Episode 35: 22nd July 2010: Dr Edgar Mitchell – Apollo 14

A man playing golf on the moon is one of the images permanently
etched into the collective memory of humanity's first exploration
of the moon. The so called “golf player” was Alan Shepard the guy
with him was Dr Edgar Mitchell whilst Stuart Roosa orbited the moon
in the command module. Today, Ed Mitchell, two months away from his
80th birthday is the only remaining member of the Apollo 14 crew.
On a recent visit to Pontefract, organised once again by Ken
Willoughby, he describes his personal journey to the moon. Amongst
other things he highlights his javelin throw which, by a narrow
margin, beat the golf ball, as a picture in his presentation
illustrates. He spent nine hours on the surface of the moon during
two EVAs on February 5th and 6th 1971. Apollo 14 was his only space
flight and he left NASA in the following year. Ed Mitchell is
perhaps best known for his epiphany moment on the return journey to
Earth when he experienced a unique spiritual sensation which has
dominated his professional and personal life ever since. To help
understand it, he left NASA and establish the Institute of Noetic
Sciences. Over the last few years he has frequently spoken publicly
about his interest in the paranormal, ESP and UFOs. He asserts that
the Roswell incident was real, aliens have landed on the Earth and
the US military is responsible for a cover-up. It is strange that
someone (a navy pilot and an Apollo astronaut) with a professional
life dominated by leading edge science and technology can hold such
an unscientific position. He appears oblivious to the contradiction
in referring to himself as an astrophysicist and yet accepting Fred
Hoyle's Steady State explanation of cosmology, for which there is
little evidence, over the Big Bang. I wonder how he explains
Hubble's law and the expansion of space, Cosmic microwave
background radiation and the relative abundance of primordial
elements. I really should have asked him. I did not in part out of
deference. Despite his age and unusual views, he remains a member
of a unique group of individuals with a special contribution to
human history. Who knows, he may well turn out to be right. In the
meantime, the main road of science, directed by the sign posts
of  observational evidence, is probably still the  best
path to a more accurate understanding of the cosmos. Dr Mitchell
was kind enough to share his power point slides which I have
incorporated into the hour long video presentation. Links to that
presentation and a video version of this episode below.
==================================== An increasingly familiar quote
from someone else who made a huge contribution to how we should go
about understanding the cosmos. Carl Sagan. “I believe that the
extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require
extraordinary evidence” . Episode 35 - Video (10 minutes) Dr Edgar
Mitchell 2nd July 2010 from AstrotalkUK on Vimeo.