being far from home.
Miles: It is that leap in
awareness that Apollo gave us
that we will get to
re-experience soon when humans
go back to the moon with
artemis.
The public lost interest in
Apollo relatively quickly.
Will it be different this time?
Andy: You have to accept the
fact that a certain segment of
the population is going to lose
interest.
What really matters is there are
so many kids out there who are
just turned on by this stuff and
they're going to space camp or
they're trying to go to
engineering school or they're
becoming scientists or, you
know, they're applying for the
astronaut program.
It just keeps going.
I don't see that stopping.
Miles: Andy chaikin, always a
pleasure to talk with you.
Thanks for your time.
Andy: Thank you so much, miles.
Judy: You can watch the
spacecraft returned to Earth on
Sunday at 11:00 A.M. Eastern on