Kate:
Hidden forces shape our ideas, beliefs, and experiences of Grand Canyon.
Melissa:
Join us as we uncover the stories between the canyon’s colorful walls.
Kate:
Probe the depths and add your voice for what happens next at Grand Canyon!
Melisa:
I’m Ranger Melissa.
Kate:
I’m Ranger Kate.
Kate and Melissa:
This is Behind the Scenery.
Kate:
In the entire history of our planet 107 billion people have set foot on it. Of them, in just one year, 6 million come to Grand Canyon. But only twelve people, twelve have ever set foot on another world. So all of you listening, I don't know if you realize but before astronauts left those big tracks up on the moon those same feet walked to the bottom of Grand Canyon. That's like a nine mile walk or 14 or 7; it just depends on the trail.
Melissa:
In this episode we're going to retrace some of these footsteps with a couple of people we've met along our own journey and exploring the Apollo astronauts in their time together Grand Canyon. We're going to hear from historians, some of our own people that we met at the bottom of the Grand Canyon on their own hikes, and were might even just hear from a future astronaut that might land on another planet in their lifetime, and most importantly, you'll hear from a moonwalker themselves, one of twelve to walk on the moon.
Kevin:
So ok, this is right like Neil Armstrong stood and what was he thinking? You know, he didn't know he was going to be the first person on the moon and this was years before its first flight and yet this is where his preparation was happening. Now what was he thinking as he was gazing across the Canyon and perhaps up into the heavens? Maybe the same thing that so many of us think about the grandeur of it all.
Kate:
This is Kevin Schindler. He is a historian at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, the same observatory where they discovered Pluto. Kevin is describing Neil, not looking over the craters of the moon, but looking into the bottoms of Grand Canyon. Neil Armstrong sits on the edge of the Canyon wearing his classic red baseball cap. His field notebook lies forgotten to the side as his gaze is lost in the bottom of the canyon.
Kevin:
I’ve been able to not just hike into the Canyon but actually retrace where a lot of astronauts went by helping me find the locations of several pictures. We have a few dozen pictures of the astronauts during those hikes, and I wanted to write a try to recreate where those pictures were taken.
Kate:
I first met Kevin, and I remember it was the Centennial year at Grand Canyon and here in the park we were getting ready to celebrate the big 100th birthday. In my email inbox, I get this letter saying,” Hey! did you realize it's also the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions? And why don't we celebrate how much Grand Canyon was a part of humans going up to the moon?”
Kevin:
The astronauts were on a mission. When we look back at going back on the moon, we can remember the inspiration it gave us and the science we learned and such but the reason we were going initially was to beat the Russians. It was all part of the Cold War and that president Kennedy in the middle 1960s declared that we were going to go to the moon….
President John F. Kennedy:
We choose to go to the moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
Kevin:
And so these astronauts were brought on to do this very patriotic very in a lot of ways military mined activity. We gotta beat the Russians, we gotta beat the Russians there! And so as we were developing the missions, a lot of scientists said if we’re gonna go the moon and plant the flag and thumb our noes at the Russians and that is all we do then that is a wasted opportunity. We should do science. We should take advantage of that opportunity and explore that world.
Kate:
Going to the moon is not so different from going on a trip to Grand Canyon or your next exploration and it makes me think, “ Why are we exploring? How can we bring something useful back to the people at home?”
Kevin:
Yeah, the thing about the astronauts is they were hired to beat the Russians, they had to get to the moon first. What does picking up rocks have to do with beating the Russians? The geologist realized this, realized we need to inspire the astronauts to learn about geology.
Kate:
Melissa, you and I have taught a lot of kids coming to take field trips at Grand Canyon. Who do you think would be more excited to learn about rocks - your third graders or a fighter pilot with a crew cut and military background?
Melissa: Definitely the third graders.
Kate:
The astronauts were survival specialist, just focused on getting to the moon and back alive. Well now, NASA has big ask for them: to train their brains in a new way, to learn to be scientists.
Melissa:
Just like our third graders!
Kevin:
These guys didn’t have much geology. In most cases they didn’t have any geology training. And so their early training in geology was fundamental. It was basic. It wasn’t trying to find a place that had similar rocks to what they would be seeing on the moon. It was more just learning to think like a geologist, learning how to look at rocks and interpret the stories that they tell. And so they needed a geology classroom to learn how to identify different types of rocks and how they are formed, and how to know this type of rocks is a lot different than that one. When they go to the moon they want to be able to collect as many different types of rocks as possible......so they have to be able to it to know the difference. As I learned more I found that they came to Northern Arizona initially to just learn basic geology, going to Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater and then I got really interested and learned that all the Apollo astronauts trained in Northern Arizona in preparation for the Moon missions and they were learning basic geology. Almost a quintessential interest came about when I found out they had trained at the Grand Canyon. The astronauts trained at the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of my favorite places in the world.
Kate:
Kevin's research led him to NASA and at NASA he found historic photographs of people like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on field trips at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Kevin wrote a book, an Images of America series about their Northern Arizona space training, and then he decided it was time to pack his own backpack and followed the astronauts footsteps into Grand Canyon.
Kevin:
The people who did that work and retrace their steps it’s a lot more fun. You can really feel it more. It’s neat to read about it in the living room with a lamp at night reading a book. It’s a different experience hiking down and making the same stops and having the same, you know, breathing problems coming out. And you know, really envisioning what they are seeing.
Kate:
Kevin met Melissa and I on the trails and he had the historic photographs from NASA in his hands. He would hold them up and try to match them to the brilliant colorful landscapes that hikers see in Grand Canyon. When it matched up, it was this amazing moment where we realized we were probably standing at the same place where Neil Armstrong was standing at.
Kevin:
And then a later group of astronauts after that visited the canyon in 1966. They all kinda followed the same pattern and were there essentially two days. So the geologist would meet them at Yavapai museum and do an overview of the Canyon. And then they would go to the South Kaibab trail and the trailhead. So you would have two to three astronauts with one geologist and every few minutes one of the groups would start hiking down the trail. And as they hiked down the trail, the geologists would describe what they are seeing, the types of rocks, interpret what the rock layers meant. You know, tell the story of the rocks.
Kate:
One of my favorite pictures shows the astronauts eating lunch at the Fossil Fern exhibit on the South Kaibab trail, and this exhibit shows fern fossils from millions of years ago, and it might be why the astronauts joked when they were landing that they had found fossils on the moon. But on that field trip the astronauts were learning important skills like how to take rock samples, how to use overhead maps to navigate an unknown landscape. The spot where they are having their picnic is where a lot of hikers are also looking at maps, learning to navigate the landscapes of Grand Canyon.
Kevin:
If you look at some of these pictures they are carrying field notebooks to describe their observations, they have maps so that they can learn geology mapping. They can look at layers of rocks and describe what they’re seeing and map it out to where it will be useful to other people. They have geology hammers which normally you would not do and Grand Canyon but they had special permission to collect some rocks like they would be doing on the moon. They had hand lenses to look at minerals up close which they wouldn’t do so much on the moon because it is kind of hard to hold a hand lense next to your space helmet and focus in. .....One of the first things they would do in landing on the moon is to survey what they are looking.
Duke and Young on the Moon:
It sure is flat John!
Kevin:
To look at the rocks and the layers, maybe mountains or valleys
Duke and Young on the Moon:
Wow, there's that ridge to the North!
Kevin:
or whatever and describe what they are seeing.
Duke and Young on the Moon: All we gotta' do is open the hath and we've got plenty of rocks.
Houston: It looks beautiful John. Wish I were there.
Melissa:
The voices you just heard are of John young and charge you Apollo 16 astronauts as they gazed out to the moon for the first time.
Kate:
Melissa and I had the pleasure of meeting Charlie Duke at the Flagstaff Festival of Science. As the lunar module pilot of Apollo16 in 1972, he became the youngest person at 36 years old to walk on the moon.
Melissa:
We asked Charlie Duke almost 50 years later if there were any similarities between the moon and Grand Canyon.
Charlie Duke:
Ah, there was about zero. The moon was mostly volcanic and the Grand Canyon is mostly sedimentary rocks, and as far as I know there has been no water on the moon in mass quantities and so there's no sedimentary rocks. But the moon does have Layering in it because it's been volcanic and has been erupting up there so you see different layers and different stratus with different volcanic eruptions. You could see that in the side of the big craters. The biggest one that we visited was 500 meters across. You can stand on the southeast side, southwest side and look across the crater and you could see inside the crater different flows and so seeing throws flows was similar to learning identifying the different stratus in the Grand Canyon. But I got excited about Flagstaff and I loved it. I loved the instructors. Astro Geology I think they called it or something anyway. And I met the people out there and they were so enthusiastic, and they got me so excited about geology, and I loved it. For six years we had trip every month somewhere for three or four days in the field and a lot of it was in Arizona with the Meteor Crater down south across the border and Grand Canyon.
Kate:
The Grand Canyon and the moon may have different rocks, but it sounds like Charlie really did learn to see like a geologist and I saw this in videos of him trying to collect moon samples but in zero G that often meant a back flip. The science he and the other astronauts learned allowed them to expand our knowledge of the universe . You know the rocks that they were visiting at the bottom of the Canyon are about 1.8 billion years old but the Trinity rock the moon rocks they collected on the moon are 4.5 billion, just a little bit younger than our planet, and with those rocks we realized that maybe another planetoid hit planet earth and the moon is actually a part of our crust. That knowledge allowed them to bring something useful back home, expanding our knowledge of the solar system. It was a real honor to meet Charlie Duke and hear more about what it was like for them going down into the bottom of the Canyon. Well, Kevin has met a lot of astronauts and a big part of his hikes into the Canyon were about these shared experiences that he found with them.
Kevin:
I have been to the bottom of the canyon a couple dozen times or so and it is interesting how some of your experiences overlap a little bit. For me it was I guess one of the most obvious and dramatic ones was also kind of comical in that my first trip to the bottom of Grand Canyon when I was in college - more than a few months ago- I woke up in the middle of the night while camping at Phantom Ranch and a skunk was sniffing me. As I was doing research about the astronauts going to the bottom of Grand Canyon, I ended up interviewing Charlie Duke and learned about his experience of skunks fighting over his sleeping bag.
Melissa:
Did you finally get to meet the skunk that bothered him?
Charlie Duke and Wife Dorothy:
I didn't get to the bottom. We went to the North side from the North side. We did get to the bottom but we rode out. I said, “I’m riding back out of here.”
Kate:
When you look up at all the challenges to get out of the Canyon, the vertical mile of climb ahead, it's a crucible for even the most fit of hikers and runners. Astronauts in peak physical condition may want an easy way out too.
Kevin:
A few of them, especially the really quintessential type A personalities like Allan Shepherd, who was the first American to go into space years before these trips. He would not ride a mule. He was going to hike out of the canyon and he was going to be the first one out....Others like Neil Armstrong were fine to ride a mule and Neil Armstrong later said in his life something to the effect “I only have so many heartbeats, I don’t want to waste them on exercise.”
Melissa:
Going into space was a big investment, more than just an astronaut heartbeat. I was curious about who benefited from all the work that went into getting them up there.
Kevin:
You know, well you may or may not agree with the reason we went. You can look back and say you know we humans when we get a common goal and work together we can achieve amazing things. I think about only 12 people walked on the moon. If they are the only ones to benefit, we sure spent a lot of money on 12 people! To me the benefit. It was life altering. The reason we went to the moon was political. There is no way Congress would have approved that money if there was not a perceived threat at the time. We were in the middle of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It was a perceived threat. We had to get out there and show our superiority. If the challenge were let’s go out there to explore and do science it never would have happened. Not how it did because this was against so much happening on Earth. That money could be used for a lot of good things on Earth. People Starving. Homeless people. But because it was a perceived threat, while these issues on Earth were important, We must go out there.
Kate:
Going to Mars and as we think about expanding as galactic humans each and every one of us can ask, “ Well what makes it worth it? What are the costs? What are the benefits?”
Kevin:
One is the amount of money we spend, is that better used for things on Earth? And that is something that goes back to Apollo. You know, the country is crumbling. There is civil unrest. There are riots. There are race riots. The Vietnam War is going on and we’re spending a gazillion dollars to try to get people to walk on another world. How is that helping us? How is that saving lives? How is that feeding people who are starving? And so that is always a question. I have answers for that, my own personal answers. But I think that’s always something. You know, if you spend money on anything. What are you getting out of it and why are you doing it? How do you qualify it as a success.
Historic Radio:
Today, President Kennedy signed an authorization from Congress to spend 1 billion 700 million dollars on our space program for the next fiscal year that's $10 for every man woman and child in the nation but fair enough for what is by far the greatest show on earth, the dramatic race to the moon.
Kate:
How did the American public feel in the 1960s before the Apollo missions were successful? It surprised me to learn that according to Roger Launius, who was the former chief historian for NASA, that a majority of Americans in the 1960s did not believe Apollo was worth the cost. Many raised their voice in protest and spoke out for social justice the night before Apollo 11's launch into space with Neil, Buzz, and Collins getting ready to go to the moon. Hundreds of people came to protest at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They were people who had also marched with Martin Luther King Junior in Washington. Their priority was addressing widespread suffering caused by poverty and they called themselves the Poor People's Campaign.
Melissa:
So in this picture I see a couple of mules there are being lined up by a few men in front of a large rocket and a bunch of palm trees. In this photo they're using mules as a symbol of systemic poverty in the United States. it's crazy to compare that to here at Grand Canyon. Today, mules are a sign of luxury. You get to pay to take a mule right down to the bottom instead of using your own two legs.
Kate:
Other protesters are standing in front of a lunar module and holding up high a sign that says, “ It takes $12.00 a day to feed an astronaut. We could feed a starving child with $8.00” The leader of the March Ralph Abernathy gave a moving speech in which he said, “We may go on from this day to Mars and to Jupiter and even to the heavens beyond, but as long as racism, poverty, hunger, and war prevail upon the earth, we as a civilized nation have failed.” Listening to what Americans felt back in the 1960s, I wanted to hear what people feel today. Right here and right now. So we interviewed hikers and backpackers in Grand Canyon. We asked them: that considering the problems we have on earth today, should we be thinking about going back to outer space?
Jess:
Hi! My name is Jess. I believe that space exploration and sending humans out into space is really important. I believe that it will bring a whole new world like literally to our environment, to our perspective. I personally would love to become an astronaut and just the thought of going out to space, possibly landing on a different planet in different solar systems. Even like if that could be made possible that's something that furthering space exploration can be made possible. If you go further you can know your boundaries and then surpass that even more. There's so much to the universe now and we only know so much of it and so space exploration will just further that knowledge.
Doug:
My name is Doug and I think that once our constitution is secure and we have our tax situation under control that we should be able to spend some of that on space exploration because we have other technologies that comes out of space exploration that benefits us here on earth.
Celia:
Hi! My name is Celia. I think that space there's so much about space that we don't know and that's so intriguing to like break beyond our boundaries and explore new environments, new species, new areas and there's so much out there that we don't know about. But even more so I think that exploring the seas and the oceans on this earth. We've only explored like 90% of them, and so as much as there is about space that we don't know, there's even more so about the oceans. We only know like 90% of them. So yes, I think that exploring the depths of everything that we don't know, whether that’s space or the oceans, breaking new boundaries, putting footprints on places where there haven't been footprints or maybe Finn marks if we're going down into the ocean. But yes, going into space going down to the ocean exploring new areas. 100% let's do it!
Kate:
The voice of every living being matters, and we have the opportunity to speak out for the values we care about at home, whether that's planet earth or where we go from here. It is time to talk to someone who since three years old has committed her life to going to Mars as a spokesperson for the Mars generation. Alyssa Carson has a long list of accomplishments. Alyssa is the youngest person to graduate from the Advanced Space Academy. She has her pilots license and got her rocket license before her drivers permit. She is now the youngest person on the planet to be certified to go into sub-orbital space. In the interview, we dive deep into what the future of space exploration could look like, but I wanted to hear from Alyssa - Is space exploration worth the cost?
Alyssa:
Yeah, you know first of all I would say that I feel like a lot of people when they think about how much money goes into the space program and goes into building rockets and sending astronauts to space there's a lot of other things that kind of go into that as well. So during the Apollo days having that space program and having the Apollo missions that employed 400 thousand Americans which are jobs that weren't necessarily fills in any other way. You know we had 400,000 people because we're going to space NASA is one of the only government and entities that you put $1 into it brings $8.00 back into the economy. So NASA has been able through, you know all the technologies, developed and now marketed to supply so many other things here on earth. You know, most of the technology in the everyday. So a lot of other just simple things, you know Velcro or you know, just little things that no one thinks about was either developed for the space program or by the space program. And so a lot of things that we have, we wouldn't even have if we weren't putting in the investment and pushing ourselves, wanting to go into space and with the idea of traveling to Mars. You know, Mars is that first step in learning to colonize a new planet because in the long run, you know, we know that the sun will burnout. That's how all suns run through their course of life. You know, we have never seen, you know, a sun just kind of burn forever so we know eventually one day the earth will not be livable anymore. And so in order for humans to want to continue to survive and continue to face new things we're going to have to travel to new places and it's going to have to be something that we address at some point. Obviously, Mars is not going to be ultimate savior or anything. You know, Mars revolves around the same sun, but Mars is just the first step in developing that technology and developing our space technology so someday we are able to do that and someday we are able to continue ourselves. And as we continue pushing ourselves for gaining so much new technology, as well as income into our economy to benefit from - that I think, that's a grand dream for like on a human perspective.
Kate:
So I am curious. In my research I found that it could be more cost effective to send robots up to other planets, so what do you think are the justifications for having humans out in the field on places like Mars?
Alyssa:
Yeah, so there obviously are many rovers and satellites and all kinds of things that we have sent to Mars so far to start doing research, and the biggest issue with only having these robots on Mars is just the time efficiency of it. So, for example, because of the distance on Mars, the time delay between earth and Mars ranges between, you know, 15 to 30 minutes sometimes. And so, if you tell a rover to move to move forward, 30 minutes later it's gonna move two feet and then it's gonna move two feet and 30 minutes later you'll get the command back that it has successfully moved two feet. So, in one hour we've done such a small movement and so having to constantly do that pass over and over and over again makes such small movements each time. And so, all of the research that we are gaining from Mars, although it's useful, it is coming in quite slowly. Whereas with humans on Mars and having a crew there, you know, a human is able to go out on the planet and say “Hey! this rock looks interesting. Hey! let's bring if you would, rock samples back. Let's run around and see what we can collect. Let's bring it back and start doing some experiments with it. So, humans are able to do, I think it's like a years’ worth of work over in just one hour on Mars. And so, having people there is really going to just expedite all of the research and science so we went to accomplish there.
Kate:
As we go into space and I think about “Who owns the Moon anyway?” Especially when we see multiple nations and now private interest actively gearing up in in some ways competing to go into outer space and it makes me think of the international space treaty which made guidelines for peaceful collaboration as we expand into space. What would you like to see included as we figure out how to best govern space exploration?
Alyssa:
Yeah, I think that as space exploration continues, it's basically just going to have to become a joint effort. I think if we want to keep, you know, especially peace in space, you know, obviously the International Space Station has worked well for so many years with so many different countries represented and so many different astronauts from all these countries have visited and contributed in some way. And I think that that same idea that has worked for us will have to continue once we start looking at going back to the moon and to Mars. And along with that, you know we're actually starting to see so many more companies building up and so many more countries building up their space programs, and you know their thoughts of going to the moon, going to Mars and that kind of thing. So I think that as all these countries start getting to that point of wanting to start going to the moon, I think the collaboration will then start to play in even more because we'll have obviously more people wanting to go to space and going further into space, so I definitely think it will have to rely on strong collaboration between the countries.
Kate:
When I give programs at the bottom of the canyon, I like to joke that I am going to be the first park ranger on Mars at that bigger canyon. But it’s really cool that you may be one of the first people to go out there and to explore these wilderness areas. Do you have a place that you care about in space that you think would be a good candidate for an international space park?
Alyssa:
Yeah, I think as we look for you know missions to Mars and also if we continue to go deeper into space, I think that there are going to be places in our solar system that we are going to want to preserve. You know, I think especially even looking back at our own planet. You know, earth now has a lot of space junk around it just from all the satellites and all the stuff and rockets so we sent up over the years, and so I think that is kind of you know a problem that was kind of learned through the space program and something that we’ll try to avoid. I think as we continue traveling in space to not create such a dense pollution of space junk. So, I think you know if we look to go to Mars, you know, that's a big thing that I think we would love to see is just having quite a good amount of less pollution around the atmosphere of some of these planets. And then also even on some of the planets, you know, like the Canyon on Mars would be obviously a really awesome thing to preserve um even you know different points in space you know that we have certain kind of measured out points in space that we think would be great to have like stationary like space stations. So always like keeping those in mind for feature ideas in future projects of what can actually come about in the space program.
Kate:
So, you have been through anti-gravity training, what does it feel like to float through outer space?
Alyssa:
Yeah, I would probably tell them to just kind of think about roller coaster rides 'cause that's probably the most similar thing that we can related it to. To be honest, it definitely is just that rollercoaster feeling of like your butt coming out the seat just a little bit but it's just that feeling extended. And it feels very weird that it is extended because you're so used to that rollercoaster feeling of, you know, you come up for just a quick second and then you go back down. But in this case, you like come up a little bit and then kind of stay up for 20 seconds and your body just like, “ Why aren’t we going down?” It's just all sort of disorienting. So, I definitely said that's the closest thing I can kind of pinpointed it too, but it is a pretty unique feeling. I would definitely say, you know, for it's an insane amount of microgravity. A lot of time in the space program, we use, you know, under water or water in general to simulate microgravity because you know like your friends weigh less in the water and that kind of thing, but it's definitely just not quite the same feeling. Because, I feel like when you're actually like on a microgravity flight you kind of have this feeling in your stomach of you actually you know everything being lifted rather than in water everything just a little bit lighter.
Kate:
Part of the International Space Treaty says that astronauts shall be “envoys for all mankind,” and that’s a big responsibility. And, it may be yours in a couple of years. People would know your name if you are one of the first people on Mars. How would you like to be an example for the kids looking up to you?
Alyssa:
Yeah, I definitely think that space, you know, it has a lot and a huge impact on everyone who's gone there. You know, astronauts are able to look back at the earth and you don't see borders, you don't see state lines, you don't see any lines, and you just see how fragile the earth really is, and I definitely think that, you know, the more people that we get to space, the more people that see that we're going to have you know a big impact on how we see each other here on earth. And so hopefully you know as future astronauts, you know, we strive to want to continue to inspire the next generation of kids we want them to continue to get interested in space and go on to pursue those space dreams. So hopefully, we inspire them, encourage them and just set great examples of wanting to encourage that collaboration of you know humans together. And then also just, you know, hopefully teaching them to go after their dreams from a young age and never giving up on them.
Kate:
How would you like to see the science involved with the journey to Mars benefit our home planet?
Alyssa:
Yeah, I think that a lot of the tasks and things that we are going to be doing on Mars is going to come back and benefit so many things here on earth. You know, a lot of the research that we're going to be doing that for us is mainly just going to be learning more about Mars, you know, the makeup of the planet, it soil, the rock, the water on Mars, signs of bacterial life, its atmosphere. So, if we look in a full, comprehensive overview of Mars and really the possibilities with that. You know when looking at Mars, we could find resources that could be useful here on earth, possibly even new resources that, you know, could help in new ways and once we find out what the potential is with Mars there's the idea of Mars machine like a second home for us to have so looking down the road's population were to continue to grow, you know, it's possible that we could have Mars as a second planet to live on which would definitely help with you know kind of managing the population and resources. And then, just kind of in the long run, Mars is going to kind of be that first step in us learning how we can go to a new planet to colonize it. Once we’ve lived there for a period of time, come back to earth or possibly even live there for a longer period of time and that's gonna come in handy once we start even further space exploration.
Kate:
As more and more astronauts share new visions from outer space, how is space changing our priorities back at home. The Pew Center of Research conducted a survey, asking them what do they want NASA to do in space today. The third thing the public wanted was to conduct basic scientific research and expand our knowledge of the universe. The second “ask” of NASA was to monitor asteroids or other objects that could potentially hit the earth. But the public has spoken, the number one thing that they want NASA to do in space is to up and monitor the earth’s climate system. It shows that the public is really concerned about climate change and how we're taking care of our planet back at home.
President John F. Kennedy:
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again.
Kevin:
But I think the scientist coming along and saying - we want to not just go there but we want to learn and make the most of that experience. To me, it gets to the core of us as humans. We are explorers. We want to learn as much as we can about places. There is the human drama of exploring. 12 people walked on the moon and 400,00 people helped them get there. Much of the rest of the world stood by dumbfounded watching, just exhilarated to see a fellow member of our species walking on another world. And so I think that spirit of human exploration that was so important to the moon missions is something we get at the Grand Canyon. They’re similar in that way. I look at the Grand Canyon and there are rocks and then you get on the rim. It still conjures up that idea of exploration. Everyone who hikes down into the Grand Canyon, especially for the first time it’s like the astronauts going to the moon, discovering a new world and trying to put their place in that world. You know, I don’t know, the first time you hike to P Pt. or hike to the rim and back. And get back on top. You look around and think about how it all happened and what it all means and what’s your place in this? And it’s a similar thing to the astronauts going to the moon.
Melissa:
Well its time for us to blast off. Hopefully, you have enjoyed listening to us here at Grand Canyon National Park. This is Ranger Melissa.
Kate:
And this is Ranger Kate.
Kate and Melissa:
This is Behind the Scenery
This episode was produced by Melissa Panter and Kate Pitts for the National Park Service. Music and Audio Engineering by Wayne Hartlerode. Special thanks to Lowell Observatory and Historian Kevin Schindler for leading the project to retrace the Apollo Astronaut photographs in Grand Canyon.
