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Junkyard Owner Saves Lunar Rover Prototype (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Tuesday, Slashdot users learned that a man in Alabama sold a lunar rover prototype for scrap metal. We now learn that the junkyard owner has saved this important piece of scientific history. The man claims that, upon receiving the prototype at his scrap facility, he set it aside because he knew exactly what it was.
On Tuesday, Slashdot users learned that...
And yet, everyone else learned about this on Monday. Go Slashdot!
Where Rick offered 500 bucks for it, Big Hoss asked whether the moon landing was faked, the old man mentioned the Navy and Chum sat on it.
The man claims that, upon receiving the prototype at his scrap facility, he set it aside because he knew exactly what it was.
I call bullsh*t.
If you save mountains of crap you will find 0.12% of it useful. Someday...
Seriously, this news made my day much nicer.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Have gnu, will travel.
According to the article NASA knew exactly where it was, that it was not destroyed and had even come to inspect it.
"NASA knew it was still available. In my mind, they tried to play a trickery game. They wanted me to loan it to them, but I think they just wanted to get it into their possession. They offered me [perks], they offered me everything but cash," the junkyard owner said. "NASA told me when they came out to inspect it that they had looked for it for 25 years. It is the von Braun, the first and last they made. I was told it is the rarest of all the units."
So what's the deal?
Did he kept The Vulture from being scrapped?!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1
Reminded me of Salvage 1, one of my favorite series.
Compare the photos:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/someone-in-alabama-sold-a-priceless-lunar-rover-for-scrap-metal
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/heroic-junkyard-owner-says-he-saved-priceless-moon-rover-from-scrap-heap
The 'original' had many more holes in the wheels, and the curvature does not match many parts of the vehicle
bottom line: More NASA lies (which stands for Never A Straight Answer)
more proof we never landed
More like:
Junk Yard: You can have it for $FAIRLY_LARGE_SUM, or I'll sell it to the highest bidder. But out of deference, I'm willing to give you first access without bidding.
NASA: Give it to us for free, or we will use legal acton (which is why junkyard owner brought in lawyers and kept silent).
NASA probably lied to try and cast doubt on the authenticity of what he had to reduce the selling price so they could get it cheaper. Far more believable than your absurd fantasy of the junk yard owner threatening to melt down a priceless artifact.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The wheels in the two photos are identical, apparently you can't count very well. Either than or you are unable to recognize the difference between light cast onto cross-beams on the back of the wheels from the holes themselves...
The cross-beams on the wheels you can't see well (only back-right wheel) in the current-day picture, but it's still pretty obvious in the original photo what is going on light-wise.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This reads so much like like a silly 80's movie.
All we need is a soundtrack... lol
Great series.
...but I don't believe it.
Look at the canopy arch. the one in the photo is very different from the one in the junkyard.
Last night I bought a Baen EBook: Terry Bisson - Numbers Don't Lie.
The book consists of three stories, one of them is about a "Hole in the Hole", a Brooklyn junkyard which uses a spacetime rift connecting the junkyard to the Moon in order to get rid of old tires. Our protagonists tries to use said rift to retrieve one of the three Apollo Moon buggies that were left behind.
Terje
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
They said 'bigoted', you're the one who tried to make sexism and racism the only types thereof...
Liberals hate that your stuff is not junk. They want to take all of your nice things and give you only junk in return. Obamacare makes you pay money (premiums) for the privilege of then spending your own money (deductible) on your own healthcare costs - and they want us to think that because we don't get taxed on HSA savings they're doing us a favor. Liberals hate property. So much hate.
This "rover" is a replica knocked together from junk the owner had in the junkyard when this story hit the wire.
The "original" "rover" may or may not have been melted down, sold to the Chinese or some pets.com mogul or turned into a bitchin' electric dunebuggy.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Because this JUNKYARD owner doesn't have a REALITY TV SHOW -- and everyone knows that all Junkyard Owners have reality TV shows!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
So does he give it back to NASA as a gift and gain the good will of the world, or does he try and squeeze them for as much money as humanly possible? I know which I hope for and I am nearly positive that it won't be the one he chooses.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
The article claims that this is the same prototype as the one pictured with Wernher von Braun. But the one in the junk yard has different wheels 8 cutouts around the perimeter, while the Wernher picture has 12 pictures in quadrants of 3. And while the buggy is facing backwards to the picture with Wernher the arch at the top of the 'swing set' is much sharper in the junkyard version.
While it certainly looks like a prototype, I doubt this is the same buggy that Wernher von Braun was pictured in. To change the wheels, and swing set would be major changes and I would expect that NASA would have built another buggy for such changes.
Just my amature observation.