It may be a big risk scheduling that 8 a.m. class next semester, but risk took a different meaning for Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders. The astronaut spoke to participants of “Risk and Exploration: Earth as a Classroom,” a conference hosted by the University from Sunday until Tuesday. He addressed how the Apollo missions balanced “risk versus rewards.” Anders was one of 14 men NASA chose from thousands of applicants in 1963 to serve on the astronaut corps. When Anders was selected as a crewmember for Apollo 8, risk became a deciding factor in his life. Apollo 8 was the first NASA mission to leave Earth’s orbit and travel to the moon. Despite having five children at home, Anders and his wife decided it was a “risk worth taking” because of the significance of the trip for the country. While introducing Anders, Chancellor Sean O’Keefe pointed out “the logic in conducting the conference at LSU.” The spacecraft Anders traveled on was partly designed by University alumnus Max Faget. After Faget graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1943, he made major contributions to NASA as the chief designer of the Mercury spacecraft, the precursor to the Apollo missions. Faget eventually returned to the University as a visiting professor teaching graduate courses. O’Keefe praised those early NASA missions, especially considering “mission control had the computing capacity [of] a laptop today.” Anders then illustrated the backdrop of the Apollo missions. The space missions took place during the Cold War while people were “digging bomb shelters in their backyards,” he said. “Beat the commies” in the Space Race was the prominent public focus, Anders said. Anders attributes President John F. Kennedy’s creation of NASA to this attitude. “Even though it was mainly a race to beat the Russians, they stuck some science into it,” Anders said. Among the political chaos, Anders decided to apply for NASA. “[It was a] chance to serve my country. And deep inside I had an interest in exploration,” Anders said.
—-Contact Ellen Fargason at [email protected]