What you need to know
The two-part program is on Nov. 18 from 11-11:50 a.m. and noon-12:50 p.m. in the library’s Meeting Room at 2121 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, according to a news release from the Fort Bend County Libraries.
Retired NASA physicist F. Don Cooper, who worked on technology for Apollos 11 and 13, will share his experiences creating the rockets’ technology during the first part of the program.
During the program’s second half, Cooper will share how geometry, algebra, calculus and mechanics helped him design equations that aided in space exploration, according to the release.
The background
NASA launched the Apollo 11 mission to the moon in July 1969. This was the mission that brought Neil Armstrong to the moon’s surface, making him the first astronaut to step foot on the moon, according to NASA’s website.
The next year, NASA launched the Apollo 13 mission with the intention of landing on the moon again, but the agency aborted the mission after a service module oxygen tank ruptured, according to the NASA website.
During the library's program, Cooper will explain how his team worked to bring the Apollo 13 crew home safely.
“Of the seven primary people who did this, I am the last one alive,” Cooper said in a statement from the news release. “Students do not know much about Apollo since it all happened before they were born. My objective is to show them how it happened, emphasize that education is essential, and show how math and physics solve real-world problems.”
- Nov. 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
- Free
- First Colony Branch Library, 2121 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land
- www.fortbend.lib.tx.us
