To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo, a new podcast makes it's way to the Apollo Talks network. It's called The Deep Geek.  Where we delve deep into each mission as only Apollo Geeks can.

Episode 2 (I haven't edited 1 yet) covers the epic Christmas voyage of Apollo 8.  Guests include Mike Dinn (dir. Honeysuckle Creek), Colin Mackellar, Tim Callendar, and Mike Smithwick (Distant Suns).

In our first conversation with one who's been there, we talk to Dr. Edgar Mitchell about Frau Mauro, new science, and the kind of out of the box  thinking that will lead us back to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Just finished with interviewing Dr. Edgar Mitchell, LMP on Apollo 14 about his Apollo journey and life after.  We talk about the Frau Mauro Highlands, why looking at the world from outside it changes your perception, and how thinking outside the box can save it.

No, we didn't talk about that other thing.  But it's a good interview.  Should be up later today or tomorrow.

According to CollectSpace, Astronaut John Bull died on August 14th. He was 73.

Selected in 1966 with NASA's fifth group of astronauts, Bull's class of 19 trainees, dubbed the "Original 19", also included future moonwalkers Charles Duke, James Irwin and Edgar Mitchell.

Training for an assignment as a lunar module pilot, Bull was named with Irwin in early 1967 to the crew of LTA-8, a thermal vacuum test of the moon lander. Citing sinus problems however, Bull was replaced by his backup prior to the test starting at the Space Enviroment Simulation Laboratory in Houston, Texas.

Together with Thomas Mattingly and Gerald Carr, Bull was then named on November 20, 1967 to the support crew for the second Apollo manned flight of the Saturn V, to assist prime and backup crew members — including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins — as they trained.

Ultimately, that mission with its crew of Jim Lovell, Frank Borman and Bill Anders would launch in December 1968 as Apollo 8, becoming the first manned flight to orbit the Moon.

Bull would leave the astronaut corps before then however, never flying in space himself. Diagnosed with a rare pulmonary disease, he was forced to resign in July 1968.

Bull is survived by his wife, Nancy, and their two children Scott and Whitney.

Still yet another reason to get these stories told.  So, if you know anyone who wants to tell their story of their work on Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, or even Skylab, please drop us a line at apollotalks at gmail dot com.

MIT Professor David A. Mindell joins us to talk about the Apollo Guidance Computer and his cool book DIGITAL APOLLO. Get it at Amazon here - http://tinyurl.com/apollobkclub3

NBC New space reporter Jay Barbree is my guest. He's the only reporter to have covered every manned flight in US History. It's a goodie.

In this episode of our companion series, we interview David Woods about his book.

We're back!  This episode, we talk to Ron Creel about the development and performance of the Lunar Rover.

Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, former director of science at the Marshall Space Flight Center has died at the tender age of 94.

Dr. Stuhlinger was one of the original German rocket scientists that came to the United States with Von Braun and served as Braunie's chief scientist in developing the Saturn V.

In the 1950s, he conceived what would eventually become the Hubble Space Telescope ...

If we're building space exploration on "the shoulders of giants," Dr.Ernst Stuhlinger would be one of them.


New episode of Conversations with Apollo coming this week. Stay tuned.

How does someone with no depth perception end up developing the Apollo Lunar TV cameras?  Stan Lebar is our guest.

NASA Watch reports that lunar receiving scientist Gordon McCay has passed away.  McCay began his career as a PhD student in the Lunar Receiving Lab studying lunar samples returned to earth by Apollo.

It didn't go to the moon, but Skylab can easily be considered Apollo's victory lap.  Tom Hancock is my guest talking about Save Skylab, the lessons Apollo is teaching us about Ares, and the thirty plus year side-trip that was the Space Shuttle.

NASAWATCH reports that veteran NASA pilot Arda J. 'AJ' Roy has died.  Arda acted as capcom on the tracking ship Rose Knot and at the NASA Australia tracking station for the early test flights of the Apollo/Saturn (AS202 and 203).

We lose more every year, so if you know anyone, ANYONE who has worked on the program, put them in touch with us at Conversations with Apollo so we can get their story online.