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In August 1975, Schmitt resigned from NASA to seek election as a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] to the [[United States Senate]] representing [[New Mexico]]. Schmitt faced two-term Democratic incumbent, [[Joseph Montoya]], whom he defeated 57% to 42%. He served one term and, notably, was the ranking Republican member of the [[Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee]]. He sought a second term in 1982, but due to a deep recession and concerns that he wasn't paying attention to local matters, he was defeated in a re-election bid by the state Attorney General [[Jeff Bingaman]] by a 54% to 46% margin. Bingaman's campaign slogan asked, "What on Earth has he done for you lately?"<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1910599_1910769_1910767-3,00.html "40th Anniversary of Apollo 11: Moonstruck", Time Magazine, July 27, 2009]</ref> Following his Senate term, Schmitt has been a consultant in business, geology, space, and public policy.
In August 1975, Schmitt resigned from NASA to seek election as a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] to the [[United States Senate]] representing [[New Mexico]]. Schmitt faced two-term Democratic incumbent, [[Joseph Montoya]], whom he defeated 57% to 42%. He served one term and, notably, was the ranking Republican member of the [[Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee]]. He sought a second term in 1982, but due to a deep recession and concerns that he wasn't paying attention to local matters, he was defeated in a re-election bid by the state Attorney General [[Jeff Bingaman]] by a 54% to 46% margin. Bingaman's campaign slogan asked, "What on Earth has he done for you lately?"<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1910599_1910769_1910767-3,00.html "40th Anniversary of Apollo 11: Moonstruck", Time Magazine, July 27, 2009]</ref> Following his Senate term, Schmitt has been a consultant in business, geology, space, and public policy.


During his term in the Senate, Schmitt sat at the chamber's [[Candy desk]].
During his term in the Senate, Schmitt sat at the chamber's [[candy desk]].


Schmitt is an adjunct professor of engineering physics at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]],<ref>[http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ep/faculty/schmitt_harrison.html Schmitt, Harrison J<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and has long been a proponent of lunar resource utilization.<ref>"The moon: an abundant source of clean and safe fusion fuel for the 21st century" http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988lhfp.rept...35K, in NASA, Lewis Research Center, Lunar Helium-3 and Fusion Power p 35-64 (SEE N89-14842 06-75)</ref><ref>''Return to the Moon: exploration, enterprise, and energy in the human settlement of space'', Springer, 2006 ISBN 0-387-24285-6</ref> In 1997 he proposed the Interlune InterMars Initiative, listing among its goals the advancement of private sector acquisition and use of lunar resources, particularly lunar [[helium-3]] as a fuel for notional [[nuclear fusion]] reactors.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(1997)10:2(60) |title=Interlune-Intermars Business Initiative: Returning to Deep Space |year=1997 |last1=Schmitt |first1=Harrison H. |journal=Journal of Aerospace Engineering |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=60}}</ref>
Schmitt is an adjunct professor of engineering physics at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]],<ref>[http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ep/faculty/schmitt_harrison.html Schmitt, Harrison J<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and has long been a proponent of lunar resource utilization.<ref>"The moon: an abundant source of clean and safe fusion fuel for the 21st century" http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988lhfp.rept...35K, in NASA, Lewis Research Center, Lunar Helium-3 and Fusion Power pp. 35–64 (SEE N89-14842 06-75)</ref><ref>''Return to the Moon: exploration, enterprise, and energy in the human settlement of space'', Springer, 2006 ISBN 0-387-24285-6</ref> In 1997 he proposed the Interlune InterMars Initiative, listing among its goals the advancement of private sector acquisition and use of lunar resources, particularly lunar [[helium-3]] as a fuel for notional [[nuclear fusion]] reactors.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(1997)10:2(60) |title=Interlune-Intermars Business Initiative: Returning to Deep Space |year=1997 |last1=Schmitt |first1=Harrison H. |journal=Journal of Aerospace Engineering |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=60}}</ref>


Schmitt was chair of the [[NASA Advisory Council]], whose mandate is to provide technical advice to the NASA Administrator, from November 2005 until his abrupt resignation on October 16, 2008.<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/oct/HQ_08-261_Scmitt_Leaves_NAC.html "Schmitt Completes NASA Advisory Council Service; Ford Named Chairman", NASA Press Release]</ref> In November 2008, he quit the Planetary Society over policy advocacy differences, citing the organization's statements on "focusing on Mars as the driving goal of human spaceflight" (Schmitt said that going back to the Moon would speed progress toward a manned Mars mission), on "accelerating research into global climate change through more comprehensive Earth observations" (Schmitt voiced objections to the notion of a present "scientific consensus" on climate change as any policy guide), and on international cooperation (which he felt would retard rather than accelerate progress), among other points of divergence.<ref>[http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=29813 "Former NASA Advisory Council Chair Jack Schmitt Quits Planetary Society Over New Roadmap"], [[SpaceRef.com]], Nov 17, 2008.</ref>
Schmitt was chair of the [[NASA Advisory Council]], whose mandate is to provide technical advice to the NASA Administrator, from November 2005 until his abrupt resignation on October 16, 2008.<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/oct/HQ_08-261_Scmitt_Leaves_NAC.html "Schmitt Completes NASA Advisory Council Service; Ford Named Chairman", NASA Press Release]</ref> In November 2008, he quit the Planetary Society over policy advocacy differences, citing the organization's statements on "focusing on Mars as the driving goal of human spaceflight" (Schmitt said that going back to the Moon would speed progress toward a manned Mars mission), on "accelerating research into global climate change through more comprehensive Earth observations" (Schmitt voiced objections to the notion of a present "scientific consensus" on climate change as any policy guide), and on international cooperation (which he felt would retard rather than accelerate progress), among other points of divergence.<ref>[http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=29813 "Former NASA Advisory Council Chair Jack Schmitt Quits Planetary Society Over New Roadmap"], [[SpaceRef.com]], Nov 17, 2008.</ref>

Revision as of 05:19, 11 May 2013

Harrison Schmitt
United States Senator
from New Mexico
In office
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1983
Preceded byJoseph Montoya
Succeeded byJeff Bingaman
Personal details
Born
Harrison Hagan Schmitt

(1935-07-03) July 3, 1935 (age 89)
Santa Rita, New Mexico
Political partyRepublican
OccupationGeologist
Astronaut

Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, a retired NASA astronaut, university professor, and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico.

He was the twelfth and last man to walk on the Moon, as Apollo 17 crewmate Eugene Cernan exited the Apollo Lunar Module first. However, as Schmitt re-entered the module first, Cernan became the last astronaut to walk on and depart the moon. Schmitt is also the only geologist as well as the only person to have walked on the Moon who was never a member of the United States Armed Forces, although he is not the first civilian, since Neil Armstrong left military service prior to his landing in 1969.[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, Schmitt grew up in nearby Silver City.[2] He received a B.S. degree in geology from the California Institute of Technology in 1957 and then spent a year studying geology at the University of Oslo in Norway.[2][3][4] He received a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University in 1964, based on his geological field studies in Norway.[2]

NASA career

Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt
Born (1935-07-03) July 3, 1935 (age 89)
Santa Rita, New Mexico
StatusRetired
NationalityAmerican
OccupationGeologist
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Time in space
12d 13h 52 m
Selection1965 Scientist group
MissionsApollo 17
Mission insignia

Before joining NASA as a member of the first group of scientist-astronauts in June 1965, he worked at the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Center at Flagstaff, Arizona, developing geological field techniques that would be used by the Apollo crews. Following his selection, Schmitt spent his first year at Air Force UPT learning to become a jet pilot. Upon his return to the astronaut corps in Houston, he played a key role in training Apollo crews to be geologic observers when they were in lunar orbit and competent geologic field workers when they were on the lunar surface. After each of the landing missions, he participated in the examination and evaluation of the returned lunar samples and helped the crews with the scientific aspects of their mission reports.

Schmitt spent considerable time becoming proficient in the CSM and LM systems. In March 1970 he became the first of the scientist-astronauts to be assigned to space flight, joining Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (Commander) and Vance Brand (Command Module Pilot) on the Apollo 15 backup crew. The flight rotation put these three in line to fly as prime crew on the third following mission, Apollo 18. Apollo flights 18 and 19 were cancelled in September 1970, but Schmitt was assigned in August 1971 to fly on the last lunar mission, Apollo 17, replacing Joe Engle as Lunar Module Pilot. He landed on the Moon with commander Gene Cernan in December 1972.

Schmitt claims to have taken the photograph of the Earth known as The Blue Marble, one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence. (NASA officially credits the image to the entire Apollo 17 crew.)

While on the Moon's surface, Schmitt — the only geologist in the astronaut corps — collected the rock sample designated Troctolite 76535, which has been called "without doubt the most interesting sample returned from the Moon".[5] Among other distinctions, it is the central piece of evidence suggesting that the Moon once possessed an active magnetic field.[6]

As he returned to the Lunar Module before Cernan, Schmitt is the next-to-last person to have walked on the Moon's surface.

After the completion of Apollo 17, Schmitt played an active role in documenting the Apollo geologic results and also took on the task of organizing NASA's Energy Program Office.

  • Schmitt poses by the American flag, with Earth in the background, during Apollo 17's first EVA.
    Schmitt poses by the American flag, with Earth in the background, during Apollo 17's first EVA.
  • Schmitt collects lunar specimens during the Apollo 17 mission.
    Schmitt collects lunar specimens during the Apollo 17 mission.
  • Harrison Schmitt falls while on a Moonwalk.

Post-NASA career

Senator Schmitt with then-President Ronald Reagan in Roswell, New Mexico, October 1982
Schmitt in 2009

In August 1975, Schmitt resigned from NASA to seek election as a Republican to the United States Senate representing New Mexico. Schmitt faced two-term Democratic incumbent, Joseph Montoya, whom he defeated 57% to 42%. He served one term and, notably, was the ranking Republican member of the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee. He sought a second term in 1982, but due to a deep recession and concerns that he wasn't paying attention to local matters, he was defeated in a re-election bid by the state Attorney General Jeff Bingaman by a 54% to 46% margin. Bingaman's campaign slogan asked, "What on Earth has he done for you lately?"[7] Following his Senate term, Schmitt has been a consultant in business, geology, space, and public policy.

During his term in the Senate, Schmitt sat at the chamber's candy desk.

Schmitt is an adjunct professor of engineering physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,[8] and has long been a proponent of lunar resource utilization.[9][10] In 1997 he proposed the Interlune InterMars Initiative, listing among its goals the advancement of private sector acquisition and use of lunar resources, particularly lunar helium-3 as a fuel for notional nuclear fusion reactors.[11]

Schmitt was chair of the NASA Advisory Council, whose mandate is to provide technical advice to the NASA Administrator, from November 2005 until his abrupt resignation on October 16, 2008.[12] In November 2008, he quit the Planetary Society over policy advocacy differences, citing the organization's statements on "focusing on Mars as the driving goal of human spaceflight" (Schmitt said that going back to the Moon would speed progress toward a manned Mars mission), on "accelerating research into global climate change through more comprehensive Earth observations" (Schmitt voiced objections to the notion of a present "scientific consensus" on climate change as any policy guide), and on international cooperation (which he felt would retard rather than accelerate progress), among other points of divergence.[13]

Regarding the international scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change, Schmitt has said that "[t]he CO2 scare is a red herring",[14] that the "global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision-making," and that scientists who might otherwise challenge prevailing views on climate change dare not do so for fear of losing funding.[15]

Likewise, in a 2009 interview with libertarian talk-radio host Alex Jones, Schmitt asserted a link between Soviet Communism and the American environmental movement: "I think the whole trend really began with the fall of the Soviet Union. Because the great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement."[16] At the Heartland Institute's 6th International Conference on Climate Change Schmitt said that climate change was a stalking horse for National Socialism.[17]

In January, 2011, he was appointed as Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department in the cabinet of Governor Susana Martinez,[18] but was forced to give up the appointment the following month after refusing to submit to a required background investigation.[19]

Harrison Schmitt wrote a book entitled "Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space" in 2006.[20]

He lives in Silver City, New Mexico, and spends some of his summer at his northern Minnesota lake cabin.

Senator Schmitt is also involved in several civic projects, including the improvement of the Senator Harrison H. Schmitt Big Sky Hang Glider Park in Albuerque, NM. [21]

Awards and honors

  • NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1973)
  • He was made an honorary fellow of the Geological Society of America for his efforts in geoscience in 1984.[22]
  • One of the elementary schools in Schmitt's hometown of Silver City, New Mexico was named in his honor in the mid-1970s. An image of the astronaut riding a rocket through space is displayed on the front of Harrison Schmitt Elementary School.[23]
  • AAPG's Special Award has been changed to the Harrison Schmitt Award in 2011. It recognizes individuals or organizations that, for a variety of reasons, do not qualify for other Association honors or awards. Harrison Schmitt received AAPG Special Award in 1973 for his contribution as the first geologist to land on the moon and study its geology.[24]

Media

Schmitt is one of the astronauts featured in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon. He also contributed to the book NASA's Scientist-Astronauts by David Shayler and Colin Burgess.

References

  1. ^ "Naked Science: Living on the Moon". National Geographic Television. August 15, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "50 Years in Space - Harrison Schmitt". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved June 16, 2009.
  3. ^ "Learned to walk on the moon in Oslo". Universitas. May 27, 2009. Archived from the original on June 15, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  4. ^ "Harrison H. Schmitt". Distinguished Alumni Award. California Institute of Technology Alumni Association. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  5. ^ Lunar Sample Compendium at jsc.nasa.gov
  6. ^ "Rock Suggests Early Moon's Fiery Core Churned a Magnetic Field", The New York Times, January 19, 2009
  7. ^ "40th Anniversary of Apollo 11: Moonstruck", Time Magazine, July 27, 2009
  8. ^ Schmitt, Harrison J
  9. ^ "The moon: an abundant source of clean and safe fusion fuel for the 21st century" http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988lhfp.rept...35K, in NASA, Lewis Research Center, Lunar Helium-3 and Fusion Power pp. 35–64 (SEE N89-14842 06-75)
  10. ^ Return to the Moon: exploration, enterprise, and energy in the human settlement of space, Springer, 2006 ISBN 0-387-24285-6
  11. ^ Schmitt, Harrison H. (1997). "Interlune-Intermars Business Initiative: Returning to Deep Space". Journal of Aerospace Engineering. 10 (2): 60. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(1997)10:2(60).
  12. ^ "Schmitt Completes NASA Advisory Council Service; Ford Named Chairman", NASA Press Release
  13. ^ "Former NASA Advisory Council Chair Jack Schmitt Quits Planetary Society Over New Roadmap", SpaceRef.com, Nov 17, 2008.
  14. ^ "Is Global Warming Real? Climate debate heats up", Fox Business Network interview by Stuart Varney, 22 December 2009 (accessed 9 September 2010)
  15. ^ "Ex-Astronaut: Global Warming Is Bunk", Fox News, Feb 16, 2009
  16. ^ Moonstruck: Climate science denier Harrison Schmitt, appointed to head NM environment agency, believes enviros and scientists like Holdren are communists « Climate Progress
  17. ^ Klein, Naomi (2011-11-09). "Capitalism vs. the Climate". The Nation. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  18. ^ http://www.governor.state.nm.us/Press/2011/January/010611_02.pdf
  19. ^ "Harrison Schmitt withdraws nomination for New Mexico energy secretary", El Paso Times, Feb 11, 2011
  20. ^ Schmitt, Harrison H. (2005). Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space. Springer London, Limited. ISBN 978-0-387-31064-0. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  21. ^ http://www.bernco.gov/Parks/
  22. ^ Geological Society of America: Award & Medal Recipients
  23. ^ "Welcome to Harrison Schmitt Elementary School~ Home of the Astronauts!". Silver Consolidated Schools. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  24. ^ http://www.aapg.org/business/honors_awards/special.cfm
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harrison H Schmitt.
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from New Mexico
1977–1983
Served alongside: Pete Domenici 		Succeeded by

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