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Neil Armstrong's Widow Discovers Moon Camera In Bag
hypnosec writes Over 40 years after Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 trip, a hidden bag full of artifacts has been discovered by his widow Carol Armstrong. Carol found the bag after Neil's death shortly after he underwent heart surgery. The bag contained a total of 20 items including the priceless 16mm movie camera that recorded Apollo 11's descent to the surface of the moon, an optical alignment sight used by the crew for docking maneuvers, and a waist tether among other things. The bag and its contents are now on loan to the National Air and Space Museum for preservation, research and eventual public display.
Past the statute of limitations; he's dead; and I'm sure we can agree that Neil f*ing Armstrong can keep a memento/be forgiven for overlooking a memento or two. And how do you know no one said "shit Neil, keep it if it means so much to you". I know I would have.
Buzz Aldrin needs to punch you in the face.
Well there were questions raised, but it's all settled now- they're her mementoes now.
http://spacenews.com/obama-sig...
I agree with the Bill, but am re-reading Michael Collins' excellent autobiography and he's not completely effusive about many of his colleagues - he also shares the bewilderment over the David Scott Apollo 15 mailbag. [talking about heroes with leaden feet, the book's autobiography is by Charles Lindbergh].
No, he's really not. And given what a bunch of pansy ass wimps the conspiracy theorists generally are, I'm sure Buzz could handle it on his own. He certainly did Bart Sibrel in 2002, and he keeps as busy a schedule as ever.
The astronauts were paid their regular military salaries, plus hazardous duty pay. It was a pittance. In order to compensate these men more fully The United States Congress authorized, through legislation, that astronauts could keep spent NASA equipment as mementos. It was always one of the 'unwritten rules' at NASA during that era. It wasn't until years later that it was questioned by some bureaucrat and the legislation was needed to end and questions
So no theft or questionable loans were involved.
Neil Armstrong was a great and honorable man. Nothing that trolling idiots or conspiracy-theory loonies can say will ever change that, or make them into the tiniest fraction of the man he was.
I DARE you to say that to Buzz Aldrin.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
You're trolling, but here I am responding. Sigh.
The 16 mm movie camera was no doubt physically attached to the lunar module cabin, and the flight plan simply didn't call for detaching and abandoning it. Consider that it also probably was used to record other things, such as descent, ascent, rendezvous, etc.
The Apollo 11 astronauts did leave behind a small fortune in camera equipment: the Hasselblad cameras used to record the moonwalks. They only brought back the exposed film. This was done to lighten the lunar module, and to compensate for the moon rocks they did in fact bring back.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
...ethics does seem to say one shouldn't just haul stuff home from work, even if it is surplus junk.
WTF? Seriously???
http://www.theonion.com/articl...
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
I don't think the monetary value was the reason the astronauts kept these things. All the stuff that went to the Moon was essentially treated as disposable. Rather than recertify some gizmo as ready for the next moon shot, NASA simply bought another one. So guys took stuff as mementos of the greatest adventure of their lives rather than have it tossed away or sold for surplus at a tiny fraction of their original cost.
Honestly, if the astronauts *did* take them as a way to augment their salary I *would* have a problem with this, but what they took was essentially worthless. Look at this particular trove; except for the camera it's all just junk. Even the camera is no big deal unless you need to take one to the moon. From a practical standpoint you'd probably be better off springing for a consumer Bell and Howell 16mm than trying to use this thing.
You see stuff this in surplus vendors all the time, optical or mechanical geegaws the military paid tens of thousands of dollars being sold for a few bucks All that money went to meet some oddball requirements that nobody else has.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The Apollo 11 astronauts did leave behind a small fortune in camera equipment: the Hasselblad cameras used to record the moonwalks. They only brought back the exposed film. This was done to lighten the lunar module, and to compensate for the moon rocks they did in fact bring back.
No, Buzz Aldrin did leave exposed film on the moon, out of retaliation against Neil Armstrong.
I used to work at the California Museum of Science and Industry. Every once in a while they would do a purge of really old stuff that had been stored in the basements for decades. They would rent a giant dumpster and hire people to haul stuff out to fill it up. We were not only told that we could have anything we found in there, but we were given time to dig through it during work time. Why? Because it fed our scientific nerdyness, making us more enthusiastic science museum employees. Because the more stuff we could find a new home for, the less they had to pay to haul away.
The only rule was that those who decided what to throw out couldn't then go and get it out of the dumpster.
Of course, that was before eBay. Nowadays, I am sure they have someone whose job it is to post that kind of stuff on eBay and sell it to help fund the museum.
There is absolutely NO ethical problem with taking home surplus from work, if it is truly surplus and you have permission.
Too bad -- they should have negotiated better terms up front.
A differnt day and age. Getting to the moon was more important than becoming a 1 percenter.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Armstrong risked his ass in countless ways flying to the goddamned MOON, he can keep all the extra cameras and junk he wants to. If ANYONE earned this stuff its the guys who put their lives on the line for science, the USA, and the general advancement of humanity.
I see zero problem with this.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
"And this! Number Seventeen! This is the cover for the waste management unit in my Moon Suit. I peed on the fucking Moon, baby!"
I can see the fnords!
Statute of limitations only applies to the crime of theft. Courts have long ruled (and upheld the last time an astronaut tried to sell a camera in 2011) that there is no limitation to the Feds exerting their "rights", such as property ownership. However in this specific case, congress passed a law in 2012 specifically assigning ownership of mementos, including hardware that would have been discarded or destroyed during the mission, such as this camera, to the astronauts that hold them.
He was on the moon, and he peed into a waste management unit, but he did not pee *on* the moon (not even to write his own name).
He peed. While on the moon. He peed. On the moon. He peed on the moon. Just not... "on" the moon.