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Dreams of the Moon

Posted by michael on from the green-cheese dept.

Iron Sun writes "The Mars Institute has an interesting overview of past studies into sending people to the Moon, ranging from pre-Apollo plans by Werner von Braun to NASA studies just a few years old. Timely, given the continuing speculation as to whether the US is going to go back."

7 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Some of the early plans are a bit out there by Iron+Sun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My personal favourite is the One Way Manned Space Mission scheme from 1962 that would involve putting a man on the Moon and then launch supplies to him for the several years needed to develop a two-way retrieval system. All in the name of planting a flag first.

    So, hands up. Who would accept this mission if it was offered?

  2. How about a really old one by Brahmastra · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This isn't technically a plan, but pretty entertaining and fascinating considering when it was written

  3. Dear Esteemed Sir by heironymouscoward · · Score: 5, Funny

    My late uncle, who I cannot name,
    left me an inheritance of $50Bn
    (yes, fifty billion USD) worth of
    diamonds which are unfortunately
    trapped in a space capsule on the
    surface of the moon. I am seeking
    investors who will help me recover
    this capsule, and in return for
    their investment I will be able to
    reward them richly. A trusted
    friend gave me your address and I
    hope you will be discrete with my
    message. The budget for a small
    one-man expedition to the Lunar
    Surface is approximately $30m, or
    $18m if a Chinese rocket is used.
    I am therefore inviting you to
    join in this unique opportunity
    with a guaranteed return of %1000
    on your investment, which can be
    as little as $1m. Yes, if you
    will provide me with just one
    million USD, I will on recovery
    of the lunar diamonds, repay you
    with TEN MILLION USD. We are
    also selling one excursion trip
    to the Moon, a round trip with
    unlimited stopovers, for the low
    low price of $12m.

    Yours sincerely,
    Abubakar_Ibrahim@yahoo.ng

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  4. Re: Dreams of the Moon by libra-dragon · · Score: 5, Funny
    We're going there, but we're not really going _back_. We just have to cover our asses so when the Chinese land there they'll find an American flag, lunar rover, footprints, etc..

    All of which presently reside inside a Hollywood soundstage.

  5. Replentish our supply of Cheese! by FelixCat · · Score: 5, Funny
    You think that's wild, how about when Wallace and Gromit went to the moon?

    They were able to accomplish the entire trip over a single weekend, including building the rocket.

    Of course, the best reason for going is the replentish our supply of Cheese!

    In case you didn't see before, a previous Slashdot article on returning to the moon.

  6. Probably by cubicledrone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can't go back to the moon. Nobody can make a "business case" for it. The skeptics and cynics will whine "what do we need THAT for?" and since nobody can demonstrate a 20% cash ROI in the latest version of Excel, complete with pie charts and a "whoosh" sound in PowerPoint, it won't happen.

    In other words, nobody has written an elevator pitch.

    Hope and progress are quaint notions which have no place amongst the cubicles. Now get back to work. Rent is due.

    --
    Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
  7. Re:Some things to think about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you haven't, read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (by Robert Heinlein) for a war between a lunar colony and Earth story...