Jerry Carr

Colonel Carr was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crews and as CAPCOM for the Apollo 8 and 12 flights, and was involved in the development and testing of the lunar roving vehicle which was used on the lunar surface by Apollo flight crews.

Carr was commander of Skylab 4 (third and final manned visit to the Skylab Orbital Workshop) launched November 16, 1973, and concluded February 8, 1974. This was the longest manned flight (84 days, 1 hour, 15minutes) in the history of manned space exploration to date. He was accompanied on the record-setting 34.5-million-mile flight by Dr. Edward G. Gibson (science pilot) and William R. Pogue (pilot). The crew successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem-detailed objectives, and 13 student investigations during their 1,214 revolutions of the earth. They also acquired extensive earth resources observation data using hand-held cameras and Skylab's Earth Resources Experiment Package camera and sensor array. They logged 338 hours of operations of the Apollo Telescope Mount, which made extensive observations of the sun's solar processes.

From February 1974 until March 1978, Colonel Carr and his Skylab 4 teammates shared the world record for individual time in space: 2,017 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds, and Carr logged 15 hours and 48 minutes in three EVAs outside the Orbital Workshop.

Sy was the Lead EECOM Flight Controller throughout all Apollo manned missions and an EGIL (Skylab EECOM) for all of the Skylab program missions. On the international scene, Sy was the Lead EECOM for the American-Russian Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission. He contributed his experience to early shuttle missions and to the space station design.
Sy’s autobiography, Apollo EECOM: Journey of A Lifetime" has been published. In it he takes us through his life and experiences in Mission Control during the Apollo Program. His book not only allows you to get to know the Control Room team - but an intimate sense of what it must have been like to be there.

As EECOM in Mission Control on Apollo 13, Sy was at the focal point of the crisis when the spacecraft oxygen tank exploded, to which he will speak.

He has advised and contributed to several books concerning Apollo 13 including the movie, Apollo 13; and was the technical adviser for an archival multi-media CD-ROM entitled Apollo 13, A Race Against Time, which is devoted to the Apollo 13 mission. He has appeared in the PBS NOVA series, the History Channel Modern Marvels, the National Geographic Science Channel Situation Critical series, the Discovery Channel and the acclaimed Public Broadcast System documentary Apollo 13, To the Edge and Back. He served as the on-camera host for a space documentary entitled In the Shadow of the Moon, produced by the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas.

As part of the Apollo 13 operations team, Sy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has also received the NASA Commendation Award for his leadership role in the Apoolo-Soyuz Test Project international space mission. He has been honored as Distinguished Alumnus of his alma mater’s School of Engineering and Technology.
Sy, as a Senior Project Engineer, directed the design and fabrication of the astronaut neutral buoyancy trainers for the International Space Station (ISS). He remains an active booster and international public speaker of NASA's space accomplishments and the importance of a good education.

Andy Chaikin

Andrew Chaikin has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for more than two decades. He is also active as a lecturer at museums, schools and corporate events, and in radio and television appearances.

Chaikin is best known as the author of A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story of the Apollo Space Program, first published in 1994. This acclaimed work was the main basis for Tom Hanks' HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, which won the Emmy for best miniseries in 1998. Chaikin spent eight years writing and researching A Man on the Moon, including hundreds of hours of personal interviews with each of the 23 surviving lunar astronauts.

Chaikin co-edited The New Solar System, a compendium of writings by planetary scientists, now in its fourth edition. He is also the author of Air and Space: The National Air and Space Museum Story of Flight, published in 1997 by Bulfinch Press. He collaborated with moonwalker-turned-artist Alan Bean to write Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, published in 1998 by the Greenwich Workshop Press. Chaikin co-authored the text for the highly successful collection of Apollo photography, Full Moon, which was published by Knopf in 1999. His book, SPACE: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, was published in 2002 by Carlton Booksonal Geographic Encyclopedia of Space.

Chaikin is a commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, and the NPR programs Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation. He has been an advisor to NASA on space policy and public communications.

A former editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, Chaikin has also been a contributing editor of Popular Science and has written for Newsweek, Air&Space/Smithsonian, World Book Encyclopedia, Scientific American, and other publications.