Nine months after his return from the moon, Worden received a phone call telling him he was fired and ordering him out of his office by the end of the week. He refused to leave.

What happened in those nine months, from being honored with parades and meetings with world leaders to being unceremoniously fired, has been a source of much speculation for four decades. In Falling to Earth, Worden tells for the first time the full story around the dramatic events that shook NASA and ended his spaceflight career. Readers will learn them here for the first time, along with the exhilarating account of what it is like to journey to the moon and back. It’s an unprecedentedly candid account of what it was like to be an Apollo astronaut, with all its glory but also its pitfalls.

Falling to Earth is published by Smithsonian Books.

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“Having the right instruments and knowing where to go are equally important,” said John Grant, a Smithsonian geologist and co-chair of the landing site steering committee. “We looked for a site that has water associated with it, materials of interest that are concentrated and preserved and that is accessible so we can get to it. Gale Crater is a good place to explore because there is a mountain of layered materials rising from its floor. Much like chapters in a book, the sediments, minerals and layers in this stack record the story about what Mars was like in the past. The rover will investigate where sediments forming the layers came from and explore how the layers relate to the environments in which they formed.” Grant, who is a researcher in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, is also a member of the science team for Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Image right: Gale Crater is 96 miles in diameter and holds a layered mountain rising about 3 miles above the crater floor. The portion of the crater within the planned landing area north of the mountain has an alluvial fan likely formed by water-carried sediments. The lower layers of the nearby mountain–within driving distance for Curiosity–contain minerals indicating a wet history. (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)

The car-sized Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year and land in August 2012. The target crater is 96 miles in diameter and holds a mountain rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle. Gale is about the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Layering in the mound suggests it is the surviving remnant of an extensive sequence of deposits.

Image left: This artist concept shows NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life. In this picture, the rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover’s arm, which extends about 7 feet. (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

During a prime mission lasting one Martian year—nearly two Earth years—researchers will use the rover’s tools to study whether the landing region had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed.

In 2006, more than 100 scientists began to consider about 30 potential landing sites during worldwide workshops. Four candidates were selected in 2008. An abundance of targeted images enabled thorough analysis of the safety concerns and scientific attractions of each site. A team of senior NASA science officials then conducted a detailed review and unanimously agreed to move forward with the MSL Science Team’s recommendation. The team is comprised of a host of principal and co-investigators on the project.

NASA Video: Animation of the Mars Science Laboratory from entry, descent and landing phase to surface operation.

Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing samples of powdered rock that the rover’s robotic arm collects. A radioisotope power source will provide heat and electric power to the rover. A rocket-powered sky crane suspending Curiosity on tethers will lower the rover directly to the Martian surface.

The rover and other spacecraft components are being assembled and are undergoing final testing. The mission is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of Caltech.

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In the late 1920s, a very young German airplane enthusiast Reimar Horten started experimenting with flying models equipped with fuselages, stabilizers, rudders, and elevators, but his life’s work involved systematically removing these components from the models to try and achieve flight with only the wing. Not only were the pure wings more difficult to design with the stability and control needed to fly, they were harder to place in practical roles not already filled by conventional aircraft operating for less support and operational costs. Only the Wing is a new book by Russell Lee that recounts Horten’s epic quest to stabalize and control the all-wing aircraft. Lee is curator in the Aeronautics Division at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Always seeking to increase performance and efficiency, Horten adopted a multi-disciplinary approach after flying his first piloted wing in 1933, eventually breaking new ground in cockpit design and construction materials. His most important innovation was the unique pattern he developed to distribute the lift over his wings, the result of his efforts to refine the aerodynamic control of all-wing aircraft, often while working alone and in difficult circumstances. Two days after he passed away in 1993, the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded Reimar Horten the British Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Aeronautics.

For more information about this book visit the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press Web site.

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Image of Space Shuttle Discovery, right, courtesy NASA.

After a period of preparation and delivery, the orbiter will be placed on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar of the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Occupying a central position in the space hangar and surrounded by scores of other major artifacts, Discovery will represent the drive to establish routine space transportation and to enable people to live and work in space for scientific and practical benefits. Space shuttle Enterprise, currently on display in the same location, has been showcased at the Udvar-Hazy Center since the center opened in 2003.  Soon, Enterprise will be moved to its new home:  the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

The decision to transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum was announced by NASA April 12, the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle program. The museum’s collection contains hundreds of NASA artifacts, including spacecraft and spacesuits from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs and the shuttle era.

In this photo taken with a fisheye lens Sept. 12, 1993, shuttle Discovery roars away from Launch Pad 39B at 7:45 a.m. EDT as the STS-51 mission begins. The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite and attached Transfer Orbit Stage booster were deployed during the flight, along with a second primary payload, the Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite. Image credit: NASA

“NASA and the Smithsonian signed an agreement in 1967 that has enabled the National Air and Space Museum to preserve and display the greatest icons of our nation’s space history,” said Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum. “Honored for four decades, this agreement has served NASA, the Smithsonian and the public very well. The space collection enables us to explore major scientific achievements and share an inspiring aspect of the American experience.”

With the acquisition of Discovery, the museum adds to its holdings of aviation and space “firsts.”

“Fully a third of the museum’s collection of aircraft are one-of-a-kind examples or associated with milestone achievements,” said Valerie Neal, space shuttle program curator in the museum’s Division of Space History. “Discovery will join the ranks of treasures such as the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Mercury Friendship 7 capsule and the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. Discovery represents innovation, ingenuity and the effort to make spaceflight a regular activity in the life of the nation.”

Discovery flew 39 missions, including satellite deliveries, Defense Department projects and trips to the Hubble Space Telescope and the Russian space station Mir. It retired after having spent a total of 365 days in space and flown 13 times to the International Space Station, including the 100th shuttle mission in 2000.

Discovery is associated with several historic achievements. The first African American commander, Frederick Gregory, flew the craft in 1989. In 1995, the orbiter was flown by the first female pilot of a spacecraft, Eileen Collins, who later commanded a 2005 Discovery mission. In 1998 Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, flew on the spacecraft in a return to space, having made history in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth in Friendship 7. Following the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, Discovery was chosen to return to spaceflight.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center contains two exhibition spaces, the Boeing Aviation Hangar and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. There are 161 large aircraft and 160 large spacecraft on view along with hundreds of small artifacts. With more than a million visitors a year, the center is among the world’s most popular aviation and space museums, second only to the flagship building on the National Mall.

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport. Both facilities are open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free, but there is a $15 fee for parking at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

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Image right: A double, oblique impact crater on the surface of Mars. Although the origin of such elliptical impact craters on Mars is uncertain, some scientists have determined that the nature of these particular features is best explained by the impact of a former Mars-orbiting moonlet. Potentially many such moonlets were in orbit around Mars at one time, and Phobos and Deimos are the only two surviving objects.

In recent years a number of separate observations suggest that the Martian satellites were the result of giant impact. Similar to the Earth–Moon system, Mars has too much angular momentum; in both cases a giant impact may have caused the planets to spin on their axes. The giant impact on early Earth placed material into orbit that eventually formed the moon; it is likely that a giant impact on early Mars also placed material into orbit. Unlike what happened with the Earth’s moon, however, this material never coalesced into a single giant moon. Instead, a number of smaller moonlets formed. Over time the orbits of many of these moonlets probably decayed and ended up crashing onto the surface Mars until only two were left. This also explains the orbits of Phobos and Deimos. If they were captured asteroids, their orbits should be different and eccentric; their similar flat and circular orbits would be a natural consequence of having formed from material from a giant impact that was placed into orbit.

Image left: Model for the origin of Phobos and Deimos. (a) Mars-spinning planetesimal collides with Mars vaporizing material and associated large impact basin is formed. Angular momentum imparted to the surface gives Mars its final spin rate. (b) Vaporized material forms an accretionary disk. (c) Materials dissipate past the Roche limit of Mars (dashed line) and begin to coalesce into small moons. (d) Moons continue to form until accretion disk is exhausted. Only Deimos forms outside synchronous rotation. (e) Accretion disk completely dissipates. Dozens of small moons are left orbiting Mars. Tidal perturbations cause these moons to fall back towards the martian surface forming grazing impacts (white ellipses). Development of the Tharsis bulge causes the orbital plane to precess. (f) Present martian system with only Phobos and Deimos in orbit.

“Are Phobos and Deimos the Result of a Giant Impact?” will be published by Icarus International Journal of Solar System Studies and is now available online.

The Center for Earth and Planetary Studies is the scientific research unit within the Collections and Research Department of the National Air and Space Museum. CEPS scientists perform original research and outreach activities on topics covering planetary science, terrestrial geophysics and the remote sensing of environmental change.

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Image right: These two images show the relative size of a megalake in the Sahara Desert reaching 810 feet above sea level and covering 42,000 square miles (left), and a smaller lake at 623 feet above sea level covering 18,600 square miles. The Nile is at lower right in both images. (Image derived from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission)

National Air and Space Museum Geologist Ted Maxwell and colleagues recently spotted evidence of the lake while studying radar data of Egypt taken by the Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Using images of wind-blown sediments, sediments produced by running water, and bedrock seen by radar beneath the desert sands, the geologists pieced together the profile of an ancient megalake. Egypt’s extreme aridity enhances the ability of radar to see distinct subsurface features. Buried channels can be detected as much as 50 feet below the surface of the desert.

Photo left: Kiseiba Oasis, southern Egypt.  This oasis is along one of the ancient watercourses discovered by geologists using Space Shuttle Topographic data.  Water at present is 6.5 to 9.5 feet below the surface. This oasis was recently plowed for melon farming. (Photo by Ted Maxwell)

Using fossil fish found in deposits some 250 miles west of the Nile and at 810 feet above sea level as a marker of the lake’s highest shoreline, the scientists estimate the Nile once flooded the entire Kiseiba-Tushka depression of Egypt creating the giant lake. The location of Paleolithic human settlements near the areas of Selima and Tarfawi in Egypt correspond to a lake covering some 42,000 square miles, the scientists determined,  placing these settlements in what would have been desirable, near-water regions.

Image right: Air and Space Museum Geologist Andrew Johnston in the Kiseiba Oasis region uses GPS equipment to survey the elevations of sand sheet surfaces, which geologists later tied in to orbital data to interpret the position of ancient lakes and waterways. (Photo by Ted Maxwell)

The location and elevation of a different set of archaeological sites near Bir Kiseiba, 93 miles west of the Nile, suggest a second, lower level of the lake at 623 feet above sea level, this one covering an area of some 18,600 square miles. The geologists also used the elevation of the Tushka channel through which the water of the Nile once flowed into the desert as a base level to calculate the size of the second lake.

These newly discovered lakes add to growing evidence of numerous early and middle Pleistocene lakes across North Africa that could have supported human migration patterns, the researchers say.  Their research was published in the article “Evidence for Pleistocene lakes in the Tushka region, south Egypt,” in the December 2010 issue of the journal “Geology.”

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You will not notice it when you look at the moon tonight, but it is actually shrinking. Smithsonian scientist Tom Watters made this discovery and he revealed this finding as the lead author in research published in the Aug. 20 issue of the journal Science.

By looking at images and data taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a team of scientists, including Watters, a planetary scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum, were able to examine geological features on the moon called lobate scarps—thrust faults that occur primarily in the lunar highlands. These scarps are the result of the interior of the moon slowly cooling, and as it does so, it shrinks causing its surface area to crack and buckle.

“One of the remarkable aspects of the lunar scarps is their apparent young age,” said Watters. “Relatively young, globally distributed thrust faults show recent contraction of the whole moon, likely due to cooling of the lunar interior. The amount of contraction is estimated to be about 100 meters in the recent past.

The moon’s lobate scarps were first recognized in photographs taken near the moon’s equator by the panoramic cameras flown on the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions. Fourteen previously unknown lobate scarps have now been revealed in very high resolution images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. The newly detected scarps indicate that the thrust faults are globally distributed and not clustered near the moon’s equator.

“The ultrahigh resolution images from the Narrow Angle Cameras are changing our view of the moon,” said Mark Robinson of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, coauthor and principal investigator of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. “We’ve not only detected many previously unknown lunar scarps, we’re seeing much greater detail on the scarps identified in the Apollo photographs.”

Because the size change is relatively small, however, Watters said that there would be no effect on lunar cycles, tides, etc. It would take millions of years for there to be a perceivable difference in the size of the moon to the naked eye. But this discovery does help change the commonly held belief that the moon is just a dead rock, showing that it is still active and dynamic.

The mare basalts that fill the Taurus-Littrow valley were thrust up by contractional forces to form the Lee-Lincoln fault scarp, just west of the Apollo 17 landing site (arrow). It is the only extraterrestrial fault scarp to be explored by humans (astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt). The digital terrain model derived from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) stereo images shows the fault extending upslope into North Massif were highlands material are also thrust up. The fault cuts upslope and abruptly changes orientation and cuts along slope, forming a narrow bench. LROC images show boulders shed from North Massif that have rolled downhill and collected on the bench. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

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