1st Manned Moon Landing - 45 Years Ago
Discussion
Harsh but fair.
A fellow petrolhead who visited a few years back saw some muffin tops wobbling along the street and commented that British women were generally quite slim. On being asked to elaborate he pointed out that, while they were not stick insects, every part of their legs and arms moved at the same time. Back home in his part of the US of A this was unusual.
A fellow petrolhead who visited a few years back saw some muffin tops wobbling along the street and commented that British women were generally quite slim. On being asked to elaborate he pointed out that, while they were not stick insects, every part of their legs and arms moved at the same time. Back home in his part of the US of A this was unusual.
gpo746 said:
V88Dicky said:
If only there were some photos showing the landing sites, the equipment left on the surface, hell, even the footprints of the astronauts.............
That proves nothing could just be a picture of a boil on my wifes bottom 
jmorgan said:
Overall there is too much in evidence.
Best reading has been some of the memoirs, Michael Collins book is the better I find, personal preference that is of the few I have read.
I've got all of them (I *think*!!!) and I agree - it is a very good book. Funny too - I especially liked his bits describing the centrifuge "eyeballs in" and "eyeballs out" Best reading has been some of the memoirs, Michael Collins book is the better I find, personal preference that is of the few I have read.
Shame he never actually walked on the moon - I think he'd have written a better description than anyone.On the subject of astronauts - the OH and I went to a lecture given by Ken Mattingley at a school in Pontefract of all places back in April. You could have heard a pin drop - fantastic experience!
Fred Haise is doing on in September or October (I forget). Well worth attending.
Eric Mc said:
I don't find it THAT depressing. It was a project of its time and the world politics that existed at that time. Indeed, the politics that had created it in 1961 were obsolete by 1969 and that is the reason why the project came to a premature end in 1972.
What I DO find depressing is the fact that, at the moment, the US is totally incapable of putting an American into space - let alone put an American on the moon.
Can you expand on that please, and go into detail? I was under the impression that there has been quite a few moon missions after Neil Armstrong and NASA have been sending astronauts into space for quite some time. I have not followed NASA space missions so I am genuinely uninformed.What I DO find depressing is the fact that, at the moment, the US is totally incapable of putting an American into space - let alone put an American on the moon.
Edited by TLandCruiser on Tuesday 22 July 14:42
Eric Mc said:
It's always been quite hard to hide a spaceflight.
Unless the rocket blows up on the pad, once it lifts off, telemetry tends to give you an idea as to what its mission is. And the further the spacecraft gets into its mission, the more obvious its task was.
And given the tensions at the time I'm sure the USSR had every radio telescope and tracking station pointed at the rocket. I think they would have been screaming from the roof tops at the slightest hint of foul play.Unless the rocket blows up on the pad, once it lifts off, telemetry tends to give you an idea as to what its mission is. And the further the spacecraft gets into its mission, the more obvious its task was.
For me this has to be mankinds greatest achievement and even more remarkable when you think my Garmin watch probably has more computing power in it that Apollo 11 did.
over_the_hill said:
For me this has to be mankinds greatest achievement and even more remarkable when you think my Garmin watch probably has more computing power in it that Apollo 11 did.
I would disagree (not on the computing power) if you think about it though it dawned on me after thinking about it. The main number crunching was done on the ground with a super computer (for the 60's), the computer that flew, whilst no where near what simple computers are today, it was bespoke. Made to the job in hand so only had one task, that is to say one mission with related tasks. Number crouching was done on the ground, they radioed corrections etc to the space craft en route. Elegant really. And it was flight tested so robust for the environment it lived in.TLandCruiser said:
Can you expand on that please, and go into detail? I was under the impression that there has been quite a few moon missions after Neil Armstrong and NASA have been sending astronauts into space for quite some time. I have not followed NASA space missions so I am genuinely uninformed.
The Apollo program was originally slated to run to Apollo 20 but terminated with Apollo 17, only the sixth landing. NASA had had significant plans for the future including permanent moon bases, missions to Mars and the shuttle, only the shuttle survived and that in a compromised form to please the air force, who ironically went on to not use it. With the retirement of shuttle the USA currently has no man-rated launch vehicles but must pay for seats on Russian Soyuz flights.Edited by TLandCruiser on Tuesday 22 July 14:42
TLandCruiser said:
Can you expand on that please, and go into detail? I was under the impression that there has been quite a few moon missions after Neil Armstrong and NASA have been sending astronauts into space for quite some time. I have not followed NASA space missions so I am genuinely uninformed.
The Apollo programme lasted from 1959 through to 1975.Edited by TLandCruiser on Tuesday 22 July 14:42
It was given the task of landing a man on the moon by John F Kennedy in 1961.
Between May 1961 and the end of 1966, NASA flew six one man Mercury Missions and 10 two man Gemini missions - all earth orbit flights, of course.
Between 1968 and 1975 there were, in all, 21 Apollo based manned missions.
Apollo 7 was earth orbit only.
Apollo 8 orbited the moon.
Apollo 9 was earth orbit.
Apollo 10 orbited the moon.
Apollos 11 to 17 were lunar landing missions, although, as we all know, Apollo 13 couldn't land due to an on board accident.
The next three manned Apollo missions (1973 and 1974) were part of the Skylab orbital space station programme.
The final Apollo mission was the Apollo Soyuz Test Programme (ASTP) mission of July 1975.
In 1972, following two years of design studies, the go ahead was given for the Space Transportation System (STS) or Space Shuttle. The Shuttle first flew into space in 1981 and was retired after 30 years and 133 successful, flights. In addition to the 133 successful missions, there were two disasters which resulted in the death of 14 astronauts, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.
Currently, the only nation capable of launching humans into earth orbit is Russia. America (and everybody else) is 100% reliant on the Russians to get to and from the International Space Station.
Eric Mc said:
Currently, the only nation capable of launching humans into earth orbit is Russia. America (and everybody else) is 100% reliant on the Russians to get to and from the International Space Station.
No NASA spotter but fairly sure the old Chinese are doing their own launches.Efbe said:
eric you seem quite knowledgable about such things.
how is Russia able to carry on funding space missions but the US not?
surely ecomically Russia has not been in the best of places the past 40 years, and America has been.
Because something that cost $1Bn in the US will only cost $1mil in Russia?how is Russia able to carry on funding space missions but the US not?
surely ecomically Russia has not been in the best of places the past 40 years, and America has been.
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