Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's Flora Lichtman and you're listening to Science Friday. Last Friday, some red and white striped parachutes opened and four Earthlings returned safely home.
A perfect bullseye splashdown for integrity and its four astronauts. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Cook and Jeremy Hansen back on Earth after a journey around the moon.
Throughout the journey, we heard the Artemis II astronauts talk about moon joy, awe, wonder. And without exception, we heard them talk about their families.
Chapter 2: What challenges do astronauts face being away from their families?
Here's Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman in remarks after the mission.
No one knows what the families went through, man. This was not easy. Being 200,000 plus miles away from home, like before you launch, it feels like it's the greatest dream on Earth. And when you're out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It's a special thing to be a human, and it's a special thing to be on planet Earth.
My next guest knows what it's like to be on the other side. Dr. Tracy Scott is the child of Apollo commander David R. Scott, who went to space three times and was the seventh person to walk on the moon. Now Tracy is a sociologist at Emory University who studies the lives and families of moonshot era astronauts.
And she's here to give us a glimpse into astronaut life from the perspective of the family members who orbit them and to weigh in on how this moonshot era compares to the first. Tracy, thank you for being here.
Thank you so much for having me, Flora.
Tracy, what has it been like for you to watch this mission? Is it like just deja vu?
In some ways it is. In many ways it's not because it was so different back in that era that I grew up in. When my dad went into space, there was no communication at all. We could hear them, but we could not talk with them. So it was a completely different landscape in terms of communication.
So when our dads went into space, what they did for the families was they put this little communication box called the squawk box in our home. that had a feed for mission control pretty much 24-7, although mission control would turn it off at night and they would turn it off if there was anything that they wanted to talk about technically.
But we could hear that in the background during the whole mission, which was just sort of like background noise. So you heard it, but you're just like, oh, yeah, that's the squawk box. And you sort of, as a kid, you didn't really pay attention to it because we had more fun things to do, like go outside and play with our friends.
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Chapter 3: How did Tracy Scott's childhood shape her view on space missions?
No, I don't know. You know, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't know that it translated down like that. You mean to the kids?
Yeah, just like, yeah, it was everyone sort of like, when I think of astronauts, they're so capable, right? Like they're MacGyvers and they have PhDs and they can fly planes and they can also fix a toilet, you know?
But see, it wasn't like that then, Flora. These guys were pilots first, right? And they did have to learn a lot of science. And, in fact, they had to know a lot more in terms of flying the spacecraft than anyone now because there weren't computers like there are now. But I don't think – you know, again, when it's your dad, you don't think of them that way. And I knew they worked hard.
We all did. They were gone forever. All during the week. They were only home on the weekends. So in some ways, I think a lot of the kids thought, well, they weren't thinking, oh, my dad's an overachiever. They were thinking, my dad's gone a lot, and I don't get to see him very much. Right?
It's really more a story about how children develop and about families and about how we all have a family context that shapes us.
That's what I want to talk about. I mean, were families involved with the space program? Is it like the presidency where spouses and kids have a job?
That is a great way to say it, Flora. I'm not sure that we kids had a job, but our moms did. And it was so much more than people realize. The wives had to go make speeches to different places around Houston. They would make trips to the contractors. After the missions, they went on state diplomatic trips to foreign countries. They had a whole staff and an itinerary.
I teach a class now about this. And this student said, geez, they're more like first ladies now.
Yeah, that's what it sounds like.
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Chapter 4: What was the communication landscape like for astronaut families during the Apollo era?
You've done oral histories with the spouses of some of these Apollo astronauts. I mean, how do they see themselves in terms of this era? Do they feel like they were integral and are under-recognized? Like, what's their perspective on their own role?
I don't think they see it quite like that. I see it more that way. I think they do recognize they did a lot of work. In fact, Barbara Cernan has a great quote. She was Gene Cernan's wife. He was Apollo 17 commander. And the quote that I've heard her say is, if you think going to the moon is hard, try staying home. Yeah.
It was a lot of work, and it was a lot of strain on the marriages, and they recognized that. And in fact, the divorce rate was extremely high, probably 80% or more. So it took a toll, and they absolutely saw that it took a toll. Yet at the same time, they felt like – They were contributing to something bigger than themselves.
And when I do the oral history interviews, when I ask them at the end, so, okay, tell me overall, what was that time like? One of the wives summed it up very succinctly. And she said, it was the most exciting time of my life because we were going to the moon. We. Yeah. And I thought that's exactly captures what it was like, right?
Even though she got divorced and had lots of heartache and all sorts of other stuff happening, she still looks back on that time as incredibly exciting and important and communal, right?
I love getting a window into this world. We have to take a break, but coming up, a look at today's Artemis II mission and what's changed for astronauts and their families in the last 50 years. We'll be right back.
You know, every day on Up First, NPR's Golden Globe-nominated morning news podcast, we bring you three essential stories. At the heart of each story are questions. What really happened? What really mattered? What happens next? At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and to follow the facts. Follow Up First wherever you get your podcasts and start your day knowing what matters and why.
Tracy, what's your relationship to launches?
Oh, that's an interesting question. You mean current day or since my dad was?
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Chapter 5: What unique culture existed among astronaut families in the 1960s?
We will catch you next time. I'm Flora Lichtman. On Science Friday, we talk about the science, tech, and health stories changing our world. From a pancreatic cancer vaccine, to data centers in space, to AI and art, to the real science behind cold plunges. We talk with world experts on issues listeners really care about.
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