Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

- The night sky and the lure of space

have always pulled on the human imagination,

but exploration did not really take place

until the mid 1900s.

But then it happened fast.

- We choose to go to the moon

in this decade and do the other things.

Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

- Early space exploration,

it was both competitive and collaborative,

but the media really focused on the competition,

that was, these heightened political tensions,

and an extension of the Cold War.

- [TV Announcer] Reaction was one of astonishment

and concern.

- On Sputnik 1 Soviet space satellite.

- Research in space, improved life on Earth

from the very beginning

and today the International Space Station

is a symbol of global collaboration.

- The amount of money spent on the space program

is worth every penny.

I think there are things we get from the space program

that are valuable to our life on Earth.

- I'm Cray Novick.

- And I'm Myrna James.

It's time to go Behind the Wings.

- [Cray] In this episode, we're gonna explore the question.

How did human space flight start

and how is it effecting us today?

To start, we headed to NASA's Center for Human Flight,

Johnson Space Center.

To talk with NASA historian, Jennifer Ross-Nazzal.

How did Johnson Space Center first get started?

- In 1958, NASA was created.

- This is my first opportunity to greet you

as Deputy Administrator of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

- It was created as a response to the launch of Sputnik.

(suspenseful music)

- [TV Announcer] Today, our new moon is in the sky,

a 23 inch metal sphere placed in orbit by a Russian rocket.

- The first orbiting satellite around the globe

and Congress was very interested in establishing

an organization to put a human being into space.

And there was a group established

called the Space Task Group.

It was established about a month after NASA came into being.

Its purpose really was to put a man into space.

It was a manned satellite program.

It became known as Project Mercury.

- [TV Announcer] Project Mercury is the name given

to the nation's manned orbital space flight program.

- They were based out of the Langley Research Center

but that group formed the nucleus of what would become

the manned spacecraft center here in Houston.

Once Kennedy gave his speech in May of 1961,

that we were going to land a man on the moon

by the end of the decade and return him safely.

They realized they needed an actual facility,

an actual center just for human space flight.

Before that time human space flight was seen

as sort of as a passing fad, a fancy.

The deputy director for NASA at that time,

likened it to shooting a lady out of a cannon.

And so it was sort of fortuitous that Kennedy proclaimed

that we were going to achieve this amazing goal

by the end of the decade.

- I believe that this nation should commit itself

to achieving the goal before this decade is out,

of landing a man on the moon

and returning him safely to the Earth.

- And so they started looking around at other locations

all across the country and

Houston was one of those locations.

So it was built essentially to get us to that final end date

of landing a man on the moon by 1969.

The individual who was in charge of the Space Task Group

at the time, heard that announcement and wondered,

my God how are we gonna accomplish all of this?

And he had to figure out how they were going to make

all of this work in a very short time, in about nine years.

So that really was, you know, a huge challenge,

but NASA had been actually studying

how are we going to get to the moon prior to this?

It just, you know, increased the pace.

NASA was trying to figure that out well before

President Kennedy made this announcement

on the floor of Congress.

- Now it is time to take longer strides,

time for a great new American enterprise,

time for this nation to take a clearly leading role

in space achievement,

which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.

- [Jennifer] It was definitely a proxy war for the cold war.

You look at the Kennedy administration,

they had the, the Cuban missile crisis.

They also had, you know, some other missteps

early on in the administration.

And, and you know, this was an opportunity

for him to take something and, and get a win.

You know, how could he beat the Soviet Union?

And this was something that they realized

we might be on more even ground with the Soviet Union.

Sending a man to the moon

and returning him at the, the end of the decade.

- [Myrna] Man's giant leap, Apollo 11 lands crew on moon.

The first Wright brothers flight was in 1903

and then it was only 66 years later when

Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.

- [Cray] A lot happened in those 66 years.

The NACA or the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

had been around since 1915 and people had already

been thinking about human space flight.

- These astronauts had to learn everything,

every aspect of going to space.

From rocket propulsion to orbital mechanics, to what happens

to the human body when they go to space. Right?

- So, how did the first astronauts prepare to go to space,

somewhere where no one had been before?

- Astronauts train a lot, and so do folks in flight control.

There's the saying that you, you train as you fly,

you fly as you train. In those early Mercury flights,

they did a lot of training cause

they weren't exactly sure what to expect.

They put them through centrifuge rides up in Pennsylvania.

They put them on the KC-135 which was a weightless aircraft.

They did a lot of simulations of their missions,

what they were going to be doing in orbit.

Same thing with Gemini and Apollo,

they were working through all of those missions

and working through all of the requirements

for their flight.

They didn't just get into the capsule

and go up in orbit and kind of see how things worked.

There was a lot going on,

behind the scenes before anyone ever went up.

- NASA has spent a lot of time and throughout its history

of going into remote environments

and what they call analog environments.

So to put astronauts or scientists

in extreme environments all over the world.

We know the ones, for example, like Antarctica is a classic.

Back in the days of Gemini, Mercury and Apollo,

there was an interest in going into remote jungle areas.

So then the Air Force had a training program,

in tropical survival, down in Panama.

And so NASA contracted with the Air Force to

bring the astronauts like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin,

and Michael Collins into that survival program.

They went into the territory of a tribe down there called

the Embera, which was and still is a remote jungle area.

- [Jennifer] And so they went down to Panama

at the Albrook Air Force Base

and they were working with the, the Choco Indians.

So they were natives of, of that area.

This was a really great cross-cultural exchange

for astronauts and also for the natives in, in Panama.

The idea basically behind tropic survival school was

first of all, to learn how to survive.

If God forbid your capsule came down

in a jungle environment, how would you handle that?

(somber music)

- We're in Panama where it all started.

The first NASA astronauts to walk on the moon

were trained here

for wilderness survival by the indigenous people,

just in case.

(upbeat music)

- [Myrna] We've driven about an hour outside of Panama city.

And we're about to get into a dugout canoe a the motor.

And that's the only way to get to his village.

We'll interview Chief Zarco there.

(boat engine idling)

(speaking spanish)

(boat engine running)

(drums beating) (wind instrument playing)

Chief Zarco, tell me about your grandfather.

(drums beating) (people chanting)

- People who were being trained to go to the moon

and go into space,

acknowledged what they could learn from you

and from your culture.

Chief Zarco, what were some of the things

that the astronauts learned here?

- Why is this area such an ideal place to train astronauts?

- You know, they, they had a lot of cross-cultural

interaction with the Choco Indians.

Worked very closely with the chief,

Antonio Zarco and you know, encouraged them to

get to know the folks as, as part of their training,

so that they would feel comfortable.

And when they came back, they did a debriefing

and talked about, well, what did you learn?

And you know, they learned that the jungle isn't as scary

as they thought it was.

The most important thing I think that they walked away with

was the fact that, it was important

to have this optimistic point of view

when you went on a mission. That you weren't going to die,

if you landed in the jungle or desert,

because they did desert survival training.

You know, it was important to do the training

but to have optimism that you were

going to make it out okay.

- Some of the astronauts who trained in Panama,

actually were the ones who walked on the moon.

- [Neil Armstrong] OK. I'm gonna step off the LEM now.

That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

- The Earth as it appears from the moon

is a very small and fragile object.

And when you think about it that's not a

inaccurate description.

Certainly a lot of the things that we do down here

can affect the, the balance in a very fragile way.

The, the greenhouse effect we're noticing today, for example

the changes between a healthy atmosphere

and an unhealthy atmosphere are, are very subtle,

very, very fragile and you sort of get that feeling

when you look at the at the Earth from a great distance.

- Seeing the Earth from space can cause a significant

psychological impact called the overview effect.

To learn more we spoke with

cultural anthropologist Dr. Deana Weibel.

- Deana, it's so great to speak with you today.

What is the overview effect?

- So the overview effect is a term that was actually coined

by a journalist Frank White, who is also a researcher.

When people go into space for the first time

and look from their spacecraft to the Earth,

the awareness that it's actually a planet

suddenly the borders are not real anymore.

You see that they're imaginary.

You see that everything is interconnected.

You see the Earth as much more fragile.

And a lot of astronauts have had this experience where

it was like a sudden realization.

Something that caused them to rethink

what it meant to live on a planet.

Rethink things like environmental awareness.

Some astronauts have become really, really strongly focused

on getting information out about global climate change

and other things we need to do to protect the planet.

- Steve Lindsey, I'm so excited to speak with you today.

And I almost don't know where to start.

You've had such an illustrious, amazing career.

- I, I applied and was fortunate enough to get selected

in 1995 to the NASA astronaut office, as an astronaut,

as a pilot astronaut.

So I spent 16 years at NASA and while I was there

I was fortunate enough, or blessed to fly

five space shuttle missions.

Two as pilot, three as a commander.

- That's amazing.

- Yeah, I was very fortunate.

My final flight was the actually

the final flight of Discovery.

The trip in a space shuttle,

- [NASA Control] Go for main engine start. (sparks sound)

- being on the launchpad to orbit,

(fast violin music)

is eight and a half minutes long.

- [NASA Control] We have main engine start. (ignition noise)

- Most eight and a half minutes of intensity,

you'll ever experience

- [Announcer] Two, one, (rocket engines roaring)

and the final lift off of Discovery,

a tribute to the dedication, hard work

and pride of America's space shuttle team.

- [Announcer] Discovery's three main engines

are burning fuel at a rate that would drain

an average swimming pool in about 25 seconds.

The engines combined with the solid rocket boosters

produce more than 7 million pounds of thrust.

Standing by for separation

of the twin solid rocket boosters.

Discovery now traveling 2,695 miles an hour.

- [Myrna] I'm picturing this extremely fast speed

that you're going.

And it makes me think of the overview effect.

So what was that like? Did that happen for you?

- I first saw the Earth on my first flight.

We were during assent.

We were probably 50-60 miles high doing about

I don't know, Mach 12 or so during assent.

So the rockets are firing and we actually did this

what's called a roll to heads up,

to shift from ground stations for communications,

to satellite communications during assent.

And I was in the pilot seat of course, pretty busy,

but when we did the roll, rolled underneath

and I got my first view of the Earth.

When you see Earth from up there,

it does change perspective.

I think it changes your perspective on

how small the planet is.

It changes almost everybody's perspective

from an environmental standpoint.

(somber music)

- Yeah, I remember one of the first times

I looked out the window from space

and I said to one of my crew mates, I said,

what's that, what's that thin film over the surface?

What is that?

They go, oh, that's the atmosphere

almost looks like a contact lens over somebody's eye,

how thin and fragile it is compared to the,

you know, the size of the planet.

Which is kind of scary looking because

it's, you know the most important thing

to our survival is our atmosphere.

I think, makes you more kind of in tune with,

you know, environmental causes.

I remember the rainforest in south America looked different

on my first flight than it did on my last 17 years later.

And then when you look at the planet, you know,

you don't see political borders during the daytime.

You do at night a little bit, you know, countries, you know

sometimes use different kind of light bulbs.

So it's easy to tell.

I'm on the International Space Station,

but we're really all on a spaceship,

traveling through space called planet Earth.

And we're all part of the same team.

- I know that you were on the International Space Station

for basically a year. How did that come about?

- Yeah, I was there for nearly a year.

We launched in the March of 2015, landed in March of 2016.

It's one of the greatest successes

of the International Space Station program,

is that you can have two countries that, you know,

historically can be at, you know,

not on the most friendly basis, unfortunately.

You can work cooperatively on something

that's probably the most challenging thing we do

and demonstrate that we can work peacefully together

as a team and space is a perfect place to do that.

And for us, you know, our relationships as crew members

we have to rely on each other for, you know,

friendship or help with our work.

And literally at times for each other's lives.

- Out of that competitive atmosphere,

that defined early space exploration

came a whole new vision for collaboration.

And then the International Space Station,

and so many countries are involved.

- The International Space Station, it's,

it's truly that international,

you have 258 astronauts that have been there

from 20 different countries.

And then when it comes to the countries involved in the ISS,

I mean, this is gonna test my geography more than anything

but we've got the U.S.,

we've got this big one.

- Right, Russia, here.

- Russia.

- Enormous.

- You know, we had, we had Canada.

Canada's up there.

- We have Japan right here.

- Japan. Yep.

- JAXA's very involved with these with space activities.

- And then, I mean, you have the European Space Agency,

which is gonna make up a lot of the countries,

Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,

the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,

Switzerland, and the UK.

- The International Space Station is just that,

it's truly international.

It's almost like in space, where borders don't exist.

- The idea was that this would be a good way

for NASA to get experience working

on an International Space Station.

That was the goal to have our own space station.

We had our first space station Skylab,

but this was going to be a little different.

So this was an opportunity for astronauts

to get some experience working onboard a space station,

you know kind of this building block for, for NASA.

The international aspect of the space station

has been so vitally important.

That's probably the most important legacy

that space station will have.

Many of the pieces of hardware, for instance,

never met on the ground.

First time they met was up in space.

And so just working together, I think it's,

it's so vitally important.

We may not be able to do it on the ground

but in space we've been able to do it so successfully.

- Hi, this is Steve Lindsey,

Commander of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Welcome aboard.

- You know, when you look at the space station

and the international partnership

and 16 nations up there working together all the time,

that all gets blurred.

And we're, we're generally speaking one team up there.

If you would've told me when I was a pilot in the Cold War,

that within 10 years I'd be flying with Russians.

- [Myrna] Yeah.

- [Steve] I would've told you, you were crazy.

- [Myrna] Yeah.

- [Steve] But that changed.

- Right now, the plan is to to de-orbit

the space station around 2030, right.

And eventually you're gonna have to do that.

I mean, things age, they age in space.

You go out on a space walk on the space station,

it's surprising just how beat up it is outside.

And the sun is just brutal.

The changes of temperatures of, you know,

plus or minus 270 degrees.

Thing gets hit on the outside.

There's a lot of holes on the outside.

Fortunately, you know, so far those holes

haven't penetrated the pressurized volume.

But there is a lot of damage to this.

So eventually you're gonna have to put it in the,

in the Pacific Ocean.

- One of the most important things that came

from that experience was the twin studies.

Cause you have an identical twin brother.

Who's also an astronaut.

- Yeah. Because my brother and I were identical twins,

we're genetically very, very similar, almost like, you know

99.9% genetically similar, that they felt like

that they could get some good science data.

- So the NASA twin study, the idea was born to try

and get more genetic information

and more molecular information

and other types from people in space

for longer periods of time.

That's a little bit complicated to do.

So what they thought was,

if we're gonna use a very small number of people

that they should be twins.

That would allow us the ability to study one twin in space

and the other twin on Earth.

Doing that would allow us to better understand

the differences that weren't related to genetics. Right?

Because they should have a fairly similar genetic profile.

- For something to be statistically significant.

You need a lot of samples.

- Right.

- And this is kind of a sample of one.

Having said that, it's also a longitudinal study.

So you can get statistically significant data

by studying the same thing over a long period of time.

Meaning Mark and I.

- So the goal was then to study them for one year

and Scott Kelly was the astronaut who was in space.

And so both of the Kelly brothers gave enormous amount

of time, willingness, blood samples,

every kind of tissue we could get,

psychological testing, physiologic testing,

over that entire year period.

And so at the time it was really the longest

and most comprehensive scientific study

that had been done to that point.

- So that became part of the science program

and it got the most attention,

more attention than the other science

which was actually probably more important

but just didn't have that kind of like

cache human interest cache that,

- Right.

- [Scott] That a story about two twin brothers

doing a science experiment on the space station has.

- Give us some, a few nuggets,

of the results of the twin studies.

- Well, there were a lot of experiments

and you know I didn't give these experiments

any more attention or less attention

than I did everything else that we were doing.

To the researchers, all of 'em, their, their,

their science is the most important.

And during the course of that year

we had 400 different experiments going on,

the year I was on the space station.

- That's incredible.

- Yeah. So this was, I don't know,

it was probably 10 or 15 different studies.

You know, some of them were on human cognition.

Like how does your brain change

over the course of being in space from, you know,

your ability to perform certain tasks and functions?

What we would do is, you know, I would collect data

or most, mostly it was like science samples,

but there were tests that I would do.

And then my brother would do the same ones on the ground.

And I'll tell you what you gotta give him credit,

cause he didn't even work for NASA.

I think they were gonna pay him.

But it was like so little that he said, eh, don't bother.

I don't wanna deal with the tax headache from being paid,

you know, it's a really small amount.

- So why is space exploration so important?

- You know, I think it's important for a number of reasons.

We are, you know, genetically speaking,

I think explorers. Right?

If we, if we didn't have that gene,

we would still be living in a cave somewhere.

We have this desire to see what's, you know,

over the horizon, what's over the ocean,

you know, what's in outer space.

And what it gives to our society, to our economy,

to our national security, is worth every penny.

- If you look at at history, that's what human beings do.

We've, we've always explored.

Well before Christopher Columbus,

you know well before the Vikings,

that's just something that that human beings do.

And I think that's just a continuation and an extension of,

of what we've done in the past and will continue to do.

And it's extremely important.

It's extremely vital, beneficial to the American public,

to the globe.

(somber music)

As space exploration transitioned

to becoming more collaborative,

it set the stage for how it can benefit life

right here on Earth.

But it's not just about going outwards, going to the moon.

It's also about looking back at Earth.

What can we learn about our own blue planet?

- Looking back at the Earth from space

gives us a whole new perspective on our planet.

- And that's what we're gonna look at

in the next episode of Behind the Wings...

satellites and their sensors. Exploring the question -

what can we learn about the Earth

by looking back from space?

(upbeat dance music)