WEBVTT 00:00:00.431 --> 00:00:03.970 align:middle line:84% [MUSIC] 00:00:03.970 --> 00:00:08.141 align:middle line:90% Ten, nine, eight, seven, ignition sequence, 00:00:08.141 --> 00:00:11.154 align:middle line:84% started, all engines are started. 00:00:11.154 --> 00:00:13.672 align:middle line:84% We have ignition, two, one, zero, 00:00:13.672 --> 00:00:18.183 align:middle line:90% we have a liftoff, we have a liftoff and it's lighting up the area. 00:00:18.183 --> 00:00:20.989 align:middle line:90% [NOISE] It feels like daylight here in Kennedy station. 00:00:20.989 --> 00:00:25.593 align:middle line:90% >> I don't remember much, although I do remember being a small child and 00:00:25.593 --> 00:00:30.275 align:middle line:90% my parents getting us up and taking us down to watch the launch on TV, and 00:00:30.275 --> 00:00:33.456 align:middle line:90% I just remember the excitement of the moment. 00:00:33.456 --> 00:00:36.083 align:middle line:84% >> [MUSIC] 00:00:36.083 --> 00:00:40.676 align:middle line:84% >> [MUSIC] 00:00:40.676 --> 00:00:44.160 align:middle line:90% >> Looking back, I hadn't ever considered being a scientist. 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:48.682 align:middle line:90% I didn't have any experience with scientists or really even engineers. 00:00:48.682 --> 00:00:51.938 align:middle line:90% When I went to college, I was in an honors program and 00:00:51.938 --> 00:00:57.708 align:middle line:90% they required us to take courses in science, social science, etc. 00:00:57.708 --> 00:01:02.026 align:middle line:90% And there was a course in high-energy physics that was offered and 00:01:02.026 --> 00:01:05.300 align:middle line:90% I took that, and that totally changed my life. 00:01:05.300 --> 00:01:09.521 align:middle line:90% Just the logic behind it and the thought process behind how to 00:01:09.521 --> 00:01:14.075 align:middle line:90% understand how the universe was created and what things were made 00:01:14.075 --> 00:01:18.992 align:middle line:90% of have really influenced me deeply and changed the course of my life. 00:01:18.992 --> 00:01:23.864 align:middle line:90% So the sample that we are going be looking at was part of the material 00:01:23.864 --> 00:01:26.481 align:middle line:84% collected by the Apollo 17 team. 00:01:26.481 --> 00:01:31.057 align:middle line:90% >> Okay, Bob, I guess I'm going to go pound away, and 00:01:31.057 --> 00:01:34.400 align:middle line:84% Jack, I'm gonna hit the perimeter. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:35.768 align:middle line:84% >> Okay. 00:01:35.768 --> 00:01:37.336 align:middle line:90% >> Okay Bob, the lower can is sealed, and I guess nobody knows what's in it but me. 00:01:37.336 --> 00:01:39.200 align:middle line:84% >> And no one ever will probably. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:46.656 align:middle line:84% >> And I may not...I may not even tell. 00:01:46.656 --> 00:01:49.456 align:middle line:90% >> UVA does a lot of different types of lunar research. 00:01:49.456 --> 00:01:51.359 align:middle line:84% In my particular group, 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:56.804 align:middle line:90% we've been interested in looking at the very surface of lunar grains. 00:01:56.804 --> 00:02:00.860 align:middle line:90% There's a lot of reasons why we might choose to look at the material now. 00:02:00.860 --> 00:02:05.139 align:middle line:90% One of them is that, we have all kinds of new instrumentation, 00:02:05.139 --> 00:02:09.198 align:middle line:90% we can do measurements now that we couldn't do at the time. 00:02:09.198 --> 00:02:12.795 align:middle line:90% So the instrument that we're going use to analyze the lunar material here 00:02:12.795 --> 00:02:16.751 align:middle line:90% at the University of Virginia is called an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. 00:02:16.751 --> 00:02:21.400 align:middle line:90% And this particular instrument is state of the art. 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:26.362 align:middle line:90% It's an imaging instrument so we can look at very, very fine particles, 00:02:26.362 --> 00:02:29.653 align:middle line:90% very fine details on the surface of our samples. 00:02:29.653 --> 00:02:32.899 align:middle line:90% The particular interest of my team, as well as myself, 00:02:32.899 --> 00:02:36.570 align:middle line:90% is looking at the volatiles on the surface of the lunar grains. 00:02:36.570 --> 00:02:40.356 align:middle line:90% And so the volatiles are all kinds of things that are important actually in 00:02:40.356 --> 00:02:41.587 align:middle line:84% the formation of life. 00:02:41.587 --> 00:02:46.700 align:middle line:90% Our grant with NASA is to study this material for about two years. 00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:51.330 align:middle line:90% Space sciences is of course, one of the most fundamental things you can do, 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:53.980 align:middle line:90% a science that tells us something about our universe. 00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:58.070 align:middle line:90% It tells us how we came into being, it tells us how our planet was formed, 00:02:58.070 --> 00:02:59.430 align:middle line:84% how other planets were formed. 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:03.160 align:middle line:90% I think probably the holy grail for everyone... 00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:07.970 align:middle line:90% Maybe two things, one would be water and then the other thing is, of course, 00:03:07.970 --> 00:03:10.635 align:middle line:84% looking for evidence of life, but I mean, 00:03:10.635 --> 00:03:15.243 align:middle line:90% I'm not expecting to find a Martian, [LAUGH] at some point in the surface. 00:03:15.243 --> 00:03:19.421 align:middle line:90% [LAUGH] >> This is Gene and I'm on the surface and 00:03:19.421 --> 00:03:23.917 align:middle line:90% as I take these last steps from the surface back home for 00:03:23.917 --> 00:03:29.116 align:middle line:90% some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future... 00:03:29.116 --> 00:03:34.660 align:middle line:90% I'd like to just let what I believe history 00:03:34.660 --> 00:03:40.050 align:middle line:90% will record, that America's challenge of today, 00:03:40.050 --> 00:03:45.290 align:middle line:84% has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. 00:03:45.290 --> 00:03:50.353 align:middle line:90% And as we leave the moon at Taurus-Littrow, 00:03:50.353 --> 00:03:56.681 align:middle line:90% we leave as we came and God willing, as we shall return, 00:03:56.681 --> 00:04:01.055 align:middle line:84% with peace and hope for all mankind. 00:04:01.055 --> 00:04:04.144 align:middle line:84% Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17. 00:04:04.144 --> 00:04:09.372 align:middle line:90% >> And the material that they brought back is really a national treasure. 00:04:09.372 --> 00:04:12.206 align:middle line:84% It tells us so much about the moon, but 00:04:12.206 --> 00:04:16.744 align:middle line:90% it also tells us about ourselves and what we can accomplish. 00:04:16.744 --> 00:04:19.938 align:middle line:84% >> Three, two, one, ignition. 00:04:19.938 --> 00:04:24.938 align:middle line:84% >> We're on our way Houston.