Lifetime member #2 of the National Space Society and author of Pioneer’s Guide to the Moon, Peter Kokh is the founder of Moon Miners’ Manifesto and served as editor for its first 301 issues.

We asked Peter a few questions about the Apollo Program.

MMM: What are your thoughts on this anniversary of Apollo 11 landing?

PK: It is a crime for Congress to have killed 3 additional Apollo missions to more interesting parts of the Moon.

NASA might have cut its budget by getting equipment for extended missions donated by companies involved at no cost, but for the publicity.

MMM: What did the Apollo program get right?

PK: Separating the lander into two sections, the bottom part remaining on the Moon.

MMM: What did the Apollo program almost get right?

PK: The design of the Apollo lander

MMM: What did it get terribly wrong? PK: Not providing pop up awnings to keep the lander in the shade. Not designing the cabin so that crew members could sleep stretched out instead of curled up.

MMM: What are the biggest lessons of Apollo for upcoming efforts?

PK: Plan extended stays if all is going well after the advertised stay, providing that food and other supplies are sufficient. Design the cabin for more comfortable sleeping.

MMM: What could have been done for a better followup to Apollo?

PK: The lander could have wheels to move to more interesting places once it had safely landed. (if there were more interesting places nearby. Taking pictures of the lander and a crew member from nearby high ground.

MMM: What could have been a better buildup for Apollo 11 that could have better motivated the general public at the time?

PK: Well, I think it would have been a mistake to broadcast all the things that “might go wrong.”
We could have given a look at the possibilities of a permanent outpost on the Moon, but given Congress’ indifference, that might have backfired. NASA did give Congress and the people a preview of future missions in the planning stages.

Could we have convinced NASA to choose one of each 3 person Apollo crew to be someone picked blind from a pile of interested healthy and talented volunteers to go through the training exercises?

MMM: Same question, but for the general public of today — how can we motivate them on a lunar return?

PK: Describe more visually interesting locations, such as a collapsed entry into a lava tube or a hole in a lava tube ceiling created by an asteroid hit right on target, with equipment to take astronauts down into it to look around.

MMM: What projects and/or policies should the Moon Society be pursuing?

PK: The three cancelled Apollo missions to more interesting parts of the Moon

Apollo 15 (J1) Hadley–Apennine, July 1971.

Apollo 16 (J2) Descartes Highlands, April 1972.

Apollo 17 (J3) Taurus–Littrow valley, December 1972.

And demonstrating all the things that can be made of Lunar Basalt in and for a permanent “Outpost” on the Moon: cabins, furniture, furnishings and more. Given the Moon’s assets, we can do so much more for less.

And Inform Congress, Corporations, and the public at large that using components made on the Moon, of glass, glass fiber composites, and/or basalt fibers, to make giant platforms in Geosynchronous orbit, at each available slot, capable of holding as much as a hundred satellites each, and with a robot to anchor them and service them – there are only so many allowable slots in GEO and they are filling up fast, With such platforms, GEO satellites could increase as much as a hundredfold.