July 20th, 1969

[JoBelle]

I was just reading up again on the Apollo 11 mission. My father worked at the Cape "back in the day" and I have heard the family's stories of watching the launch from the back yard. ( I didn't pop onto the scene of life until 1972 so I missed this event.)

I've always been fascinated with NASA and the space program. Just thought I'd ask around and see if there are any others of you that have a liking for things beyond the ozone?

I wonder where the "wonder" went. I suppose shuttle launches now are old hat. Are we that so cock-sure of ourselves that sending someone into outer space is no longer an awesome thing? I sit in a hypnotic state watching the TV anytime there is something happening! Have you seen the NASA channel??? OMG it's delightful!

A couple of weeks ago I was vising my father when he pulled out the old home video of the Apollo launches. Nothing computer generated can compare to the grainy B & W reel movie and look on my Dad's face.

Anyway...just tossing this out there....any thoughts?
Jo
🙂

 

[SmileyTkls]

I've always loved space and the different programs. As a kid, I remember being so thrilled that the very first space shuttle was going to be named Enterprise. (All right, I'm a sci-fi geek, too. LOL) I also remember being horror-struck, watching Challenger explode at home as I was recovering from a cold. I've visited Cape Kennedy/Canaveral, seen a shuttle launch, and yes, Jo, seen the NASA channel. LOL. I've always wished that a mission to Mars would happen during my life, to be my generations' moon landing. And, on a how-strange-but-cool note, one of my best friends married the daughter of an Enterprise engineer. No, not Scotty, but he did help design and test the braking system for the shuttles. Boy, did I ask a ton o' questions there! So, I guess, there's my answer. ;-)

Smiley,
who's been spacey for a long time

 

[TicklingDuo]

I thoroughly enjoy anything related to space...from star gazing on a crystal clear night to space travel and all that surrounds it. I never cease to be amazed at the fact that (though we tend to see ourselves as so great) we are but a speck in the world. Are there other livable systems? Is there other intelligent life? Are we alone? We have so many questions that are as yet unanswered. While I would rather see much of the money from the space program spent on relief efforts here and abroad, that doesn't get in the way of my interest in what they learn. As for taking the launches as old hat...I personally haven't done that since the Challenger.

Ann

 

[red indian]

Total Rubbish!

No need for all these rockets if you ask me, all you need is a late marque well maintained Griffon engined Spitfire! It will take you anywhere in the universe.

 

[JoBelle]

Good point Ann. Since the Challenger explosion I have been slightly obsessed as well. 😉 Have you ever watched the faces of the people who are involved? It's like seeing their god before them when they know they've taken another poke at the universe.

I know a lot of money is spent on research and experimentation and I too am dimayed at the way relief monies are often wasted. I can't set the two in my mind though. Apples and oranges, ya know? Both are going to exist...it's human nature to explore....hunter/gatherers to Columbus. We always want to know what surrounds us. I don't think we are *capable* of diverting money from exploration to use for social programs.


One of my favorite writers claims the moon landing never happened. To each his or her own thoughts on that matter. I suppose the frustration of simply getting a Mars probe is enough to back that thought. hehehe. It's their ancient defense system you know?
😛

And Red??? I'll take a shuttle...you take a Supermarine and lets see who wins the race??? Bloody English bore!
Jo

 

[Dave2112]

Me? An interest in Space? Naaahhhhh.....

It's the stuff that floats in space that interests me. The gravatic anomalies you have to avoid during hyperspace jumps, the microscopic particles that can blow a seven-meter gash in your hull, quantuum particles playing havoc with your Nav-Mapper. Shit like that.

I remember watching the Challenger explosion live on TV. My grandmother and I said nary a word for a few minutes as the scene unfolded.

I feel that far too little funding and importance is given to the Space program in this day and age. We can't seem to find the resources to explore space, find our companions and perhaps find another planet to live on once we finish fucking this one up...but we can spend $3 billion on a new weapon to kill people.

 

[toneus79]

Oh My God

Tonight is the first time I have ever looked in the General Discussion Forum, and it's brilliant.

But anyway SPACE, I live, eat, sleep, breathe Space (along with other things).

Unlike Jobelle, I don't have cable, so I watch NASA TV via the weblink: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/lowspeed.html
Whenever there is a Shuttle Mission in progress, the rest of my life comes to a halt for about 10 days. Regular Capcom Kady Coleman, and former Brit Michael Foale are my favourite astronauts.

To get all the current mission photos, daily downloads, as well as being a portal into the whole photographic history of NASA from the Mercury program onwards, click on http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/

Two films I would recommend are 'The Right Stuff' (based around the story of the original 'Mercury Seven' astronauts)+ 'Apollo 13 (based around the - oh you know)

An absolutely brilliant book I also recommend (which was originally an exhibition in London, at the Hayward Gallery) is: FULL MOON by Michael Light (published by Jonathan Cape). Try Amazon for this one. It is the best set of pictures of the Moon Landings, and the whole Apollo program, that you will ever come across.

I could talk more, but I better post this reply, before this connection dies on me.

 

[guitman69]

Hey thanks for the links toneus. I didn't even know there was a NASA TV channel. I live about an hour from the cape. On a quiet day, I can actually hear the shuttle going off. Unfortunately, I think it comes back right over my house. Whenever it returns, my house gets hit with two LOUD sonic booms. It hits so hard, that the glass doors to my back yard shake a good 3 inches. The first time it happened, I thought the glass was going to shatter.

I've been meaning to go to the center, but since 9/11, they've had the place locked down tight. You can't even drive down the major highway (A1-A), or have a boat in the water near the cape when there is launch scheduled.

 

[JoBelle]

Thanks T! For the links! Do you have the poleasure of working in the industry or are you just a freak for itlike the rest of us? 🙂

Ya know, I didn't have cable tv for many years, as I thought the crap they show just wasn't worth the money. Then after the events of 9/11, I thought it would be nice to have access to the news programs. It became "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Anthrax : 24 Hours a Day Rammed Down Your Throat." I went in search of other programs. My tv now lives on the NASA station..lol. I think I'd pay the monthly rate just for the views I can see there!!! It's amazing!

I live near the Stennis Space Center where they test shuttle components...ROCKETS, man ROCKETS.lol. It's a pretty neat little place. They do their job in the grand scheme. It's a nice place to visit if you're ever on the coast in MS.

Jo

 

[MadKalnod]

As a full-bore Sci-Fi Geek, I am entranced by space exploration, although I occasionally feel a twinge of guilt for not paying closer attention to NASA's activities. Then again, I'm the kind of guy who peeks ahead a few chapters when reading a mystery, so I suppose it's my nature to find the end result more interesting than the process of getting there.

I do feel that our Space Program has been stalled since the Challenger incident, but I also worry that it's a holdover from immediately after the Apollo Missions: A sense that there is no limit to what we could accomplish, yet we are somehow afraid to attempt it. 30 years later there should be thriving cities on the Moon, and scouting missions well underway on Mars and the Asteroid Belt. Instead, our astronauts, once considered the Boldest of the Bold, do little more than seeing how many months they can sit in an orbiting Russian milk-can with two guys named "Yuri."

I am infuriated by people who claim that the Space Program is a waste of resources, and that the money is better spent on "solving problems here at home." Bollocks. No social problem anywhere has ever been solved by Government spending. We have always had poor people. We had them when Columbus and Magellan set out on their voyages, and I have no doubt that we will continue to have them in the future, no matter how much money is thrown at them. If some want to ignore the stars to stare at the mud, that's their problem, but they must not be permitted to chain us all to the dirt unopposed.

The incomparable J. Mike Straczynski said it best, and I clumsily attempt to paraphrase him here:
Someday our sun will grow cold and die. When it does, it won't just take us with it. It will take Einstein, Lao-Tzu, Mozart, and Marilyn Monroe... Everything we've learned, struggled for, accomplished and created as a species will have been for nothing... Unless we go to the stars...

 

[Strelnikov]

I remember going outdoors at night with my dad in 1957, looking for Sputnik. I remember Wehrner von Braun's articles in the old Life Magazine about 1960, with illos by Chesley Bonestell. The program outlined started with a space shuttle, building a wagon wheel space station, then using it as a base for the exploration of the Moon and planets. I built Aurora plastic models of a shuttle and space station, designs based on the Bonestell illos (the Shuttle design differed from the present machines only in detail.) I followed the Mercury/Apollo program with avid interest. I was too young and naive to realize that it was just a big publicity stunt.

What happened? Unlike the long-term program outlined by von Braun, Mercury/Apollo was sold to the public as a Race to the Moon. We had to beat the Russians. When we did, the public collectively said: "Well, that's that. Let's spend the money on Welfare and building Interstate Highways instead."

NASA is doing good science these days, but it's the sort understood by only a few PhD types. It's hard to generate much excitement in the absence of boots-on-the-ground exploration. It's doubtful we'll see any more of that in my lifetime. And that's a shame.

Strelnikov

 

[JoBelle]

I will choose to optimistically disagree with you. It is my fervent hope that although it may take a bit of theatrics, we will take another "leap." I'm not sure how old ya are Strel, but I feel certain in my lifetime something will happen!

My guess is that human nature will make us once again venture to test ourselves with something unknown about our abilities. I don't actually care which country does it, but I want to see another big event unfold from the sky. We don't do a damn thing in this world, as far as exploration, unless we're attempting to prove a point. We're already trying to prove we can go to Mars. *shrug*

Sure, the collective masses can sit on their collective asses and say, "It's not gonna happen...grumble grumble...damn politicians... grumble grumble." But, there will always be enough people with a positive and hopeful outlook that things will happen...albeit slowly...but it's better than full-stop. Maybe it will just take another round of impressionable young people to believe the who-ha of the establishement. Naivete can be a lovely thing. I suppose I'm just star struck.

Jo

 

[SlaverTickler]

Beam Me Up!!!

I'll bet some time in the next 30 years or so we'll beable to travel like they do in Star Trek.It would be cool to get beamed from earth to a space ship. Of course this would risk world leader from other countries being kidnaped. I supose it would take an invation by an alian race to bring global unity. Let hope not, but I think thats what it would take.

 

[toneus79]

NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A DISCUSSION

To answer some questions, firstly Jobelle I WISH, I worked for the Space Program. God knows I would do anything to work there. I would even consider the position of lavatory cleaner to be a great honour, if NASA were my employer. However living in the UK, that does not seem likely.

guitman69 you are one lucky cuss, living that close to the action. Very interesting what you say about the enhanced security.

Madkalnod, I disagree with the idea that the Space Program, stalled after Challenger. The reality is the Space program stalled after Apollo. Once Kennedys Mission Statement had been achieved, and the Nixon administration refused to fund a mission to Mars, Nasa has been forced into something of a holding pattern with the Shuttle Program.

FACT 1: Since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, no MANNED space craft (either American or Russian), has ever left the gravitational pull of the earth, or do anything over than orbit the earth.

FACT 2: The Space Shuttle (all 4 of them) is not physically capable of recreating even the Apollo 8 mission, namely leave the earths gravity, fly to the moon, orbit the moon, break orbit from the moon, return to earth again. Not unless they tried launching with the blast potential of a hydrogen bomb (as opposed to the current blast potential of a small atomic bomb).

In essence it was not until the collaboration with the Russians in the mid Nineties linking with Mir, and in the last few years the collaboration to build the International Space Station (ISS), that the Shuttle has begun to find a real role.

Certainly the ISS is again something of a holding pattern. Nevertheless it is an exciting program, and a definate stepping stone, to future space exploration.

If you click on the link http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ this gives you all the current status of both the ISS and Shuttle. The next mission STS 109 is currently slated to launch on February 28th. Put that in your diaries. However be warned, these missions are put back at very short notice. The last one STS 108 was cancelled on its second launch attempt on the final built in 10 minute hold.

God I love talking space, is it a fetish ?

 

[strokeofgenius]

The Final Frontier, indeed 🙂 (Some fun facts.)

I've been a space junkie ever since I first heard about the moon landing and started studying that aspect of history. Watching the movie "Apollo 13" also helped in that growing interest.

Did you know that when I was younger I didn't even know that we had landed more than two men on the moon? For a long time I thought it was just Armstrong and Aldrin and that was it! Kind of sad actually, that it's not given more attention in schools. (Maybe it is today, and I just don't know it.)

I consider the moon landing(s) perhaps the greatest accomplishments in the history of our country. Roger Ebert wrote the following in his review of the movie "Apollo 13"..."I realized I'm writing this review on a better computer than the one that took our astronauts to the moon." Astonishing, isn't it? In the late-60s when Vietnam was ripping the country in half, when the Cold War was going nuts, the USA did something the world has never done since...put men on another heavenly body in our solar system. And they did it with some of the greatest minds around and technology that people laugh at today. How's that for "busting your ass"?

Here are some of the most amazing things to me about the Aoollo space program; some "fun facts", if you will... (here comes the space geek in me!):


- For almost the whole space race, we were lagging behind the Russians. Every chance they got they 'beat' us...landing on the moon not just finished the race, it destroyed the freakin' track. 🙂

- 12 lucky men have had the priviledge of walking on the moon. (How I wish I could be lucky 13!)

- Did you know that when Armstrong and Aldrin blasted off for space, President Nixon actually had a speech prepared for the nation in case Aldrin and Armstrong got "marooned" on the moon? Look it up, it's on the web somewhere.

- Apollo 11 was less than 30 seconds away from aborting as Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the moon. Armstrong's quick thinking and intense pilot skills secured the landing. Extremely low on fuel, a mission control worker shouted out "Someone tell Armstrong there ain't no gas stations on the moon."

- For all you Catholics, one of the first things Buzz Aldrin did on the moon was take Holy Communion. (Awwwwww.)

- In an interview, Jack Swaggert, CMP (Command Module Pilot) of Apollo 13 was asked if he was sad that he would not get a chance to set foot on the moon. (CMP's stayed in orbit while the other two went to the surface.) Swaggert said he was okay with it because his job was far more dangerous and nervewracking. Asked why, he said "Well, if something should go worng, God Forbid, and my two fellow astronauts get stuck on the moon's surface, I would have to pilot the ship home by myself. Do you want to fly from the moon to the earth ALONE???"

- A lot of controversy surrounded Aldrin and Armstrong over just who would be "First man on the moon." One side claimed Armstrong pulled rank and demanded to be first. (As Commander, many said he could have that pull.) The other side claimed NASA officials set up the ship so that the Commander HAD to be first, on the basis of how the Lunar Module door opened. (The only way Aldrin could go first is if he climbed all over Armstrong, and the bulky equipment would have made it near-impossible to do that.) Still others claimed that NASA officials did everything they could to ensure Armstrong would be first. In the middle of the Cold War and an intense Space Race, who would you want to be the first man to set foot on the moon...a career military man or a civilian? (Armstrong was not in the service when he walked on the moon. He was the only member of NASA who had not served in any branch.) Some say having Armstrong, a civilian, take the Moon's first steps, was a nice footnote in the history books. Which theory, if any, do you believe?

- There were supposed to be 20 Apollo missions. After Apollo 11, Apollo 20 was cut. And after the near-tragedy of Apollo 13, Apollo 19 and 18 were cut as well. However, since Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 were practically already paid for, NASA allowed them to go on, with very, very little fanfare. The country seemed to lose interest in space almost immediately following Apollo 11. (Shame, isn't it?)

- The plan was to establish a "Moon base" on the Moon by the mid-1980s. As you can tell, that never even came close to happening.

- During Apollo 8, the flight where astronauts first circled the moon, they read from the Book of Genesis. NASA was later sued by the ACLU. (Rat bastards. I swear, all they do is shove God further and further out of everything. But that's another discussion.) 🙂

- When Armstong and Aldrin took off from the moon, the blast from the engines knocked over the American flag they had placed on the surface. (Good thing others went up and set more up, huh?)

- When three astronauts died in the Apollo 1 fire, NASA decided to retire the name Apollo 1. The next few flights were all un-manned, until Apollo 7 happened.

- Apollo 7 was plagued with problems, including sick astronauts, malfunctioning equipment, and schedules nobody seemed to be able to keep. Communicating with Mission Control from the ship, the Apollo 7 astronauts were sarcastic, bitter, rude and even defiant, practically telling Mission Control to piss off at times. The mission leader at the time got pissed off and decided that after this flight, the three astronauts would never fly in space again.

- Since two ships involved landing on the moon, each one was given a name to make communicating with them easier. The name of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module was the "Eagle", and the Command Module was "Columbia." For Apollo 12, the LM was "Aquarius" and the CM was "Odyssey." Do you know what they were for Apollo 10? The LM was "Snoopy" and the CM was "Charlie Brown." 🙂

- When Pete Conrad, one of the Apollo 12 astronauts set foot on the moon, he had an interesting choice for his first words. Being the shortest of all astronauts, the drop form the ladder to the surface was bigger than usual. His first words were "Hoo, man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it was a long one for me!" 🙂

- And lastly, during one of the Apollo missions, someone stuck a little something extra into the astronauts' flight plans. What was it, you ask? The most recent Playboy Centerfold. (Houston, we have lift-off.) 🙂

Ok, class dismissed for now. Thanks for letting me show off.

More space talk to follow. 🙂

 

[JoBelle]

OH!! I LOVE This kinda stuff!!!
I wish I had more of a response....should I just say that I'm sitting here with a big goofy grin on my face,...lol. 🙂

Keep the fun stuff coming!! 🙂

Jo, whose brain just got tickled~!