CollectSpace reports that Mercury Icon Gunther Wendt has passed away.  He was 85.  Gunther became iconic after NASA Astronauts began quipping "I wonder where Gunther Wendt?"  Always beloved by them, Wendt was good natured about all the ribbing because of his stubborn, yet professional attitude towards safety. 

A true legend, he will be missed.

Godspeed, Guenther.

Space reporter Jim McDade joins James, Mike and Tim to geek out in this two hour special commemorating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 12 and 13.  Don't miss it!

Announcing Apollo Talks New iPhone app! Listen to all your favorite podcasts on the ApolloTalks Podcasting Network.  And you could win a copy of it free!  Just place a comment here or on iTunes.  We'll be giving one away by next Friday.

That's basically the summary of Neil Armstrong and 26 NASA legends' open letter to President Obama.—JD

The United States entered into the challenge of space exploration under President Eisenhower's first term, however, it was the Soviet Union who excelled in those early years.

Under the bold vision of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with the overwhelming approval of the American people, we rapidly closed the gap in the final third; of the 20th century, and became the world leader in space exploration.

America's space accomplishments earned the respect and admiration of the world. Science probes were unlocking the secrets of the cosmos; space technology was providing instantaneous worldwide communication; orbital sentinels were helping man understand the vagaries of nature.

Above all else, the people around the world were inspired by the human exploration of space and the expanding of man's frontier. It suggested that what had been thought to be impossible was now within reach. Students were inspired to prepare themselves to be a part of this new age.

World leadership in space was not achieved easily. In the first half-century of the space age, our country made a significant financial investment, thousands of Americans dedicated themselves to the effort, and some gave their lives to achieve the dream of a nation.

In the latter part of the first half century of the space age, Americans and their international partners focused primarily on exploiting the near frontiers of space with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

As a result of the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was concluded that our space policy required a new strategic vision. Extensive studies and analysis led to this new mandate: meet our existing commitments, return to our exploration roots, return to the moon, and prepare to venture further outward to the asteroids and to Mars.

The program was named Constellation In the ensuing years, this plan was endorsed by two Presidents of different parties and approved by both Democratic and Republican congresses.

The Columbia Accident Board had given Nasa a number of recommendations fundamental to the Constellation architecture which were duly incorporated. The Ares rocket family was patterned after the Von Braun Modular concept so essential to the success of the Saturn 1B and the Saturn 5.

A number of components in the Ares 1 rocket would become the foundation of the very large heavy lift Ares V, thus reducing the total development costs substantially. After the Ares 1 becomes operational, the only major new components necessary for the Ares V would be the larger propellant tanks to support the heavy lift requirements.

The design and the production of the flight components and infrastructure to implement this vision was well underway. Detailed planning of all the major sectors of the program had begun. Enthusiasm within Nasa and throughout the country was very high.

When President Obama recently released his budget for Nasa, he proposed a slight increase in total funding, substantial research and technology development, an extension of the International Space Station operation until 2020, long range planning for a new but undefined heavy lift rocket and significant funding for the development of commercial access to low earth orbit

Although some of these proposals have merit, the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating.

America's only path to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz – at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future – until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves.

The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned in the President's proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope.

It appears that we will have wasted our current $10-plus billion investment in Constellation and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded.

For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature.

While the President's plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.

Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.

Neil Armstrong
Commander, Apollo 11

James Lovell
Commander, Apollo 13

Eugene Cernan
Commander, Apollo 17

Chris Kraft
Johnson Space Center Past Director

Jack Lousma
Skylab 3, STS 3

Vance Brand
Apollo-Soyuz, STS-5, STS-41B, STS-35

Bob Crippen
STS-1, STS-7, STS-41C, STS-41G, Kennedy Space Center Past Director

Michael D. Griffin
Past NASA Administrator

Ed Gibson
Skylab 4

Jim Kennedy
Kennedy Space Center Past Director

Alan Bean
Apollo 12, Skylab 3

Alfred M. Worden
Apollo 15

Scott Carpenter
Mercury Astronaut

Glynn Lunney
Gemini-Apollo Flight Director

Jim McDivitt Gemini 4
Apollo 9 Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager

Gene Kranz
Gemini-Apollo Flight Director, NASA Mission Ops. Past Director

Joe Kerwin
Skylab 2

Fred Haise
Apollo 13, Shuttle Landing Tests

Gerald Carr
Skylab 4

Jake Garn
STS-51D, U.S. Senator

Charlie Duke
Apollo 16

Bruce McCandless
STS-41B, STS-31

Frank Borman
Gemini 7, Apollo 8

Paul Weitz
Skylab 2, STS-6

George Mueller
Past Associate Administrator For Manned Space Flight

Harrison Schmitt
Apollo 17, U.S. Senator

Dick Gordon
Gemini 11, Apollo 12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw

Tonight's Deep Geek as been cancelled! We just realized tonight is the BCS National Championship Game!  Sorry gang, we'll be recheding for next wk.

Slight correction to tomorrow's live podcast link - http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=57606

Join us this Thursday night for Deep Geek Live Apollo 12:
Hosts James DeRuvo, Mike Smithwick and Tim Callender will be talking about the 40th anniversary of the flight of Apollo 12.  And there may be a few surprise guests as well.

Date: Thu, January 7,... 2010
Time: 10:30 PM EST

To listen, go to TalkShoe.com by clicking on the link. 

To participate in the call, dial: (724) 444-7444 Enter: 57606 # (Call ID) Enter: 1 # or your PIN if a Talkshoe member.

Facebook user? You can join this Call directly through the TalkShoe Community Calling Facebook application.
Don't miss it!

Sad news has come that Stan Lebar, developer of the lunar TV camera has passed away.  Stan was a guest of Conversations with Apollo in 2008, and as a tribute to him, we present a rerun of one of our most interesting interviews.

You can listen to it here.

RIP, Stan.  We couldn't have seen the moon without you.

To close out 2009, our guest is Retired Navy Captain Charles Smiley, XO of Helicopter Squadron 4 , tasked with fishing astronauts from Apollo 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 out of the Pacific Ocean after Splashdown. Chuck was the pilot of the astronaut recovery helicopter  #66 for Apollo 10 and Apollo 13.