Moonshot +40

[CelticMuscle]

If you were born before 1964 (i.e 45 years or older) this Thursday (and the following Monday) will be two days that you will remember fondly as you are able to go around and say "I saw man land on the moon", and this reminded me of the rather unusual effects space travel has had in the past so with the forum's permission, here are just a selection of what can go wrong in space:

Name: Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm
Year of space mission: 1961
Problem: Cosmic Radiation

Ben was Dr. Reed Richards' college roommate and best friend so when he quaified as a pilot he seemed like the most sensible choice to pilot a space rocket in order to beat the Soviet Union into space. However, there was one tiny little hiccup (namely the cosmic radiation that surrounds Earth and prevents the intense solar radiation from roasting the planet). As a result of interacting with said radiation he has been transformed into a monstrous, craggy humanoid with orange, rock-like skin and super-strength and doesn't feel too happy about it from time to time either

http://steelers.typepad.com/my_weblo...en_grimm_1.jpg

Next: How not to test a rocket and why inflation is never a good guide

[arpeejay]

As I recall they landed around 8 or 9 p.m., U.S. Central Daylight Time. My parents let me stay up to watch the coverage until I couldn't take it any more (about 1:30 a.m.) I was 11 years old.

xoox

Richard

[BigSteve6ft3]

Oh man, I remember it vividly. I was nine and obsessed with rockets and space flight (I had models of all the spacecraft, including a monstrous 4-foot-tall Saturn V). The day of the landing was a beautiful summer day where I was (US Pacific Northwest) -- not a cloud in the deep blue sky, and you could see the moon up there in broad daylight. My parents had moved the TV out to the patio so we could have a BBQ and not miss the coverage. I remember looking back and forth from the moon in the sky to the TV, thinking 'Wow! Those guys are actually up there!'

[Rickaverage64]

I was born in June 1964, but watched it at school here in Australia and remember it well - mostly because I was allowed to watch Television at school. The slightly exaggerated story here is that the moon landing footage actually came through the big radio telescope at Parkes in inland New South Wales, which was drafted into service as a receiving aerial for the faint radio transmission. Any real memories I might have had are now overlaid with a film about this called "the Dish"

[Mdlftr]

I remember watching it on our old black and white tv (color sets were rare back then) and hearing Walter Cronkite narrate. I'll never forget Neil Armstrong's famous statement, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It seemed like we could do anything- no matter our religion, sexuality, skin color or politics.

I sometimes wonder if we've made "progress" since that day, or just marked time.


Mdlftr

[wolfotehmoon]

Oh, man, I'm surrounded by old fogies :V Just kidding. Man, sometimes I wish I had been around for that... I mean, I was around for the inauguration of the first black president, the choosing of a new Pope, Janet Jackson's nipple slip... But only the first comes anywhere close (sorry, Janet), and it still falls a bit short (if only because one represents a giant step for a huge group of people, while the other represents a step for the entire human race).

[arpeejay]

The sad thing, from my point of view, is that we let it slip away. Perhaps we're really not meant to live somewhere other than Earth but I refuse to believe it and I'm disappointed to think that the Chinese are the ones who will figure it out, not us. (And, yes, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 3 years old, so I guess my attitude has deep roots.)

xoxo

Richard

[Rickaverage64]

There was a great opinion piece in this week's NewScientist special on the Moon landing, on how it could have been. Essentially the funding to continue was cut in 1967, BEFORE the moon landing, due to the costs of the war in Vietnam. What if that hadn't happened?

I can't believe we're getting away with this and no one has complained it is off topic. It must truly be important to everyone.

[wolfotehmoon]

It means we're not stuck on this rock. It means that, if we put our minds to it, and our bodies and resources and our everything, we as a species can do anything. We can make the impossible, possible. I think that's reassuring; if anyone tells you that something can't be done, all you have to do is turn around tell them, "Don't give me that shit, we put a man on the moon."

[CelticMuscle]

Originally Posted by Rickaverage64

I can't believe we're getting away with this and no one has complained it is off topic. It must truly be important to everyone.

Probably because of this element:

Name: Steve Austin
Year: 1974
Problem: Test Pilot piloting untested aircraft

Steve Austin had already done his bit for the US having been into space several times and having retired it was "suggested" that he return to his first love for the air force. The net result being that he is practically killed in a Northrop M2-F2 crash. Not a problem say the US military, we know just what he needs, namely:

• legs that could carry him at 60mph
• eyes that gave him 1:20 vision
• and arms that could easily lift a tank

And all for the low, low cost of $6 million (despite the fact that America was in an oil driven recession)

[nnnrg]

The launch was my 13th birthday present. Well, not literally, but it seemed that way to me.