Happy Moon Day!
 

Shame we haven't done cool **** in space since then.

Altair http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

**** the moon...er...I mean Lori.

Was this back before Denmark invented the ability to print photographs?

I think we can all agree, the world is a better place now.

A great day and a sad day.
What we accomplished back then was inspiring, what we've done since is dissapointing.
What was it, like 60 something years since Kittyhawk. From that to the moon, but in the next 40 years. Snore.

It sustained NASA's funding for decades. It must've been.

Yes. Man needs to have goals of greatness to bring out the best in us. Besides all the tangible technologies created to support the program, the sense of awe was worth it alone.

Magnificent desolation

Shortly after landing, while the pair was prepping for the first lunar extravehicular activity, Buzz Aldrin sent the following broadcast, "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." Aldrin then privately partook in the sacrament of communion, an event that was not made public until years after the landing. The chalice he used on the moon now resides in Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, TX where the kit was prepared.

After planning on locations to plant the American flag and Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package—an instrument kit that had the Laser Ranging Retroreflector and the Passive Seismic Experiment Package—the two began getting ready to take a walk outside. It turned out that getting out of the LM was not as easy as they thought it would be. At some point in the design process, the hatch leading into and out of the LM had been redesigned, but the portable life support systems the astronauts wore had not, resulting in a tighter than ideal fit through the door. After some trouble opening the hatch and some squeezing by Armstrong with Aldrin's help, at 10:56pm EDT on July 20th, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon, uttering his now famous line, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." This event was heard and seen live by over 600 million households around the world.

Fifteen minutes later, Buzz Aldrin joined Neil Armstrong on the surface, becoming the second human in history to take such steps. He described the lunar landscape as a "magnificent desolation." The two spent a total of two hours and thirty six minutes on their lunar EVA and collected over 47 pounds of moon rocks. They traveled only about 400 feet from the LM to what is known as "East crater." As each task took longer to accomplish than expected, the pair was not able to complete all their planned tasks in the short time they spent on the moon. In comparison, Apollo 17 astronauts would spend over 22 hours on the lunar surface over the course of three days and three EVAs. Before leaving the lunar surface, Aldrin and Armstrong left a memorial package dedicated to deceased cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Vladimir Komarov (the first man to die on a spaceflight), and Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

After their EVA, the pair climbed back into the lunar module and began prepping for the trip back to Columbia, where they would rejoin Collins. During this time, they discovered that the switch that controlled the main circuit breaker that armed the ascent stage rocket was broken. In Aldrin's own words, "Houston, Tranquility. Do you have a way of showing the configuration of the engine arm circuit breaker? Over. (Pause) The reason I'm asking is because the end of it appears to be broken off. I think we can push it back in again. I'm not sure we could pull it out if we pushed it in, though. Over." The solution to this was simply to force a felt-tipped pen into the slot.
Returning to Earth

After a few hours of rest, the pair launched from the lunar surface and rejoined Michael Collins aboard Columbia. They brought with them the 47 pounds of moon rocks, and left behind the experiments, the memorial bag, and the descent stage of the LM which had a plaque on it that read:

"Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D., We Came in Peace For All Mankind."

It was signed by all three astronauts and President Nixon and contained images of the Eastern and Western hemisphere of Earth. It was also noted that during the ascent, the force from the engine knocked the American flag over, something fixed in future missions by placing it further from the spacecraft.

The night before the scheduled splash-down back on Earth, the crew made a final TV broadcast where each gave a synopsis of their thoughts on the mission. Command Module Pilot Micheal Collins spoke on the efforts to create the machine they traveled in: "...The Saturn V rocket which put us in orbit is an incredibly complicated piece of machinery, every piece of which worked flawlessly... We have always had confidence that this equipment will work properly. All this is possible only through the blood, sweat, and tears of a number of a people... All you see is the three of us, but beneath the surface are thousands and thousands of others, and to all of those, I would like to say, 'Thank you very much.'"

Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin continued this line and quoted from the book of Psalms, "...This has been far more than three men on a mission to the Moon; more, still, than the efforts of a government and industry team; more, even, than the efforts of one nation. We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown... Personally, in reflecting on the events of the past several days, a verse from Psalms comes to mind. 'When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the Moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him?'"

Commander Neil Armstrong closed by saying, "The responsibility for this flight lies first with history and with the giants of science who have preceded this effort; next with the American people, who have, through their will, indicated their desire; next with four administrations and their Congresses, for implementing that will; and then, with the agency and industry teams that built our spacecraft, the Saturn, the Columbia, the Eagle, and the little EMU, the spacesuit and backpack that was our small spacecraft out on the lunar surface. We would like to give special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft; who did the construction, design, the tests, and put their hearts and all their abilities into those craft. To those people tonight, we give a special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, God bless you. Good night from Apollo 11."

On July 24th, 1969 the mission ended with the command module Columbia splashing down safely in the Pacific ocean. The trio were picked up by rescue teams stationed aboard the USS Hornet, and at that moment, President Kennedy's challenge to the American people earlier in the decade had been fulfilled. After three weeks in quarantine, to ensure they had not brought anything back with them, the three were welcomed back as heroes with awards and accolades heaped on them. As a science fiction fan, I find it interesting (but not especially surprising) that the three were awarded a special Hugo award for "The Best Moon Landing Ever" in 1969.

As Armstrong's team acknowledged before their return to earth, Apollo 11, and project Apollo in general, was not the achievement of three men atop a rocket. It was the work of the employees at NASA; the workers, engineers, and designers at North American, Grumman, Boeing, and Douglas; the people who built the tools that were used to build the spacecraft; the individuals who picked up the astronauts when they returned from Earth; and the imagination of people the world over throughout time. For a moment in time, the world came together to marvel at the achievement not of a few individuals, not of a single country, but of mankind as a whole.

On the 40th anniversary of this feat, we at Nobel Intent and Ars Technica would like to add our voices to the worldwide chorus congratulating Micheal Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and all those who helped make this momentous achievement possible. Since that monumental day 40 years ago, 10 other men have walked on the surface of the moon, but we have not been back since 1972, when Eugene Cernan took the last step off the moon and onto the Challenger lunar lander for ascent and rendezvous with the command module America. I was not alive yet in 1969 and did not get to witness these events as the transpired; however, I do hope that at some point in my own life the world can come together and witness one of their own stepping foot onto another terra firma within the heavens. http://static.arstechnica.com/Scienc...launch-123.jpg

Of course it was. If humanity doesn't conquer the universe, someone else will.

In order for humanity to conquer the universe we're going to need a revolution in fundamental physics, not to spend a shitload of money perfecting primitive rocket tech.

One thing that people constantly forget is that by attempting to push technological progress in one direction we incur deadweight losses. For example, the computer tech aboard Apollo was a major expense; one which could have been avoided if it had been held off for a couple of decades. Now, undoubtedly, the gov't spending on Apollo helped increase the rate of development of computer tech, but just as undoubtedly the impact on development of this tech was far lower than if an equivalent amount had been spent directly on development (rather than on procurement) of computers.

Something like 70% of the entire R&D budget of the US federal government went to NASA during the Apollo years. What benefits were foregone due to this myopic spending?

Apollo was an engineering freak. Nothing more.

I wouldn't write off the value of 'national pride' during the Cold War. Apollo may well have been worth it.

It's difficult to quantify that. But I think that when you think about it you should be careful not to get lost in the zeroes. There are a lot of them.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

It's impossible to quantify, but I think the claim that the value was substantial is reasonable.

Come on, we wouldn't have a 50$ pen that can write up-side down. (never mind that it's somthing that could be done with a 5 cent pencil.) Think Teflon

still not believing it. Why is it we supposedly landed on the moon in 1969, but can't do it today?

Why on Earth do you think we can't do it today?

In fact, we're going to do it again in 2018...

5 cent pencils would have left graphite filings floating in the capsule, and could interfere with the electronics or be a health hazard. Or so I am told.

I prefer The Joker's use of the pencil in the last Batman movie.

Excellent thread.

As for the investment into the moon, better to spend on the moon then on those massive rings like the Hardon collector, or perhaps saving the whales.

It's a real good thing we had an entire trek movie devoted to it. I mean, you can travel through time and you go back to save a whale? That emphasises the whole reason why we haven't gone further into space then the Lovell Apollo 13 mission which is a disgrace.

I mean look at how much money we wasted exploring the world?

KH is right that the Apollo Program was a waste of money that probably could've been better spent on other things. It was an awesome waste of money, though. http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif