Introduction to the Final Frontier
Space Race Class
January 2016
Space Exploration – Why do I care?
Because exploring is what humans do.
This is a picture of my son Caleb. In this photo, he just got an
autograph from the man on the right – Harrison “Jack” Schmitt.
Why is this a big deal?
Harrison Schmitt in 1977
• US Senator, R-New Mexico
• This is pretty cool, but it’s not the main source of his
awesomeness.
Harrison Schmitt in 1972
Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 17
The Apollo Missions
• Between July 1969 and December 1972, six
American missions landed men on the moon.
• The last landing was Apollo 17.
– It launched from Florida on December 7, 1972.
– It landed on the Moon on December 11, 1972.
– I was born on December 9.
– No one has been back to the Moon since then.
I was able to tell Caleb, as he was getting Mr. Schmitt’s autograph, that
“this guy was flying to the moon on the day I was born.”
He is one of only 12 men ever to walk on the surface of the moon.
Why study these missions?
• In my mind, the Apollo program represents the
pinnacle of human cultural achievement.
• In terms of science and technology, creativity,
bravery, it is probably the single greatest thing human
beings have ever done.
• The Moon itself has played a prominent role in
human imagination and culture since the dawn of
time
• It presents us with a great lens for looking at many
different issues in history, literature, science, math,
and politics
• The story of exploration in general, and this story in
particular, is the story of humanity itself.
Space Exploration Continues to This Day
• OK, no one is doing anything as cool as flying
to the moon anymore…
• Or are they? In the past year:
– Pluto flyby
– Ceres flyby
– Mars rover discovers liquid water
– Preparations continue for an eventual manned
Mars mission
• We will cover both the historic moon missions
and more recent developments in the space
program in this class.
What to expect in this class
• History – obviously, but not just of the space
program – we will look at its roots, going back to
early inventors and even ancient times
• Literature – Some of man’s earliest speculative
stories deal with uncovering the nature of the moon.
Early Hollywood got in on the act as well.
• Mythology – the Moon plays a role in almost all the
mythologies of the world
• Science and Math – I will attempt to absorb enough
chemistry and physics to help you understand what
it took to fly to the moon. You will even need
CALCULATORS some days in this class.
• Projects and Experiments – Both the usual
history/literature kind as well as the science kind,
including computer simulations and even labs