To the Moon: Pete Conrad

This interview with Gemini 5, Gemini 11, Apollo 12, and Skylab 2 astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was conducted for the 1999 PBS Nova documentary "To the Moon". Sadly, Pete died shortly afterwards following a motorcycle accident on July 8, 1999.
The unedited footage is available from:
americanarchive.org/catalog/c...

[@jonathanrichter4256]

Too bad Americans don't know Pete Conrad more. He was a legend of the program.

[@Chatta-Ortega]

I remember Pete. A true blue legend.

[@thomaswinkler7809]

Great American and pilot. Gone too soon. RIP Pete

[@jshepard152]

This is the only substantial Pete Conrad interview I've ever seen. People would come up to Pete after the moon landing and ask him what it was like to walk on the moon. He was famous for his stock answer. "Super! Really enjoyed it."

[@michealkale6092]

One of my favorite astronauts. So quick and sharp. A completely no nonsense kind of guy, while also being cool and colorful!

[@andrewswatland4622]

Pete was both a brilliant pilot, cool under pressure, and very articulate. A great man.

[@n5zxz]

His book ROCKET MAN is a very inspiring read as he battles and overcomes learning disabilities. He was very self driven and determined to succeed. You get the feeling that you are right in the cockpit with him on a flight the way the book is written. I highly suggest this book.

[@andresteeg]

All very true. And he was a great team builder and motivator. Outstanding personality.

[@danshearer7627]

Spent many hours in space. Test pilot - Gemini and Apollo astronaut - died in a motorcycle accident. He did what he wanted. RIP Pete.

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

A superb individual. One of the very greatest.

[@onyourmarkphoto]

Mr. Conrad is so articulate. I wish I could have met this man. Every Apollo astronaut has such a story. They probably got tired of answering the same questions over and over but every former space traveler seems to be patient and willing to cooperate. RIP Pete.

[@arnouteverts9497]

Great interview with an impressive person. RIP Pete Conrad

[@nilesoien4439]

That sly grin around 24:20 - you just know he must have been a riot to work with!

[@apollo11guy]

I worked with Conrad on Gemini 11 during spacecraft testing in St. Louis; a very cool guy.

[@jongraham7362]

Very sad that he passed away before he had more of an impact on future space exploration.

[@ic08jy700]

What a great guy without the boy scout frills. Good old Pete, great pilot and astronaut who played his own game. A genuinely funny guy sadly died early, RIP Pete.

[@crewsgiles9499]

Best explanation of the electrical issues after the lightning strike I have come across. He's always been a favorite. For one thing, as is typical of very bright people, he has has a sense of humor-- and it comes out often. It is a shame the surface activity did not get filmed on 12, because it (as the audio indicates) was the first to let us know that the astronauts were not just professional and awesomely competent, but sometimes playful and joyful. That was a great crew. 11 was almost somber by comparison to all the following missions. Love the memorial grove story about Conrad's tree, alone, having colored lights. It fits.

[@Nghilifa]

The crew of Apollo 12 were close friends before they joined the space program. I think Conrad and Gordon attended the same (Naval) Test-Pilot School class, and one of them was Al Beans instructor at the same school at a later point.

[@Esteb86]

Scott Manley has a great, in-depth video about the whole apollo 12 SCE to aux situation. He goes over how the electrical system was designed.

[@neilarmstrongsson795]

Is this the crew with the rover who were go karting, playing golf etc I always found their acting to be slightly over the top.

[@PFNel]

@@neilarmstrongsson795 No. Alan Shepard (Apollo 14) played the golf shot with a makeshift club. A moon buggy was included on Apollo 15, 16, and 17, but not before.

[@andrewfarrow4699]

Awesome guy. Gemini, Moonwalk, Skylab.

[@johnbarroll1120]

Philadelphia born and a perfect gentleman.

[@Tramseskumbanan]

Rest in peace, Pete! Thank you for all that you’ve done!

[@triggerfish999]

What an interesting interview. Im sure he would have nailed the 11 landing if he'd been in command.

[@danschneider9921]

One of the smartest wild men ever,,,

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

GodSpeed Pete, you were so damn good, you didn't need to take life entirely seriously.

[@pedrodiaz5540]

Really like this interview, Conrad have a lot stories to tell, gone to soon. God speed Capt. Charles "Pete" Conrad

[@jameshoran8]

While Neil and Buzz made it appear difficult on Apollo 11, Pete and Bean made 12 a walk in the park.

[@PifflePrattle]

Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay made summiting Everest appear to be quite the achievement. Last year more than 600 people repeated their feat. Among the multitude to reach the summit over the years was Arunima Sinha an Indian woman with one leg. Messrs Armstrong and Aldrin along with the entire team back on Earth were doing it for the first time. Their task was made easier due to the missions before them, all the way back to project Mercury. Indeed without Von Braun and his V2, there would have been no moon landing. Certainly not before 1970. Maybe we should thank the slaves who died building his rocket. And perhaps a nod to those occupants of London who were unfortunate enough to be at the 'hard landing' point of those V2's. As for Bean, his main achievement from the perspective to those of us on Earth excitedly tuning in to watch the second moon walk, was to point the camera at the sun burning it out and depriving us all of our front row view. That was smart.

[@melaniejensen2485]

Very interesting. Thanks

[@rimbertrickenbacker1950]

What hero Pete was.

[@pedrodiaz5540]

If you can’t be good, be colorful !

[@petermcgill1315]

And according to Mike Collins he was ‘good and colourful!’ Should have played Pete Conrad in a Pete Conrad movie.

[@jimsteele4017]

Pete Conrad was a superb astronaut, there was no one better.

[@jimsteele4017]

@28:40 What really ended the Apollo Program was that Pete Conrad made landing on the moon look like it was easy. Apollo 12 is my favorite crew...three best friends who shared the adventure of lunar flight together. I recall watching the launch on TV but I don't remember the lightning strike, I was only 6. I was very sad when I heard Pete died...likewise for his crewmate Alan Bean.

[@JOHNTHE8TH1]

The interviewer didn’t know what the surveyor was! Apollo 12 hit the bullseye by landing within walking distance!

[@paulnelson5314]

Charles “Pete” Conrad was as cool as the other side of the pillow

[@sgtgiggles]

“I was supposed to pull the plug and say goodbye” 😂😂😂

[@17837]

While I'm grateful that these oral histories have been recorded for so many of the astros, the interviewer and overall production scheme was just deplorable; as tho some high school kid tried to slap something together without much thought or preparation given to historical import of the project.

[@adamgenard3188]

I definitely agree about the interviewer, although I find it quite ironic that "To the Moon" is ultimately one of my favorite documentary overviews of the early space program. That's probably why so little of this interview ended up in the final product.

[@thehaughtcorner]

Obnoxious interviewer. Trying to be a wise-ass with an edge. This is Pete Conrad, for God's sake. Treat him with the respect he deserves. RIP.

[@davidhackleman8929]

And I could do without all the clapperboard business etc. Would be easy to edit out. But good interview nonetheless.

[@davidbradshaw3107]

One of my favorites. Salty and smart as all holey.

[@rekunta]

_”…we had it made in the shade…”_ 😂

[@keithharris1672]

Bad dude, he was more his own kinda man, extremely intelligent about aviation and spacecraft systems he had fun. Wanted to take Gemini 11 to the moon. They were the most fun Apollo 12.

[@pinkasteriodea3480]

Pete really did predict the rise of the private sector in space

[@theonlymadmac4771]

I feel a special connection to Pete, as I was also nearly killed riding my Harley. I was just more 🍀 😢

[@ClausB252]

Conrad was involved with DC-X which demonstrated booster landings 22 years before SpaceX did.

[@THE-michaelmyers]

Had the LM been finished and tested on time most likely the original plans on Apollo would have been completed as planned. When NASA switched Apollo's 8 and 9 because the LM was not ready they also switched Apollo's 11 and 12 because Deke did not want to lose Conrad's experience as McDivitt's backup on the LM. This man came very close to being the first man!

[@KevinWRay]

Fantastic what an adventure it would have been!

[@Slugg-O]

This video was made on 11/5/98. I followed these guys since I was 6 years old and consider them heroes, and not just because they flew rockets. It's because they were fearless and had balls of solid iron. Note Pete's response at 17:08 about aborting. It wasn't even a thought.

[@snowboredsnj]

SCE to Aux

[@johnbeeson8225]

NASA Spacecraft Ops softball team (the Grinches) played a game vs the Apollo 12 astronauts and we won! Pete had to pay me a $1.00. My son and wife also played. Wife was pregnant and son (Bruce) ran for her. Bruce made it to home plate. Great day and Great people on both teams!!! Miss those days!

[@apollo11guy]

Gus was involved in the Gemini design, not Mercury.

[@lorneh6232]

It’s too bad the interviewer doesn’t seem to know much or has read much about the subject matter.

[@michaelmcgovern8110]

"To the Moon" AND BACK.

[@j.h.1328]

The person who did not pay off was an italian journalist , i think the reason for this was that Pete and her had a bad argument (not about the bet) and she went off and was never seen again. It is said that the Apollo 12 Crew was also personally very close , perhaps friends which was not the case with other crews.

[@BoogsMcNoogs]

They were, Pete and Dick Gordon were particularly close, I think all the way back to their academy days.

[@dskyyksd]

@@BoogsMcNoogs Pete went to Princeton and Dick went to the University of Washington. Their friendship with each other and with Al Bean was forged at Pax River.

[@jess2690]

Brillant man gone far too soon.

[@SWalker71]

Pete was taught to fly a plane by a woman when he was a teenager. After his first solo he was excited and ran to give her a hug/kiss and her girlfriend sitting next to her got angry.

[@michelles9897]

wow I like him. this is cool.

[@Mattycp007]

Borman and Lovell actually took their suits off down to their underwear

[@dahawk8574]

17:04 - Here's the way I would have wanted to hear this question asked: "When all hell broke loose and you're making the decision on whether to twist the T-handle to ABORT, did you have any thoughts about Wally? Or anyone else?" Schirra was cool as a cucumber in his Gemini 6 launch attempt, with his decision to not abort being what saved the mission.

[@tompain9735]

Proud a Philly boy got to speak hoagiemouf on the Moon.

[@FIREBRAND38]

11:00 Gus Grissom didn't design the Mercury capsule nor was it Germans as portrayed in the movie _The Right Stuff._ It was primarily designed by a McDonnel Aircraft Corporation engineer named Maxime Faget. Gus Grissom did have a great deal of input into the design of the Gemini space capsule to the point it was nicknamed The Gusmobile. .

[@ArmstrongSpace]

And actually, Max Faget was not a McDonnell engineer but a NASA engineer with STG at Langley. One of the primary engineers at McDonnell involved with Gemini was Jim Chamberlin, a Canadian who had come over to the US after the Avro Arrow project was cancelled

[@jshepard152]

@@ArmstrongSpace Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio is a great visit. Recommended.

[@petermcgill1315]

@@ArmstrongSpace all well told in Apollo:Race to the Moon. Best book on Apollo without hardly mentioning an astronaut.

[@Ronilac]

Read the sources not the books

[@FIREBRAND38]

@@ArmstrongSpace Thanks for correcting that. And actually, Faget was an engineer with _NACA_ since NASA didn't exist when he and his working group were designing the Man-In_Space-Soonest concept. It's actually a gross oversimplification to say that he or any one man designed the Mercury capsule. The aerodynamics and an ablating heat shield, the molded couch and escape tower are all him but it's not like he sat down and drew every single blueprint to build the thing. There were a number of companies bidding to actually construct the Mercury capsule to the NACA specifications. The main point is, Gus Grissom didn't design it.

[@Ronilac]

interviewer was not prepared and didn't understand the subject... what a pity, what a lost chace... why such an ignorance... Bet (about words said on the Moon) was made with Oriana Fallaci.

[@jmf5246]

Pete was right. Spacex

[@MrDoneboy]

Gus had a lot to do with the design of the Gemini spacecraft, not the Mercury!

[@jameshoran8]

Frank Borman said all the Moon fights after Apollo 11 (#12, #14, #15, #16 and #17) were just made to collect rocks.

[@Brammy007a]

They did a lot more than just collect rocks. Seismometers among other experiments.

[@vaultsuit]

Frank Borman just wanted to beat the Soviets, he didn't care about science

[@wcottee]

But the point (at least on 15, 16 and 17) is WHERE they collected the rocks. #15 discovered the so-called "Genesis" rock.

[@neilarmstrongsson795]

Weird that no one gets access to see these rocks.

[@Brammy007a]

@@neilarmstrongsson795 HUH??? They were shared all over the world. Two hundred and seventy were given to nations of the world and 100 to the 50 US states. But 184 of these are lost, stolen or unaccounted for - 160 around the world and 24 in the US. The rocks were distributed to countries ranging from Afghanistan to Trinidad and Tobago.

[@agena6594]

10:27 LoL 🕶

[@DrTWG]

Erm ! Deke wanted Gemini experience for his Apollo commanders . Fine but the 3rd commander to land didn't even have a single earth-orbit under his belt - José had just 15 mins of ballistic flight ! But it was OK , the other 2 were highly experienced ! Not !! Absolute rookies were Mitchell & Roosa . It seems amazing to me - especially as this followed Apollo 13 - which was the actual mission they were slated (Slaytoned !) for originally and deferred for want of more training ! I don't know why Webb let that one pass. Pete Conrad flew many dangerous machines with alacrity , perspicacity & great technical skill . Undone by a bloody motorbike .

[@JeffSunnyside]

DrTWG, you make a good point about the inexperienced crew of the third lunar landing. I don't know why you call Alan Shepard "Jose" but my point is, he not only waited years for this chance, he at this time had influence within NASA to command a mission to the moon. Maybe they wanted a Mercury astronaut to go, and maybe he felt comfortable with the other two that went with him. Of course all of the Apollo astronauts and people that worked on the program deserve respect and gratitude. Pete Conrad will always be honored for his skill, intelligence and down right coolness. Thank you for your perspective, it certainly provokes some thought.

[@THE-michaelmyers]

I agree with you 100%. Here's the point that needs to be understood. I am 100% positive at liftoff the crew of Apollo 14 was fit to fly that mission, as they did. The problem is according to established rules Alan Shepard was not qualified to command it. It is the bending of those rules that was not right. The "Jose" line relates to Jose Jimenez persona played by comedian Bill Dana. Even Deke Slayton called him Jose.

[@DrTWG]

@@THE-michaelmyers Exactly right . Imho Shepard was a capricious martinet who could make astronaut's lives a misery when he headed up the Astronaut Office . He was also rather derisive about the science on Apollo and the geologists didn't like his attitude . Whereas astronauts like Frank Borman had a strong sense of duty , honour and country , Shepard had a strong sense of Shepard. Slayton set the rules than abandoned them so his pal could get a seat - and of course he wasn't going to settle for anything other than command . Gordo Cooper even wrote that you had to watch your back when Al was around . I don't think he should have been on 14 , let alone command it as an essentially all-rookie crew.

[@THE-michaelmyers]

@@DrTWG Shepard if not the worse "hound dog" of the 7 was tied for it with Cooper. It was an open secret that some still talk about here in Hampton Roads where Langley AFB is located. People think it was just at the "cape", NOPE it was everywhere he went. His wife knew about it and just looked the other way. I still think most of the bad karma that beset Shepard (Meniere's disease) followed by 2 VERY serious situations that developed on Apollo 14 that could have stopped the landings was because of these actions. The docking mechanism failed and later what might have been a solder ball shorted out the abort button on the LM. I also had the pleasure of meeting some Naval Aviators who knew him in the 1950s. I can't print their comments about him here. So NO!!!! I am not a fan!

[@meisner6895]

Would have liked to watch; bet would be an interesting subject. Amazing to me that an astronaut, apparently, can be "interviewed" by any armature, unprepared, no film school required for KZbin blog makers.

[@fpftraining]

Pete died in July of 1999.

[@eusebiollupi4629]

BUT THEY HAVEN’T BEEN TO THE MOON