Interview: Walt Cunningham February 13, 2012
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Apollo, Mars
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Walt Cunningham (NASA)
Lofty Ambitions had fun talking with Walt Cunningham in 2010, in part because he doesn’t hold back his opinion, whether the topic is going to Mars or global warming. It’s easy to disagree with his ideas, but it’s not easy to stop listening.
In October 1968, Cunningham flew on Apollo 7, a mission we wrote about because it was the first time the now-famous space pen went to space. We sent the link (HERE) to Walt Cunningham, and he responded that we got the story right.
Born in Iowa in 1932, Walt Cunningham is a Midwesterner-turned-Californian like us. His master’s degree is in physics, but his B.A. is in literature, and he’s certainly not the only astronaut who read widely for a broad understanding of the world. He worked as a scientist at the Rand Corporation before joining NASA and was part of the Skylab program after his Apollo stint. He retired from NASA in 1971, but he’s kept busy by writing and investing. And saying exactly what he wants to say.
Interview: Hank Hartsfield January 9, 2012
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Apollo, Space Shuttle
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Before we get to today’s video interview, Lofty Ambitions extends condolences to the family and friends of Roger Boisjoly, who died last Friday. Boisjoly was a whistleblower in the Challenger accident investigation and an advocate for ethics in the workplace. You can read his guest post for Lofty Ambitions HERE.
Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. (NASA)
Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr., became a NASA astronaut in 1969. But even before that, he was part of the U.S. Air Force’s MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory) program. Once part of NASA, he served in support roles for Apollo 16 and Skylab, as well as back-up pilot for STS-2 and STS-3 on the space shuttle.
Eventually, Hank Hartsfield got to space, first as pilot on STS-4 in 1982. He flew on two other space shuttle missions, STS-41D as commander and STS-61A. His crew for STS-41D on Discovery‘s maiden voyage included Mike Coats (see our interview with him HERE), Charles Walker (the first-ever payload specialist whom we mention HERE), and Judy Resnick (who later perished in the Challenger accident) as well as Steve Hawley and Mike Mullane. They launched three satellites and conducted science experiments. His last shuttle mission was the first with eight crew and was dedicated to the German contribution to Spacelab.
We interviewed the soft-spoken and earnest Hartsfield at Kennedy Space Center in 2010. Watch part of our fascinating conversation here.
Interview: Dee O’Hara December 12, 2011
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We met Dee O’Hara, the first nurse to NASA’s first astronauts, last year when we visited Kennedy Space Center for Discovery‘s not-launch. At first, O’Hara was a little hesitant to be on camera, but she opened up so that we could capture some of our conversation in the video below.
Dee O’Hara was born in Idaho in 1935 and was educated and trained as a nurse in Oregon. She became an Air Force nurse in 1959, and she talks here about how she made her way to NASA and the Mercury program. O’Hara retired from NASA in 1997 but continued to volunteer at the Ames Human Research Center in California. A book about her, called Dee O’Hara: The Astronauts’ Nurse, was published in 1965 but is now out of print.
What we appreciated most about talking with Dee O’Hara was her enthusiasm for pursuing her goals and appreciating the timing of her life’s successes. It was great to see her still hanging out with the astronauts, and supposedly Al Worden has written a poem about her.
Interview: Daniel Lockney November 28, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Space Shuttle
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When we were at Kennedy Space Center in July for the last-ever space shuttle launch, we sat down with Daniel Lockney to talk about some of the spinoffs from NASA’s space program. Lockney is a Program Specialist in NASA’s Office of Innovative Partnerships, and he deals with technology transfers off all sorts.
In other words, when the United States decided to build the space shuttle and when we and our global partners set out to build the International Space Station, there existed a lot of problems to solve. In solving those problems and reaching its goals, NASA made technological innovations that could also be applied outside of the space program and even in our daily lives. Some of these new gizmos and materials were somewhat expected, but other innovations couldn’t have been predicted. NASA spinoffs number in the hundreds and hundreds. That’s 1743 secondary and commercial uses for technology that NASA developed to go to space.
Interview: Andrew Allen November 14, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Countdown to the Cape, Space Shuttle
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Today’s video interview is with three-time space shuttle astronaut Andrew Allen. We met Andy Allen last November when we were at Kennedy Space Center for Discovery‘s not-launch.
Allen became an astronaut in 1988 and flew his first mission, STS-46, in 1992 on Atlantis. He calls that shuttle Hotlantis. Less than two years later, he was aboard Columbia flying STS-62, a science mission. Roughly two years after that, Allen found himself again aboard Columbia on STS-75, which carried the Tethered Satellite System Reflight into space, a system he’d help test on his first flight. The mission also carried the United State Microgravity Payload 3, a follow on to USMP-2 that had been part of Allen’s second mission. Allen commanded and landed that third flight.
Andy Allen retired from NASA in 1997 and remains in Florida. Click HERE for a local Florida news story about him, and, of course, watch our video below.
Interview: Kathryn Thornton October 24, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Countdown to the Cape, Space Shuttle
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Today, we continue our video interview series with four-time space shuttle astronaut Kathy Thornton. Thornton became an astronaut in 1985, a pretty good time to get into the lineup. Her first mission was STS-33 in 1989 on Discovery. She flew on Endeavour twice, on STS-49 in 1992 and STS-61 in 1993. Her last flight was on Columbia, for STS-73 in 1995. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame last year. She’s on the engineering faculty at the University of Virginia.
When we interviewed Thornton last year, Anna had already talked with Mike Coats (see video HERE), a shuttle astronaut and the Director of Johnson Space Center, but the Lofty duo hadn’t conducted any interviews together. After Discovery’s launch had been scrubbed, we happened upon a bunch of astronauts at the Visitor Complex, but we hadn’t planned ahead. We took a few minutes to prep questions, then dove right in, beginning with Kathy Thornton. You’ll notice our lack of practice in this video: we introduce ourselves but not the astronaut, and it’s a pretty short conversation. Since then, we’ve developed our interviewing skills, and we jumped at opportunities in the News Center. In fact, during subsequent visits to Kennedy Space Center, we could have talked with Michael Barratt (see video HERE) or Mike Massimino (see video HERE) for hours, though that may have as much to do with astronauts’ range of skills as our progress with this Lofty Ambitions project.
Interview: Jeffrey Rudolph October 10, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: GRAILTweetup, I Remember California, Museums & Archives, Serendipity, Space Shuttle
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Endeavour ready for last launch
Bright and early tomorrow morning, we’ll face L.A.-area traffic to make our way to the California Science Center, the future home of space shuttle Endeavour. At a ceremony on October 11, 2011, the title for the orbiter will be turned over to the science museum.
Only four orbiters exist, and only three of those flew actual missions in space. On April 12, 2011, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden announced that one of those workhorses would return to the place it was built, Southern California. By the time we traveled to the Space Coast to see Endeavour’s not-launch and then launch, we knew that orbiter would end up in our back yard.
Who knows when the space shuttle will actually get here? The space isn’t ready yet, and Endeavour will need to travel farther than any of the others to its museum home. But the title transfer is an important step, and we want to be there. If all goes well, we’ll share the rundown in our regular Wednesday post. You can also click HERE (launch photos) and HERE (our tour with Stephanie Stilson) for our previous up-close-and-personal looks at Endeavour.
STS-134 Crew Walkout (not-launch)
We already know that astronaut Mark Kelly is among five STS-134 astronauts (for our STS-134 crew overview, click HERE) expected to be present at Tuesday’s title transfer. Mark Kelly, the commander of Endeavour’s last mission, retired from NASA on October 1. His retirement ceremony was held last Thursday in Washington, DC, where Representative Gabrielle Giffords (Kelly’s wife) and Vice President Joe Biden joined the celebration. We’ve written about Mark Kelly before (click HERE and HERE).
Of course, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an official from NASA, and the head of the California Science Center will be part of the ceremony too. Oddly, STS-134 crew member Greg Chamitoff isn’t listed in the press information about the event, even though he has family in Southern California. In fact, he’s said before that some rides at Disneyland are rougher than a space shuttle launch. Maybe Chamitoff is still in Australia as a guest of the University of Sydney (click HERE to see his lecture there about STS-134).
Guodace & Her Baby
When we were at Kennedy Space Center this past spring, we interviewed Jeffrey Rudolph, President and CEO of the California Science Center, about Endeavour’s future homecoming. In a bit of serendipity, one of the qualities of the universe that we most value, Doug had a chance to interview Kimberly Guodace during the GRAIL Tweetup. In some amiable chit-chat after that interview, Doug mentioned that we had written a series about Endeavour and STS-134 and that, as a part of that series, we had videorecorded an interview with Jeffrey Rudolph. Kim, who became a Lofty Ambitions guest blogger (click HERE for that post), chimed in that she had guided Jeffrey Rudolph through his tour of Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center. Coincidence? Absolutely, and not at all. We share that video interview of Rudolph today as part of our ongoing interview series on the second and fourth Mondays of every month.
Interview: Karol J. Bobko September 26, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Museums & Archives, Space Shuttle
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We interviewed Astronaut Karol Bobko when we were at Kennedy Space Center for the last lauch of the space shuttle.
Skylab Workshop (NASA)
Bobko is a three-time shuttle astronaut, the pilot on STS-6 in 1983 and the mission commander on two flights in 1985. He’d already been an astronaut since 1969. In fact, in 1972, Bobko, along with Bob Crippen and William Thornton, participated in a 56-day ground simulation of the Skylab mission.
By proving that humans could live for extended periods in space and that science experiments could be done there, Skylab paved the way for today’s International Space Station. This past week’s falling weather satellite brought back memories of Skylab’s return to Earth. A backup Skylab workshop is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Interview: Shannon Walker September 12, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: Space Shuttle
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As we awaited the launch of STS-134 earlier this year , we interviewed Astronaut Shannon Walker at Kennedy Space Center. Here, she talks about her own career and marriage as well as about NASA’s future.
Shannon Walker was born in 1965, was raised and educated in Texas, and is married to fellow astronaut Andy Thomas. Her whole career has been spent at NASA. What’s fascinating about her is that she spent 161 days on the International Space Station, but she’s never flown on a space shuttle. Instead, she made her journey up and back on Soyuz last year. As she watched the final missions of the three orbiters, she knew that, though she’s an American astronaut, she’d never fly aboard an American spacecraft.
Interview: Mike Good August 22, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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We interviewed Astronaut Mike Good when we were at Kennedy Space Center to see space shuttle Endeavvour launch for the last time. He’s from Ohio, and we earned graduate degrees from Ohio University, so that’s where our conversation begins.
Mike Good has flown 3,000 hours in more than 30 different aircraft. What was left? The space shuttle, on which he served twice. Good was part of the fifth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, a 12-day mission during which the telescope spent six days in the shuttle’s cargo bay. His second mission was STS-132, Atlantis‘s penultimate flight. On that trip, the shuttle docked with the International Space Station for seven days, and Good took two spacewalks. When we spoke with Mike Good, it had been exactly a year since he was in orbit.
Enjoy the video interview below. Check back every second and fourth Monday for video interviews, and click on the “video interviews” menu tab to browse the ones we’ve already posted. And Lofty Ambitions has a YouTube channel!
