Added 5.3.19. In this 2000 episode, Milt interviews famed U.S. astronaut Jim Lovell about the tricky Apollo 13 mission, and more. The 1970 voyage was to be the third U.S. moon landing – but minutes before touch-down, an oxygen tank explosion caused major damage to the spacecraft. That forced a tricky but ultimately safe return to earth. Often called a “successful failure,” the mission led to a 1994 book co-authored by Lovell titled, “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage Of Apollo 13,” and a year later the movie “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks as Lovell.

Added 9.18.18. Milt in this 2012 episode talks with  Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, a cardiologist – and science writer Kathryn Bowers. They authored the book, “Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health And The Science Of Healing.” This fascinating discussion explores the underpinnings and philosophical ramifications of how the study of animal health and well-being can and does guide advances in human health. It starts – as Milt notes – from the premise that “we are very much like our animal neighbors in our pathologies.”

In one of his last appearances with us before his untimely demise, Carl Sagan pondered where, when and how mankind would go once it had shuffled off this earthly coil. Here is a brief and tantalizing excerpt.

It began with military needs and opportunities and it has gone on to change the very texture of our lives. Just think: “Smart Phone!” How everything on earth came to be viewable from space (whether your vehicle’s position or a moving ISIS squad about to be “droned”) is due to the pervasive new technology, still expanding, of Global Positioning Systems. We speak with Richard Easton, author of a fine new book, GPS Declassified, about the history of GPS technology. He is also the son of the man, Roger Easton, who gets the deserved lion’s share  of the credit for inventing GPS.