NASA's Greatest Missions
Discussion
Simpo Two said:
_ian_ said:
Never realised how rushed the original missions were due to the US/Soviet race.
It was really knife-edge stuff, and now we can barely get into orbit without blowing up.Pity terrestrial TV only has reality dross - no wonder the masses are so thick.
Seriously brave people/nutters.
_ian_ said:
Just thinking about the potential of so many things to go wrong back then as so many things weren't tested to any degree.
Seriously brave people/nutters.
Yes and yes. However business and industry wasn't so dominated by computers then - I do think that reliance on computers has sapped individual thought and responsibility. Apollo 11 got to the moon with one of these:Seriously brave people/nutters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Compu...
Still, as the West has lost the plot it's up to the Chinese now.
_ian_ said:
This series is so cool.
Just makes me realise what an incredible privilege and achievement space flight is.
Never realised how rushed the original missions were due to the US/Soviet race.
No HD or dish here, I will have to wait. A few memoirs have the US unsure as to how far they were ahead (or behind) at times, but Apollo 1 stopped the headlong dash I think? The USSR beat the US in many of the firsts. Even firing off a probe to the moon during 11. Jodrell tracked it, and 11. But thing like the first woman in space were gimmicks and wasted time and resources.Just makes me realise what an incredible privilege and achievement space flight is.
Never realised how rushed the original missions were due to the US/Soviet race.
jmorgan said:
The USSR beat the US in many of the firsts. Even firing off a probe to the moon during 11. Jodrell tracked it, and 11. But thing like the first woman in space were gimmicks and wasted time and resources.
USSR got first satellite in orbit (Sputnik), first animal in orbit (Laika), first man in orbit (Gagarin) and first spacewalk (Alexei Leonov). But then they had lots of problems with their 3-man launcher - Voshkod I think - which kept blowing up - and the US took the lead with first moon orbit (Apollo 8) and moon landing (Apollo 11).Part of this may be because the US innovated while the USSR often just copied - which by definition means they could only be second, not first.
I doubt that the first woman in space was a waste of resources; I'm sure the mission was used to test lots of important things, and of course the Russians use women for stuff much more than we do, eg tank driving etc. Just another cosmonaut I think.
Sometimes I think the moon landings were the pinnacle of achievement; we seem to have regressed since then and whilst we all have computers and the internet, in a way we've gone backwards. We should have had a man on Mars by about 1980. As it was we didn't, but the Afircans are still starving, and always will be.
Apollo 8 was a superb move. Born out of delay of the lander but certainly took the wind out of the USSR sail. People have to remember that they did not really know how far ahead the USSR was or wasn't.
Re first woman. Little link worth a read
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/terhkova.htm
Also you have to spend resources to cater for the, er, other methods of waste disposal for a start. It diverts from the aim of being first.
Re first woman. Little link worth a read
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/terhkova.htm
Also you have to spend resources to cater for the, er, other methods of waste disposal for a start. It diverts from the aim of being first.
GilbertGrape said:
Still not 100% convinced they actually went to the moon.
And, why no satellite on the moon?
Without dragging this old we did/didn't...... (try a search for past topics) why the satellite and in what way do you mean. On the moon means it's not a satellite but crashed or landed.And, why no satellite on the moon?
jmorgan said:
GilbertGrape said:
Still not 100% convinced they actually went to the moon.
And, why no satellite on the moon?
Without dragging this old we did/didn't...... (try a search for past topics) why the satellite and in what way do you mean. On the moon means it's not a satellite but crashed or landed.And, why no satellite on the moon?
Something on the moon with communication abilities...like a satellite does.
I'd be happy just to see some photos of the landing site.
GilbertGrape said:
jmorgan said:
GilbertGrape said:
Still not 100% convinced they actually went to the moon.
And, why no satellite on the moon?
Without dragging this old we did/didn't...... (try a search for past topics) why the satellite and in what way do you mean. On the moon means it's not a satellite but crashed or landed.And, why no satellite on the moon?
Something on the moon with communication abilities...like a satellite does.
I'd be happy just to see some photos of the landing site.
Loads of photos of the landing site, look up 'apollo archives' for an online library of NASAs mission photography.
Ben
There are two satellites orbiting the moon right now sending back data and pictures.
The Apollo instruments remained operational until NASA shut down the power supplies in 1977 (for budgetary reasons).
The laser reflectors left by some of the Apollos and a Russian Lunakhod automated rover still work as they are passive and do not need a power supply.
Voshkod was a rushed project, devised by Sergei Korolev at the behest of Kruschev in an attempt to ensure that the Russians put THREE men into space before the Americans launched two men and also to achieve an EVA before the Americans did.
It was a heavily modified Vostok capsule which had most of the internal equipment stripped out and the heavy ejector seat removed to make way for three lightweight couches (for Voshkod 1) and and airlock device and hatch (in Vostok 2). In Voshkod 1 the cosmonauts did not wear any spacesuits either (to ensure that all three crewmen fitted into the limited space available).
The Voshkod used the same R-7 booster as the Vostok so "blowing up" was not an issue. Both Voshkod missions achieved their goals but the project had no purpose other than beating the Americans and was cancelled as soon as those two objectives had been achieved. Indeed, the two years speant by Korolev in modifying the Vostok into the Voshkod seriously delayed the Soviets "proper" follow-on programme to Vostok, Soyuz. The delay was so severe that when they did launch their first Soyuz misson (in 1967), the cosmonaut (Vladimir Kamorov - one of the Voshkod 1 crewmen) died on re-entry.
I would argue that the diversion caused to the Soviet programme in devising and launching the two Voshkod missions went a long way to ensure that they couldn't reach the moon before the Americans.
The Apollo instruments remained operational until NASA shut down the power supplies in 1977 (for budgetary reasons).
The laser reflectors left by some of the Apollos and a Russian Lunakhod automated rover still work as they are passive and do not need a power supply.
Voshkod was a rushed project, devised by Sergei Korolev at the behest of Kruschev in an attempt to ensure that the Russians put THREE men into space before the Americans launched two men and also to achieve an EVA before the Americans did.
It was a heavily modified Vostok capsule which had most of the internal equipment stripped out and the heavy ejector seat removed to make way for three lightweight couches (for Voshkod 1) and and airlock device and hatch (in Vostok 2). In Voshkod 1 the cosmonauts did not wear any spacesuits either (to ensure that all three crewmen fitted into the limited space available).
The Voshkod used the same R-7 booster as the Vostok so "blowing up" was not an issue. Both Voshkod missions achieved their goals but the project had no purpose other than beating the Americans and was cancelled as soon as those two objectives had been achieved. Indeed, the two years speant by Korolev in modifying the Vostok into the Voshkod seriously delayed the Soviets "proper" follow-on programme to Vostok, Soyuz. The delay was so severe that when they did launch their first Soyuz misson (in 1967), the cosmonaut (Vladimir Kamorov - one of the Voshkod 1 crewmen) died on re-entry.
I would argue that the diversion caused to the Soviet programme in devising and launching the two Voshkod missions went a long way to ensure that they couldn't reach the moon before the Americans.
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