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you helped design how ash not to stay

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alive and comfortable while working on

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the moon science is something you test

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the experiments you get results and that

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you know modifies the way we look at the

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world where did all of this stuff come

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from how did it form what was the

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process does it happen all the time

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across the universe or are we somehow

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unique or at least unusual what does it

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all mean I'm Katie Atkinson and this is

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NASA explorers Apollo an audio series

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where we tell stories about past present

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and future lunar science lunar science

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runs in the family for the petros in

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this episode of NASA explorers Apollo

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lunar scientists Noah Petro interviews

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his father Dennis who was an engineer

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[Music]

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the moon is a really interesting place

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because we've been there there are 12

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sets of boot prints on the ground and

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you help get them there my name is Noah

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Petro and I am the project scientist for

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the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and

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lunar scientists my name is Dennis Petro

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I worked on the Apollo program as an

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engineer you talk about families that

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passed down a business from generation

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generation we're in the moon business

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petros are in the moon business and so

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that's what got passed down let's walk

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through July 20th 1969 and where were

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you and how did it feel to have had that

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experience saying I built this thing and

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it's working on the moon did you watch

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it with a different eye than anyone else

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because of your awareness of how

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dangerous the whole thing was it was an

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incredible sense of accomplishment in a

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certain way because this was something

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that's kind of hard to do when you think

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about it I had been involved in what are

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those factors that could actually cause

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them not to get to the moon and I'm

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sitting there same damn

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there they are the Sydenham Dennis was

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involved with a crucial aspect of the

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moon landing the astronaut suits he was

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involved with testing the oxygen system

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for the astronauts backpacks the initial

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designs had all been finalized but they

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were in the testing phase in my part of

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the program it was like well how much

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oxygen do you need how much of these

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other things how many BTUs or calories

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or these astronauts going to need you

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helped design how astronauts to stay

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alive and comfortable while working on

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the moon well right the object was to

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humanize it because you can do all the

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technical stuff about well they're going

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to be there for a day and a half and

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they're supposed to do this than the

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other thing but can they actually do

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that and survive

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I don't know if you remember going at

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the cradle of aviation museum in

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Bethpage

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and seeing your your portable life

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support system a made and I think the

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little story you told me at the time was

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that there are the big sheets of metal

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that held it all together and you got to

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sign a name to them is that right right

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that was a no-no because it was in a

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clean room kind of concept but if you

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went in there with a scribe you know

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stainless steel scribe you could write

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your name on something that would be

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left on the moon if you look at you know

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the picture of the backpack you'll see

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that flat surface and that was a heat

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exchanger but it was also a flat piece

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of stainless steel very amenable to

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people writing on when I look at any of

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the pictures of the Apollo landing sites

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you can see those backpacks you can see

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the twelve portable life support systems

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sitting on the surface 50 years later

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that you know someday we go back and we

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crack one of those things open there's

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going to be Dennis cosign on and I'm

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probably one of the few people that has

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that very personal connection when I see

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those those landing sites that I can

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have that personal emotional response to

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it as opposed to just a purely Wow it's

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you know great exploration site is

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there's something there that's very

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tangible to me very close to me and very

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real because I know the person who built

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I think early on you had an interest in

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curiosity about the whole universe you

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know your passion for for science and

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learning was clearly passed on to me and

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one of the things that most influenced

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me was when we would do when we go to

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the Air and Space Museum or the cradle

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of aviation and to me that opened up

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this mindset that okay exploration of

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space exploration of the Moon most

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importantly is a real thing not just yes

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that it happened but that there were

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people behind it and that you were

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behind it you and I would take road

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trips and a lot through the the u.s.

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Southwest and it's no mystery why

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particularly Apollo astronauts trained

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in the desert Southwest because it's a

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barren landscape much like the moon but

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the geology is really awesome and and

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and it's a great place to fall in love

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with studying the earth or studying

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planets is seeing it laid out in front

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of you these environments are telling us

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something about how the planet works and

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and that connection between something

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real tangible touching a rock on the

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earth or sending people to the moon and

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doing the same exact thing was very

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impactful and got me here today

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[Music]

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Noah has a Grail really I think a real

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concrete awareness about the reality of

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science science is something you test

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you do the experiments you get results

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and that you know modifies the way we

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look at the world for me I'm very proud

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of him

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as far as carrying the flag and then

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when you look at the Apollo program and

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look what they did you know we sent 12

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of the most highly programmed computers

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humans to the moon they all tremendously

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successful and you know within four

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years we had gone from never having sent

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humans the moon to having people living

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on the moon for three days driving

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around and doing real hardcore field

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geology but it took engineering to make

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it happen I hope that people when they

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look at Apollo and they look at the

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films the movies the pictures it's not

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just ok there's Buzz Aldrin standing on

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the surface of the Moon oh my goodness

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that's impressive but there's also

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400,000 people behind the scenes who

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made that moment happen and that's

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important

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[Music]

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fifty years after the historic moon

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landing Noah is continuing his father's

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legacy contributing to the lunar science

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they both love the petrol family's

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connection to the moon is just one

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example of the huge impact that the

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we asked you to help NASA tell the story

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of Apollo hundreds of people answered

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from all over the world here's what

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Jenny from Kentucky remembers hi NASA

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it's me

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Ginny you know fifty years later I got

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in such trouble after the moon landing

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so here's what happened the morning

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after my brothers Bucky and Monty and my

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next-door neighbor Melissa and our

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friend Reedy and I decided to celebrate

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with a lemonade stand we used up all of

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my grandmother's aluminum foil to make

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space helmets and then we made

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eliminating kool-aid using all of the

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grandmother's sugar and we set up our

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stand on the side of the road and we we

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called it homemade moon made lemonade in

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kool-aid and we thought we were just the

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best in the smartest kids on the whole

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planet Earth until my grandmother got

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home my goodness she was not happy we

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had used all of her precious aluminum

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and Oliver precious sugar and goodness

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knows how many lemons and you know those

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little packets of kool-aid that were

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just stashed for special occasions I

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don't reckon I sat down for a week I

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love this memory of the moon landing so

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much and every year when this comes up I

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think of it as that homemade mermaid

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lemonade and kool-aid and just a Cheers

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all of my little friends who helped me

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make it happen so happy 50th NASA love

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thanks Jenny for sharing that story with

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us what do you remember about the moon

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landing or what space exploration do you

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hope to see in your lifetime we want to

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hear your Apollo story visit nasa.gov

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slash Apollo stories to learn more

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there's still so many questions locked

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up in these rocks sex I in times just to

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be study in them so we have a big window

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a big gap in our understanding of the

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early Earth and the moon preserves that

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history where did all of this stuff come

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from how did it form what was the

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process does it happen all the time

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across the universe or are we somehow

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unique or at least unusual what does it