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Episode 61: Reg Turnill on Wernher von Braun

By Gurbir Dated: February 15, 2013 2 Comments

Reg Turnill wit von Braun — Reg Turnill with Wernher von Braun 1977

Like so many in the “space community” I was saddened to hear of the passing of Reg Turnill. He was the BBC’s aerospace correspondent but is best known for covering the American Space program throughout the 60s and 70s that he documents so well in his book Moonlandings: An eye witness account.

He was the BBC’s representative in Moscow at Gagarin’s post flight press conference and told me in episode 41 of his experience when I went to meet him in January 2011.

Reg captures the ambiguity of the brilliant Wernher von Braun who he got to know so well that he called him a friend and yet believed that he was a war criminal and should have been hanged.

In this 30 minute podcast , the first a six minutes is telephone conversation recorded on 3^rd November 2011 followed by extracts from his talk at the UK Space Conference 5^th July 2011 “The von Braun that I knew”. Reg shares three of his audio interviews with von Braun, the audio quality of the 2^nd and 3^rd is better than the first.

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Episode 58: Astronauts Joe Engle and Ron Garan

By Gurbir Dated: October 20, 2012 Leave a Comment

The first interview in this episode is with astronaut Joe Engle was recorded during his visit to the UK in 2008. Joe Engle was at the front of the queue to go to the Moon when NASA cut its Apollo program. His place was taken by the geologist Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17 – the last manned mission to the Moon. In this interview Joe talk about his work before and after Apollo – on the X-15 and Space Shuttle programs.

The second short interview with astronaut Ron Garan was recorded at TedXSalford in January 2012 (unfortunately the recording stopped prematurely). You can see more about the online community offering a “unique orbital perspective of men and women who live and work in Space” online at Fragile Oasis.

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You can see the video of his talk on this link http://youtu.be/lJNbjSLvtpI

Episode 55: 4 August 2012: Mars Curiosity Rover

By Gurbir Dated: August 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

Since the mid 1970s six spacecraft (Viking 1 & 2, Sojourner, Opportunity, Spirit and Phoenix) have successfully landed on the surface of Mars. In probably the most audacious, breathtaking and risky space missions, in less than two days, another Mars Curiosity Rover will arrive on Mars. Using a technique never used before, NASA has described the Entry Decent Landing as the seven minutes of terror.

Launched in November 2011, the arrival of Mars Curiosity will for the first time make a high precision landing which is so crucial to its primary scientific goal of finding evidence of earlier Martian environment that may have been suitable for life.

Also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) it will be supported by a pair of NASA satellites (Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) already in Martian orbit. Mars has never been under so much human scrutiny. In addition to the still functioning Opportunity, a rover on the surface of Mars (launched in 2004) and the two NASA satellites, there is also the European Space Agency’s Mars Express is also in Martian orbit.

Dr Anita Sengupta is a member of the Entry Decent Landing and Advanced Technologies group at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this interview recorded on August 2^nd via telephone from her office in JPL she captures the sheer exhilaration of the dramatic entry decent and landing phase and describes her role in the Mars Curiosity rover mission.

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National Astronomy Meeting 2012

By Gurbir Dated: March 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

Moon Venus Jupiter — Moon, Venus and Jupiter just after sunset 27 March 2012

A cram packed week – so much going on and the weather for the first half of this week is particularly cooperative for visitors to Manchester and observing the night sky. The weather can’t possibly last. I chose to miss out a couple of the evening events and do some observing.

I was not able to get to all the talks I wanted (there really is so much going on!) but did the following three audio recordings

Professor Michael Kramer – Director Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) and a Professor of Astrophysics as well as an Associate Director at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. Just what you need for a joint UK/Germany Astronomy event. We spoke mostly about the Square Kilometer Array
Professor Fran Bagenall. A planetary scientist from Colorado University. We spoke about the Juno mission on its way to Jupiter.
Professor Carl Murray. Amongst other things Carl’s interests include Planetary Dynamics. We spoke mostly about the Cassini mission currently (still!) in orbit around Saturn. Not in the recording but it was fascinating to talk to Carl about his time at Cornell and his contact in those days with the only other Carl I know in Astronomy – Carl Sagan.

My thanks to all three and I will tweet once the podcasts are online. Now back to NAM2012..

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