NASA Quest Chat Archive

Web Chat with Retired Astronaut William Pogue

November 14, 2002

[ Lori/QuestChatHost - 30 - 17:07:36 ]
Welcome to today's web chat with retired astronaut Colonel William Pogue, from the Kennedy Space Center. You can read Colonel Pogue's bio at http://www.okstate.edu/apdc/WilliamPogue.html and his official NASA bio at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/pogue-wr.html.

[ Lori/QuestChatHost - 51 - 20:15:50 ]
Welcome Colonel Pogue! I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with us today :-)

[ BillPogue - 52 - 20:16:05 ]
Welcome to the Web chat.

[ BillPogue - 58 - 20:17:59 ]
RE: [unknown] Did you ever get lonely in space?
I didn't get lonely because I was so busy.

[ BillPogue - 59 - 20:18:54 ]
RE: [unknown] Do you think you'll ever go into space again? Would you like to?
No. I'm no John Glenn. But it would be fun to go up again.

[ BillPogue - 61 - 20:20:29 ]
RE: [unknown] Sarah/IL/Are you still working for NASA?
No. However, I do get calls from time to time asking about some specific aspect of Skylab. Also, I go to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston once a year for an annual physical.

[ BillPogue - 63 - 20:22:00 ]
RE: [unknown] There's a photo of you & Gerald Carr where it looks like one of you is holding the other up on his head with one finger. Which one are you -the one standing on his head, or the one doing the holding?
We did it both ways - one with me holding Jerry and another with Jerry holding me. Thus, I can't answer unless I see the picture.

[ BillPogue - 67 - 20:26:20 ]
RE: Did you ever want to come back to Earth before a mission was over?
No. We went up for 84 days and we all wanted to finish it. However, we were asked if we could extend our mission for two weeks and we weren't receptive because they waited until we were about ready to return before they asked us. If they had posed the question earlier we may have been willing.

[ BillPogue - 68 - 20:27:03 ]
RE: To my understanding, you supported the Apollo 11 mission. When you witnessed the men walking on the moon, did you relax, or instead feel pressure or tense?
I was elated and proud of the crew on the Moon.

[ BillPogue - 71 - 20:30:13 ]
RE: Colonel Pogue, The earliest astronauts were all military pilots but now we seem to have more "hard" scientists. Do you think space will open up to more types of people, such as writers, artists or poets? Ken Wade
Yes. NASA had hoped to send up a "communicator" after the teacher in space program. Nothing ever happened because of the loss of the Challenger. That selection could have included possibly a poet or an artist.

[ BillPogue - 72 - 20:34:21 ]
RE: From georges - would like to know about the shuttle trip back,is it true that when it is ready to come back you dont have any fuel at all in it and that when there is reentry into earth space no fuel is used and its all done by gliding in to earth and landing without power except the speed attained in orbit and then on ,on your on from the speed attained going around orbit then into earth space to a landing as a glider whitout at any moment using fuel power to land or whatever, thanks
Shuttle fuel is not dumped before reentry. The small 6,000 pound thrusters are used for the deorbit burn and after entry starts, 400,000 feet above the Earth, the shuttle glides through the Earth's atmosphere, braking for about 25 minutes.

[ BillPogue - 75 - 20:35:46 ]
RE: Did you feel scared when you first went to space? Please share lots of details about how you felt.
No. I had waited for 7 years to get a flight and was ready to go.

[ BillPogue - 76 - 20:36:49 ]
RE: Did you really have ice cream to eat on Skylab ?
Yes. Skylab had food freezers so it was real ice cream (all vanilla).

[ BillPogue - 81 - 20:39:27 ]
RE: What do you think the most important thing is to know about space?
All we can learn. There's still a lot unknown, say about Mars, for example. Is there water or ice below the surface and if not where did all the water go, because it must have had a lot of water at one time.

[ BillPogue - 83 - 20:41:13 ]
RE: Has there ever been an emergency on your space craft?
Not really. We lost one set of attitude thrusters on the Apollo-type Command Module just before reentry but the remaining set worked fine and the reentry was normal.

[ BillPogue - 85 - 20:42:58 ]
RE: Sarah/IL/ What was it like to live on Skylab?
It was fun. Skylab was large so we weren't crowded. We had a good toilet, good food and a lot to keep us busy. It gave us a spectacular view of the Earth.

[ BillPogue - 86 - 20:44:23 ]
RE: What thoughts or feelings were prompted by your first space mission?
I felt privileged to be able to make such a flight and see the Earth from space. The space walks were a lot of fun and we got a lot of work completed to satisfy mission objectives.

[ BillPogue - 88 - 20:47:02 ]
RE: I'm doing a project on astronauts and the ISS for school. I was wondering about the type of expermints you do in space.
The Johnson Space Center has an excellent web site where you can get this information. See http://spaceflight.nasa.gov.

[ BillPogue - 89 - 20:47:59 ]
RE: Now that you're retired, what do you think about when you look back on your experience at NASA?
I'm grateful I had the opportunity to participate in the pioneering years of space exploration. It was really an exciting time.

[ BillPogue - 91 - 20:49:44 ]
RE: What kind of materials, that you can find around the house, would be able to withstand a launch?
Anything that can withstand 3g's acceleration. The cat, dog, kitchen table, people, car, lawn mower, etc.

[ BillPogue - 95 - 20:52:25 ]
RE: Rachel/TX -- what types of things did you do in training for your missions?
Learn about the spacecraft (Shuttle) in trainers, mockups, simulators, etc. Learn how to operate the equipment such as experiments, remote manipulator system, how to do a space walk and if you're a pilot, how to fly and land the Shuttle.

[ BillPogue - 97 - 20:54:00 ]
RE: Sarah/IL/ Do you think we will ever have a hotel on the moon?
Yes. It may take several decades but we will have accommodations on the Moon for short-term visitors, as well as the dedicated crewmembers.

[ Lori/QuestChatHost - 98 - 20:55:11 ]
We are getting close to the end of our web chat with Colonel Pogue. Great questions today!! We will be having one more live webcast following the web chat at 3:15 CT / 4:15 ET / 1:15 PT. Hope you can join us for that, too.

[ BillPogue - 99 - 20:56:01 ]
RE: Diane/England - Was it as much fun as it looked to run around the lockers on Skylab ?
Yes. It was really a lot of fun. We weren't able to do this until the very end of the mission because the motion of crewmembers upset sensitive pointing instruments (caused image smear if we were taking a time exposure of a star field).

[ BillPogue - 101 - 20:57:00 ]
RE: In your opinion what is the best part about being an astronaut?
The work is very demanding but also very satisfying and most interesting.

[ BillPogue - 103 - 20:59:22 ]
RE: Courtney J. and Kayle O.from East Grand Forks, Mn When do you think man will land on Mars?
As soon as we get the money to go there. The best estimate right now is the year 2020. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer.

[ BillPogue - 102 - 20:57:50 ]
See you at 3:15 CST.

[ Lori/QuestChatHost - 105 - 21:59:50 ]
RE: i'm doing a debate in my class on whether or not pluto is a planet!.. what do you think and why?
Please see the Live from the Hubble Space Telescope project, where we researched and observed Pluto. You can start at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/hst/abt-pluto.html and be sure not to miss the link to "So what is Pluto, really?" .

[ Lori/QuestChatHost - 104 - 20:59:50 ]
We want to thank all our students out there joining us today for the great questions and a huge THANKS to Colonel Pogue for sharing his time and expertise with us!!