The success of the Apollo 11 moon landing 50 years ago Saturday was the result of years of advance planning and some seat-of-the-pants decision-making.
A participant in the planning, and decision-making, was Don Wise, an emeritus professor of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. An expert on how the moon was formed, Wise, in 1969, was deputy director and chief scientist on the Manned Apollo Landing team at NASA.
One of his key responsibilities was to give advice to the astronauts about safe landing spots on the moon.
WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke this week with Wise.