Its 40 years today since Apollo 11 set off to thee moon, I was 10 and watched (I had seen 9 an 10 previously) with my parents....on our Black and White D.E.R rented TV.....very exciting, awesome achievements...I was nutty about the moon landings and was allowed to stay up for coverage...eventually seeing all from 11-17.....the BBC erased all the live tapes soon after, so we have only snippets of their coverage....I well remember James Burke and Patrick Moore on the shows...I would even stay up to watch the 5 minute 'mid course correction' updates.....had an airfix saturn 5....
I honour these achievements, the astronauts and the thousands who made it possible....
these days we lack vision and focus in our endeavours....onwards to Mars...er, or Uranus
On the spring morning in 1927 when Charles Lindbergh set off alone across the Atlantic Ocean, only a handful of explorer-adventurers were capable of even attempting the feat. Many had tried before Lindbergh's successful flight, but all had failed and many lost their lives in the process. Most people then thought transatlantic travel was an impossible dream. But 40 years later, 20,000 people a day were safely flying the same route that the "Lone Eagle" had voyaged. Transatlantic flight had become routine.
Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and I began our quarter-million-mile journey through the blackness of space to reach the moon.
Neil and I walked its dusty ancient soil, becoming the first humans to stand upon another world. Yet today, no nation -- including our own -- is capable of sending anyone beyond Earth's orbit, much less deeper into space.
For the past four years, NASA has been on a path to resume lunar exploration with people, duplicating (in a more complicated fashion) what Neil, Mike and our colleagues did four decades ago. But this approach -- called the "Vision for Space Exploration" -- is not visionary; nor will it ultimately be successful in restoring American space leadership. Like its Apollo predecessor, this plan will prove to be a dead end littered with broken spacecraft, broken dreams and broken policies.
Instead, I propose a new Unified Space Vision, a plan to ensure American space leadership for the 21st century. It wouldn't require building new rockets from scratch, as current plans do, and it would make maximum use of the capabilities we have without breaking the bank. It is a reasonable and affordable plan -- if we again think in visionary terms.
On television and in movies, "Star Trek" showed what could be achieved when we dared to "boldly go where no man has gone before." In real life, I've traveled that path, and I know that with the right goal and support from most Americans, we can boldly go, again.
A race to the moon is a dead end. While the lunar surface can be used to develop advanced technologies, it is a poor location for homesteading. The moon is a lifeless, barren world, its stark desolation matched by its hostility to all living things. And replaying the glory days of Apollo will not advance the cause of American space leadership or inspire the support and enthusiasm of the public and the next generation of space explorers.
Now, I am not suggesting that America abandon the moon entirely, only that it forgo a moon-focused race. As the moon should be for all mankind, we should return there as part of an internationally led coalition. Using the landers and heavy-lift boosters developed by our partners, we could test on the moon the tools and equipment that we will need for our ultimate destination: homesteading Mars by way of its moons.
Let the lunar surface be the ultimate global commons while we focus on more distant and sustainable goals to revitalize our space program. Our next generation must think boldly in terms of a goal for the space program: Mars for America's future. I am not suggesting a few visits to plant flags and do photo ops but a journey to make the first homestead in space: an American colony on a new world.
Robotic exploration of Mars has yielded tantalizing clues about what was once a water-soaked planet. Deep beneath the soils of Mars may lie trapped frozen water, possibly with traces of still-extant primitive life forms. Climate change on a vast scale has reshaped Mars. With Earth in the throes of its own climate evolution, human outposts on Mars could be a virtual laboratory to study these vast planetary changes. And the best way to study Mars is with the two hands, eyes and ears of a geologist, first at a moon orbiting Mars and then on the Red Planet's surface.
Mobilizing the space program to focus on a human colony on Mars while at the same time helping our international partners explore the moon on their own would galvanize public support for space exploration and provide a cause to inspire America's young students. Mars exploration would renew our space industry by opening up technology development to all players, not just the traditional big aerospace contractors. If we avoided the pitfall of aiming solely for the moon, we could be on Mars by the 60th anniversary year of our Apollo 11 flight.
Much has been said recently about the Vision for Space Exploration and the future of the international space station. As we all reflect upon our historic lunar journey and the future of the space program, I challenge America's leaders to think boldly and look beyond the moon. Yes, my vision of "Mars for America" requires bold thinking. But as my friend and Gemini crewmate Jim Lovell has noted, our Apollo days were a time when we did bold things in space to achieve leadership. It is time we were bold again in space.
...and 40 years later we've been reduced to cutting people's heads off and crashing planes into skyscrappers. Boy...how we've progressed.
Still remember being woken in the middle of the night to see...well nothing really...if anybody says you could see anything on TV they were lying...a fuzzy 'something' with Burke and Michelmore getting over excited in the studio.
I think any kind of scientific progress our societies make in this general state of things would take us only further and quicker into the abyss. Scientific progress nowadays is a product, and products need to make money. I believe no mayor breakthrough would get used for improving the common good.
Imagine someone independently inventing a cure for cancer, free energy or effortless space travel for everyone. I guess next thing that happens would be that person ending up in a deadly accident with all research results mysteriously being destroyed. Inventions like that would undermine the money- and power structures on planet Earth and can't be allowed to happen. Also, happy and carefree people don't submit to governments or religion.... not good in the eyes of the powerful. The situation is pretty hopeless isn't it?
Michael66 wrote:I think any kind of scientific progress our societies make in this general state of things would take us only further and quicker into the abyss. Scientific progress nowadays is a product, and products need to make money. I believe no mayor breakthrough would get used for improving the common good.
Imagine someone independently inventing a cure for cancer, free energy or effortless space travel for everyone. I guess next thing that happens would be that person ending up in a deadly accident with all research results mysteriously being destroyed. Inventions like that would undermine the money- and power structures on planet Earth and can't be allowed to happen. Also, happy and carefree people don't submit to governments or religion.... not good in the eyes of the powerful. The situation is pretty hopeless isn't it?
pessimistic but true....
although we will have benefits from Nuclear Fusion reactors should we ever get any, and any discoveries at the LHC.....HUmanity must aspire to greatness or we will be forever under the yoke of ignorance......
although we will have benefits from Nuclear Fusion reactors should we ever get any, and any discoveries at the LHC.....HUmanity must aspire to greatness or we will be forever under the yoke of ignorance......
Maybe a culture shock that can't be stopped would help us to wake up. Like finding a way to connect to the "galactic internet" or something like that. Would cause chaos and pretty much ruin the pope's business model for the last 2000 years, but how much fun would that be... !
24db wrote:Still remember being woken in the middle of the night to see...well nothing really...if anybody says you could see anything on TV they were lying...a fuzzy 'something' with Burke and Michelmore getting over excited in the studio.
Me too. Couldn't make a thing out on the telly. Just a grey smudge.
...apparently Pink Floyd were playing in the studio as well. Don't remember that at all.
24db wrote:Still remember being woken in the middle of the night to see...well nothing really...if anybody says you could see anything on TV they were lying...a fuzzy 'something' with Burke and Michelmore getting over excited in the studio.
Me too. Couldn't make a thing out on the telly. Just a grey smudge.
...apparently Pink Floyd were playing in the studio as well. Don't remember that at all.
Talking about Apollo...anybody remember the rubber room? and no it's got nothing to do with BM
24db wrote:Still remember being woken in the middle of the night to see...well nothing really...if anybody says you could see anything on TV they were lying...a fuzzy 'something' with Burke and Michelmore getting over excited in the studio.
Me too. Couldn't make a thing out on the telly. Just a grey smudge.
...apparently Pink Floyd were playing in the studio as well. Don't remember that at all.
Talking about Apollo...anybody remember the rubber room? and no it's got nothing to do with BM
bigmoog wrote:Its 40 years today since Apollo 11 set off to thee moon, I was 10 and watched (I had seen 9 an 10 previously) with my parents....on our Black and White D.E.R rented TV.....very exciting, awesome achievements...I was nutty about the moon landings and was allowed to stay up for coverage...eventually seeing all from 11-17.....the BBC erased all the live tapes soon after, so we have only snippets of their coverage....I well remember James Burke and Patrick Moore on the shows...I would even stay up to watch the 5 minute 'mid course correction' updates.....had an airfix saturn 5....
I honour these achievements, the astronauts and the thousands who made it possible....
these days we lack vision and focus in our endeavours....onwards to Mars...er, or Uranus
I was eleven then and I also watched it. Think It gives me the love for SF.
It gave a great impression to me and i was exited. Still remember it as the day of yesterday.
How different we are now. More CPU in my mobile than on Apollo XI and all it's meant to do is entertain.
Space attracts because it offers alternatives to the world we have - which is amazing enough in its own right while we're not screwing it over for a buck.
redziller wrote:How different we are now. More CPU in my mobile than on Apollo XI and all it's meant to do is entertain.
Space attracts because it offers alternatives to the world we have - which is amazing enough in its own right while we're not screwing it over for a buck.
I recently sent my mobile fone into space, effin thing
24db wrote:Still remember being woken in the middle of the night to see...well nothing really...if anybody says you could see anything on TV they were lying...a fuzzy 'something' with Burke and Michelmore getting over excited in the studio.
Seems there is quite a bit of interest for the 40th...NASA have apparently released some cleaned up video of the landing....saw it tonight on telly and it was quite spectacular. There has been a story of some typae every night this week on our evening news.
redziller wrote:How different we are now. More CPU in my mobile than on Apollo XI and all it's meant to do is entertain.
Space attracts because it offers alternatives to the world we have - which is amazing enough in its own right while we're not screwing it over for a buck.
I recently sent my mobile fone into space, effin thing
