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ThisisScientificAmerican's 60-secondScience, I'mChristineHerman.
(CLIP: "Houston, TranquilityBasehere. TheEaglehaslanded.")
July 20 marks 50 yearssincehumanbeingsfirstlandedonthemoon. Thatmomentousdayin 1969 madeastronautsNeilArmstrongandBuzzAldrinhouseholdnames. Butyearsbeforethat, alesser-knownfigurewasonamissiontomakethatfirstmoonlandingpossible.
HisnamewasJohnHoubolt. ThesonofDutchimmigrants, HouboltgrewuponafarminJoliet, Ill. HestudiedengineeringattheUniversityofIllinoisandeventuallyworkedhiswaytoNASA.
Itwasthere, intheearly 1960s, thatheputhiscareeronthelinetochampionwhatwas, atthetime, anunpopularidea—butwouldultimatelybecriticaltogettingApollo 11 tothemoonandsafelyback.
"Johnfacedamixtureofindifference, attimes, abuseand, attimes, ridiculethatheneverforgotuntilthingsstartedtochange, andengineersstartedtorealizehisdatamightberight." ToddZwillich, authorofthenewAudibleOriginalspoken-wordbookaboutHoubolt'slife. It'scalledTheManWhoKnewtheWaytotheMoon.
SowhatwasHoubolt'sunpopularidea? Hechampionedwhat'scalledlunarorbitrendezvous. Theconceptinvolvessendingaspacecraftintoorbitaroundthemoon—andfromthere, sendingonlyasmall, lightweightcraftdowntothemoon'ssurface, insteadoftheentireship.
ZwillichsayswhileHouboltdidn'tinventtheidea, hewastheonewhostartedtoapplyittothetechnologiesthatwerewithinNASA'sgraspatthetime.
"Mostofthepeoplewhoknowthemostaboutthismissionfeelthatwithoutlunarorbitrendezvous, Apollocouldn'thavesucceeded. AndwithoutJohnHoubolt, youprobablywouldnothavehadlunarorbitrendezvous."
Zwillich'sbookalsoexploresthekindsofchallengesNASAengineersfacetoday, astheymakeplanstogetbacktothemoonand, ultimately, toMars.
"WhenyoutalkaboutMars, gosh, 150 millionmiles, ordersofmagnitudeofabiggerproblem. DowedosomeformofMartianorbitrendezvous? Dowesendastation, buildastationinMartianorbitthatwecanstagedowntothesurfacetomanageallthatmass? Alotofproblemstothinkabout."
Thoseproblems, hesays, createplentyofdebatestoday. WiththestoryofJohnHouboltasanexample, somethingconsideredhighlyunlikelynowmightbethekeytoeventuallyputtingpeopleontheRedPlanet.
ThanksforlisteningforScientificAmerican — 60-SecondScience. I'mChristineHerman.