Alabama

Apollo 50
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Joseph Vick, the manager of museum education at the US Space & Rocket Center, discusses the Mobile Quarantine Facility used by Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad, Al Bean and Dick Gordon after their mission to the Moon with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian in Huntsville, Ala. The three spent two weeks in the modified Airstream trailer to ensure that potential diseases from the lunar surface didn’t contaminate planet Earth. Apollo missions 11, 12 and 14 astronauts that made it to the Moon used the mobile facilities immediately after landing — entering the trailer after splashdown aboard USS Hornet through return to the United States — until scientists concluded that the precaution was unnecessary.

Apollo 50
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Capt. Deborah Barnhart, PhD, US Navy Ret., the CEO of the US Space & Rocket Center, discusses the mission of one of the world’s leading space museums, key elements from its collection in Huntsville, Ala., the legacy of its founder, legendary rocket engineer Werner von Braun, and commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.

GFS 2019
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Lt. Gen. Bill Phillips, US Army Ret., the vice president for Army programs at Boeing Defense, Space and Security, discusses the giant’s US Army programs, the services decision to cut funding to the Block II version of the venerable heavy-life CH-47 Chinook helicopter, working with the new Futures Command and his advice to program managers with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at the Association of the United States Army’s recent Global Force Symposium and Exhibition in Huntsville, Ala., where our coverage was sponsored by L3 Technologies and Leonardo DRS.

AAAA 2019
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Brig. Gen. David Francis, US Army, the director of US Army Aviation, discusses preparing the service’s aviation forces to operate in an ever more contested environment, readiness and retention, and making hard program choices with Defense & Space Report Editor Vago Muradian at the Army Aviation Association of America’s 2019 conference and tradeshow in Nashville, Tenn. Our coverage is sponsored by Bell and Leonardo DRS.

VIDEOS
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Richard Yaw, PhD, the director of air and missile defense and the chief of the high-energy laser division at the US Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., discusses the Mobile Experimental High-Energy Laser, the future of battlefield directed-energy weapons, capabilities, and more with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor. The MEHEL program originally fitted a 2 kilowatt laser, radar, targeting as well as power and cooling systems on a standard Infantry Fighting Variant of the service’s Stryker wheeled combat vehicle. The power of the laser has been upgraded twice, first to 5 kilowatts and then to its current confirmation of 10 kilowatts. At the same time, the vehicle is being used to help Army leaders develop new tactics to take maximum advantage of future operational laser weapon systems for air  defense applications spanning from downing unmanned air systems to more demanding missions like countering artillery, rockets, mortars and other threats.