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Apollo 11's 35th Anniversary
colonist writes "35 years ago, on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 began to achieve the goal set by the late President Kennedy: '...before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth'. On July 20, Michael Collins orbited the moon in the command module Columbia while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface in the lunar module Eagle. The descent engine was halfway through its final 12-minute burn when a yellow caution light lit up on the display of the lunar module computer. [ARMSTRONG: Program Alarm... It's a 1202. ALDRIN: 1202. (Pause) ARMSTRONG: (To Buzz) What is it? Let's incorporate (the landing radar data). (To Houston) Give us a reading on the 1202 Program Alarm.] Buzz Aldrin's recollection: 'Back in Houston, not to mention on board the Eagle, hearts shot up into throats while we waited to learn what would happen. We had received two of the caution lights when Steve Bales the flight controller responsible for LM computer activity, told us to proceed... We received three or four more warnings but kept on going. When Mike, Neil, and I were presented with Medals of Freedom by President Nixon, Steve also received one. He certainly deserved it, because without him we might not have landed.' Fred Martin describes the incidents, and Peter Adler looks at the design of the system."
Personally, I prefer The Onion's coverage of the event. Fair and balanced, you might say.
For anyone who has HBO and hasn't seen it, there is a twelve part 'docudrama' on HBO called "From Earth to the Moon". It covers the all the Apollo missions and is absolutely fascinating. It is available now if you have On Demand.
Written by the mission controller throughout the whole thing.
Blaze a trail to the New World
and we haven't done much at all comparable since.
That's not to say that NASA hasn't done some great things since or recently (Hubble, Pathfinder, Opportunity and Spirit, Voyager, Pioneer all spring to mind immediately), but there hasn't been a significant excursion into space by mankind since the last Apollo mission.
Well, maybe the ISS counts for something in that regard. *shrug*
my pet machine
...the greatest achievement man has done yet - I was 10 at the time, and can still remember looking up to the moon and thinking men were walking about on it
Nick
The Dish.
Man, this is such a troll but I'll bite.
Getting to the moon was an unbelievably complex and difficult thing to do. in retrospect it seems doable since we know it's been done but keep in mind that this was the first time this was all done.
Keeping a system of mechanical, electrical and information systems working together flawlessly is beyond most engineering feats today. If a single thing went wrong back then it could have meant the failure of the mission and loss of crew not to mention international shame. Some of the best minds in the world worked in this so to call them dumb is both ignorant and an insult to their effort.
ok, I'm done venting.
Blaze a trail to the New World
Members of the model/amateur/experimental rocket community are holding a celebration of sorts online. Rocketers are invited to logon to The Rocketry Forum (http://rocketryforum.com) and be onine across the time point Tuesday, July 20, 10:56:15 PM EDT. This is 35 years to the second from Armstrong's "one small step". Many will be in chat, but the main point is to get as many people logged onto the board as possible during that time. Even if you've just a passing interest, drop by and check it out, and help out with the numbers just by being there. Or sign up (free) and hang around.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
35 years ago we put a man on the moon.. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
What kills me is that people exclaim how the iPOD, XBOX or Furby is "revolutionary" or will change how the world does [insert buzzword here].
I wonder how many high school students today even know we put a man on the moon...
(Impressive how I can keep typing while on fire, isn't it? Now where was I? Oh yeah.)
Aaaghhhhh!!!!!!! Help ME!!!!
According to http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp65.htm, the HP 65 was introduced in 1974, far too late to participate in any of the moon missions, but it did fly on Apollo-Soyuz and got some use doing course corrections there.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Wheres the mention of the most infamous mistake ever?
"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
should of been
"One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"
I like muppets.
You had to join the military
AND You had to get more degrees than a thermometer
2. How many of you think that "Apollo" is only a character on "Battlestar Gallactica"
Kennedy was involved in helping start one of the major stompings of a smaller nation of the 20th century, known as the Vietnam War...
For those of you who are non-American, let me explain: In America, we have become SO polarized that the moment a democrat says something, a republican immediately says "why it's wrong/why he's REALLY doing it for some evil purpose" - and vice versa. I guarentee you, Al Franken has already decided that whatever Bush will do in 2006 (if elected) is already wrong, EVEN BEFORE HEARING IT! Same way that republicans ALWAYS said clinton was wrong (When Clinton bombed Iraq in 1998, Republicans said it was only to distract us from Monica). And yes, Rush already agrees with whatever Bush agrees with and hates Hilary Clinton's Senate bills even before they're presented. This goes both ways.
Today, had president X said that we have to unite as a nation and go to Mars by 2016, the other side would immediately say "It's stupid/useless/waste of money/just a distraction from (problem Y)."
Was Kennedy's space-race politically motivated? Yeah. Is it a good thing it happened? From my point of view... definately. Science doesn't know politics. Martian soil doesn't really care about WMDs or Gay Marriage. I hope that the next leader to make such a bold statement is met with some sort of unity, and not bickering. (But it won't).
As Chris Rock said in his latest comedy special about partisan politics: "Anyone who decides on an issue... before hearing the issue... is abolutely f*@&ing crazy!"
When I was eight or nine years old a neighbor gave me a copy of The Invasion of the Moon 1969 by Peter Ryan. I've read it at least a dozen times since then.
It's a paperback, mostly consisting of transcripts of the communications between Mission Control and the Apollo 11 mission, with commentary and explanation interspersed.
Sadly, the book is long out of print, but you can find used copies through the usual sources. I bought one a couple years ago for a friend who read mine and liked it.
As I understand it, it was more of a watchdog timer interrupt than a reboot: the 'operating system' would run through the tasks allocated to it in order of priority and if it hadn't finished those tasks in one 'tick', an interrupt would raise the program error and jump back to the start. Low priority tasks like updating the displays would get dropped, but the important stuff like navigation and controlling the engine would be run properly.
The tech focus of the Clinton era led to an over-inflated economy that collapsed under its own unrealistic expectations. People blame bush for the economy tanking in 2000. It was not his fault, nor do I blame Clinton(as much as I would like to). It was similar to the time leading up to the Great Depression--wild hysteria about how much money one could make easily, followed by ruined hopes (and fortunes) when reality set in.
I will, however agree that the space program (including the much-maligned ISS) does contribute to the development of new products. However, we need to stop shouldering such a vast majority of the financial responsibility for it.
Help find a cure for cancer. Join the [H]orde
Although the article above links to a portion of this site, the full Lunar Surface Journal offers an incredibly detailed look at the Apollo program, including audio, video, and high resolution images from the missions. Be warned, you will spend hours there :).
www.lonseidman.com
Since Tom Hanks was up in space? I must say Tom is a great astronaut and a hero to all of us for his efforts in outterspace.
.... .................
Drifting forward just a little.
That's good.
Contact light.
Shut down.
Okay. Engine stop.
ACA out of detent.
Out of detent. Auto.
Mode control, both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm off. 413 is in.
We copy you down eagle.
Engine arm is of. Houston, Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed.
Roger Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again, thank you.
I wasnt born then. Still there is a lump in my throat when I read those words. I wish I am alive when we hear something along these lines when we touch down on the Red Planet..or even farther..
Wish for a moment, we could stop all this crap going around and remember those brave souls who perished in our urge to leap higher and honor their souls by setting higher goals and achieve them.
Rapid Nirvana
A major stop on NASA's space center tour is the moonwalking shrine.The tour leader beams with pride, but I am saddened by NASA's lack of progress in manned space exploration the past 35 years. Its a dusty old museum of past glories.
In spite of our half-trillion-dollar deficit, the Bush Administration is going to send humans to Mars someday.
I say, lets start today... With George W. Bush...
In the 60s we looked ahead, learned from failure, tried again and landed on the moon.
Now when we fail, we look back, assign blame, postpone, assign blame, and postpone some more.
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
Can be found here
It was sounded because the computer was receiving more instructions than it could handle and it was getting to the point where it would have just stopped executing them, leading to an abort.
Rapid Nirvana
I have been reading Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct (borrowed from my father-in-law) and yesterday I came to a conclusion. I must mention that I have some very deeply held political ideology: I am a strong anarcho-libertarian. I believe all taxation ought to be repealed, the purpose of government ought to be limited to defense of rights against aggression, important government projects like space exploration ought to be handled through voluntary donation and/or private enterprise, and government ought to relinquish its monopoly and allow competing governments to be set up within the same geographic region.
HOWEVER
Reading Mars Direct yesterday I suddenly found myself just amazingly mad. Yes, space exploration ought to be handled by private enterprise ... but the reforms needed to bring about the ideal libertarian society I believe would handle this are decades off and will probably not occur in my lifetime. Meanwhile, the government is still taking our money ... and what are we getting for it? Mankind has not set foot on the moon in my lifetime, and even if he did I'm not sure what it would accomplish. But Mars has been sitting there, waiting. How many billions of dollars have been spent on the space program since man landed on the moon in 1969, and why have those billions of dollars not gotten us to Mars?
If they are going to take my money away to support space exploration, something I would have voluntarily given my contributions for, they ought to at least produce what they promise to deliver. But we're sitting on earth, noone is in transit to Mars, and noone is there to look at these emissions of ammonia and methane to see if it's rocks or life.
And the saddest thing of all is ... for a mere 20 billion dollars, someone could be sitting there right now to answer our questions for us. That's awful.
So yesterday I threw a lot of my principles out the window. Yes, I don't believe space exploration should be handled by governments instead of private industry ... but for crying out loud, it ought to be handled, somehow! And we shouldn't have to wait until my grandchildren have grandchildren to see it. It can be done, now for $20 billion. It ought to start TODAY. George Bush (I like him; I know many of you do not) should be on the news, announcing that we have a plan to take us to Mars in less than 10 years for 20 billion dollars, and it starts today. Congress ought to be passing the paperwork as we speak. This is more important than just about any other political issue. This is about the future of the human race. Are we going to stagnate, or are we going to explore the new frontier?
And you know what? That $20 billion is trivial. Governments spend that all the time. That's less than 1% of the national debt. And after all the trouble we went to to get a balanced budget, we're currently running a deficit again. Look, if we can pay off $3 trillion (that was the national debt when I was about 15; I don't know what it is, now) at some unidentified future date, we can pay off another $20 billion at some unidentified future date. Quit whining, borrow the money, and do it! The plans are sitting on your desk.
NASA could be scrapped and we'd free up $15.5 billion for this project. But actually if we spread the plan out over ten years, it's only $2 billion. Half of NASA's plans are silly float humans in LEO plans that are doing nothing, anyway. (Many of these are designed to research irrelevant Mars mission scenarios, like long term effects to zero-g. Mars Direct provides for spinning the transit vehicle (duh!) to provide gravity. What a waste!) Drop a few of those, free up the money, and do it. Better yet, forget NASA altogether. Let NASA go ahead with their work (yes, much of it is excellent; I'm just in rant mode; the rovers are great, the probes are great, but the places we are sending humans stink). Meanwhile, we could just increase
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
On the subject of getting us out of Low Earth Orbit again, one month ago NASA organized a workshop to brainstorm and refine ideas for cash prizes, as part of the Centennial Challenges Program. I was on their web site, and noticed that a Post-Workshop Report is now available. There's quite a bit of good information there regarding possible prizes.
Here's a list of possible prize goals which were examined in detail (from TOC):
- Precision Lander
- Astronaut Glove
- Mobile Power Breakthrough
- Micro Reentry Vehicle
- Robot Triathlon
- Lunar Processing Demo
- Quantum Computer
- Lunar Landing
- Telerobotic Race
- General Aviation
- 3-Dimensional Detector
- Autonomous Earth Analog Sample Return
- Long-Duration Cryogenic Propellant Storage Tank
- Perpetual (30-Day) UAV
- Aircraft Engine
- Deployable Telescopes
- Aerocapture
- Autonomous UAV Cargo Hauler
- Human Radiation Shielding
- Solar Sail Race
- Rover Survivor
- Planetary Surface Power Transmission
- Extreme Environment Computer
- Mars Com/Nav Micromission
- Autonomous Drill
- Nanotube Tether
- In-Situ Life Detector
- Asteroid Mission
- Miniature Robotic Flyer
- Human Space Flight - Orbiter Technology
- Human Space Flight - Suborbital Flight
- Human Space Flight - PVT APOLLO 8
- Education
- Suborbital Flights for Scientific Payloads
- Landing
- Post Landing Activities
- EVA Preparations
- One Small Step
- Mobility and Photography
- EASEP Deployment and Close-out
- Trying to Rest
- The Return to Orbit
These transcripts also have RealAudio (blergh, but better than nothing I guess
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Although he claimed that he wasn't bitter about being left in the command module, Michael Collins spent his time alone by replacing Neil Armstrong's Tang with Metamucil and reversing the direction on the toilet hose.
During their training, the Apollo 11 astronauts were taught to identify over 1200 varieties of cheese, "just in case..."
Buzz Aldrin's capsule record of 72 zero-G somersaults before puking has never been broker.
Mission Control was commanded to whisper while Buzz Aldrin was hitting a golf ball.
The following conversation occurred during one of the lunar rover expiditions, but was quickly hushed up:
Buzz Aldrin stated that his biggest regret was that he 3-putted Mare Imbrium.
Doom. Quake. Unreal Tournament. All games where you play the role of a hero against insurmountable odds. All deliciously showy and fun as hell. But... Could you step into the shoes of an actual hero and land Apollo 11?
Download Eagle Lander 3D and find out. From their home page:
I don't know about anyone else, but this simple simulation has somewhat skewed my view of FPS games. I have passable 5k1llz in QuakeWorld and UT, but they are absolutely useless trying to land a LEM. Patience and attention to detail are the key here, not twitch-and-fire. (You couldn't "twitch" a LEM, anyway.) I've played Eagle Lander a bit, and I'm no damn good at it.
Think about that for a second. I've wrecked a LEM several times in this game/simulator. Hey, no big deal, right? Just restart the game. Now, think about Neil Armstrong, sitting there in the middle of what's essentially the ultimate desert, a half million miles from home, being watched by a billion people, flying this tiny little metal can, trying to kiss the surface of the moon. Granted, he had years of training in simulators and mockups, but this is the real deal, and he absolutely cannot fuck this up! No retries, no $0.25 for three more lives. One shot. Success or absolute failure.
Now, keep that frame of reference in mind when you grab the controls of Eagle Lander 3D, and see if it doesn't even slightly mess with your sense of gravity about what you're doing (pun not intended).
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions