AERONAUTICS

DR. EILENE THEILIG, Galileo Project Manager, January 9, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Would you please describe more of what the Galileo project entails? Has it been conducting scientific experiments beyond sending back photographs? What important discoveries have been made?
THEILIG: Galileo has had a long history of scientific discovery since its launch in 1989. During the cruise to Jupiter, the spacecraft flew past Venus, Earth, and two asteroids (Gaspra and Ida) before arriving at Jupiter to being its primary mission of studying the atmosphere, magnetosphere, and satellites of the jovian system. There were two parts to the primary mission, an orbiter and a probe which entered Jupiter’s atmosphere. The orbiter carries 11 science instruments in addition to the camera.

ANTHONY R. CURTIS, Editor, Space Today Online, February 4, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: The tiles that protect the space shuttle from heat need to be delicately put into place. To test they are firmly on, there is a suction test to see they remain in place. Does this test itself cause the tiles to then become loose?
CURTIS: I have not seen such evidence. However, with more than 100 flights completed by the fleet, it would seem that such an occurrence would have been noted before now.

BEN BOVA, writer, June 18, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: You were on the NASA study commission on space tourism. What topics did you examine, and what appears to be a possible timeline for when space tourism may become a reality?
BOVA: Basically, we tried to determine if there was a viable market for space tourism. The answer was classic chicken vs. egg: If you can bring down the price of going into orbit, yes, a multi-billion tourist industry could develop. But unless (and until) there is such a large market IN EXISTENCE, neither the government nor commercial industry will spend the investment necessary to make boosters that operate inexpensively enough to entice tourists. However, Burt Rutan is testing a vehicle he callsSpaceShipOne, which will be able to carry three persons about 100 kilmometers uo, into suborbital space for far less than any other rocket booster.

HENRY McDOUGAL, University of Tennessee in Chattanooga Engineering Professor, August 26, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, states that space flights are worth the risk of loss of life. Would you agree or disagree with that assessment?
McDOUGAL: No, I don’t agree at this point in time. I believe the scientific returns of human space flight are good science, but not great science. Given the resources required, one has to question whether the scientific return at this point in time is worth the risk of human life. I believe most of the science can be done using robotic devices and would not involve human risk.

BUZZ ALDRIN, astronaut, January 2, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Is there a need for manned space expeditions, or can robots handle most of the needs of such flights?
ALDRIN: There will always be a need for an appropriate mix between scientific robotic missions as precursors and augmenters for manned flight. I expect in the future a balance will be established and funded as world and domestic conditions permit.

BRUCE BETTS, Planetary Society Project Director, January 2, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: What is the Planetary Society and what its objectives? Who is involved with it, and how do people become involved with the Planetary Society?
BETTS: The Planetary Society is the largest space interest group in the world with 100,000 members in 130 countries. Our objectives are in inspire and engage the public in planetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It was started in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman. One of our projects, Red Rover Goes to Mars, is an official part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission.
CZIKOWSKY: What are the scientific projects that scientists are attempting to discover with the next few Mars landings?
BETTS: We have only successfully landed on Mars in three locations. Mars has about the same land area as the land portions (excluding the oceans) of Earth. Landers give us ground truth that enables better interpretation of our orbital data. In the case of Spirit and probably the next U.S. lander, many of the scientific questions revolve around liquid water and life: were there liquid water environments in Mars past that may have been suitable for the development of life? Where is the water now on Mars? Etc.

WALTER CUNNINGHAM, former NASA astronaut, August 9, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: How exhilarating is it to be in outer space? How nerve wrecking is it knowing that there are so many things that can go wrong? In sum, is it an emotional roller coaster, or does your training help keep things even through the journey?
CUNNINGHAM: It is exhilarating, but in my day, little time to enjoy the experience until late in the mission. Too busy. I get the impression that there is more time to smell the roses on today’s missions.
I did not worry about things going wrong on Apollo 7. No one knew the spacecraft like I did. We thought we could handle almost anything. You only worry about something not working when that particular thing is critical to your survival. Those seconds (or minutes) only amounted to 5 or 6 minutes on Apollo 7.

ANDREW SMITH, author, September 1, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: There was a report that Mr. Aldrin was scheduled to walk on the moon first and that the order was reversed. Is there any truth to this?
SMITH: Actually, the BBC’s Space Correspondent at that time, Reg Turnill, confirms tha this was true. Aldrin was originally slated to leave the ship first, in accordance with Naval tradition and space program precedent up to that point.
CZIKOWSKY: As astronaut spoke here recently, and he answered someone’s questions about UFOs by stating he never saw a UFO. Yet, the person asking the question insisted that other astronauts had reported seeing UFOs in space. Have there been any reports of astronauts seeing unidentified phenomenon while in space?
SMITH: If I remember correctly, there was talk of one of the Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper, having seen a UFO. I think he later denied or retracted this. The moonwalker Edger Mitchell did tell me that he believed there had been a cover-up of UFOs at a very high government level-even though he’s never seen one himself.

JOHN GLENN, former NASA astronaut, May 5, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: There were published reports that several astronauts reported seeing unidentified report that several astronauts seeing unidentified objects while in space (not to say they these are alien craft, but that there may possibly be things in space that have not yet been identified.) Do you have a response?
GLENN: I’m an agnostic when it comes to UFOs. I just don’t know. I have never seen anything myself in my flying in airplanes or space that I thought could not be explained, but I certainly do not try to argue with other people about what they’ve seen. Gordon Cooper, who passed away a couple of years, was very convinced that he had some contact with UFOs and I didn’t try to argue with him. There are literally millions of places in the universe where the conditions are such that some kind of life could have developed. Whether it will be intelligent life as we know it, so some growth like moss or other forms of growth, is unknown. I would be very surprised if there was not someplace where there is life of some kind, not necessarily life as we know it here on Earth.

MICHAEL J. BRAUKUS, NASA Exploration Office Spokesperson, June 22,2006
CZIKOWSKY: When do you see a person landing on Mars?
BRAUKUS: First humans have to return to the moon. It’s on the moon that we will develop the knowledge and the technology for long-term space explorations. Once we are comfortable that we can handle the challenges of an extended mission of more than a year, we will set off for Mars. That probably will be several years after we return to the moon, which is no later than 2020.

MARC KAUFMAN, Washington Post Staff Writer, December 10, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: How does one stay healthy in space? How easy of difficult is it to exercise properly and to eat food that is kept fresh and edible?
KAUFMAN: The exercise part seems to be manageable, and fairly frequent deliveries of fresh food to the space station has kept astronauts / cosmonauts pretty healthy. But when it comes to lowered immunity and bone loss, I think challenges clearly remain.

IVAN OETRICH, Federation of American Scientists Strategic Security Programs Vice President, February 20, 2008
C ZIKOWSKY: What are the approximate odds that this satellite (falling to Earth) will be shot down, and how embarrassing would it be if we shoot and miss?
OETRICH: The odds that the satellite will be intercepted are high. Although it is traveling fast, the satellite is in a fairly predictable orbit even at the last stage. So the interceptor will know when it is coming. BUT, you can’t “shoot down” a satellite. It is not like a hunter with a gun shooting down a duck. BANG! It falls to the ground. The satellite is in orbit and following a trajectory and when the 40 pound interceptor hits the 5,000 pound satellite, it will break the satellite into pieces but those pieces will travel, on average, in pretty much the same orbit. Some will come down sooner than the satellite would have and some later. The “shooting down” image is in all the news reports but is nothing like shooting down an airplane.