[Thigmaswams]

Dust accumulation on the Moon is not constant. The primary mechanism is erosion of underlying bedrock by micrometeoroid impact and it is quite easy to see that this produces an ever-decreasing accumulation rate: as the dust thickness increases, the bedrock is more and more shielded from impact and less erosion occurs. Current accumulation rate is something like ~ 1mm per million years but started off several times this figure.

Even where the micrometeoroids do not penetrate the dust surface they can still redistribute it, causing the lunar soli to turnover, a process quaintly known as gardening. This will tend to obscure patterns (like footprints) in the soil. The soil around the footprint will be completely mixed to a depth of ~1cm on a time frame of ~ 1 million years.

[Seesspoxy]

A tragic loss.

The man was old, he was sick. He was human.

[kertUtire]

The man was old, he was sick. He was human.

My first ever science book was about astronauts 'The Greatest Adventre', and it was a huge inspiration to me. So to me, personally, it was a tragic loss. If that's ok with you.

[Thydaysuh]

My first ever science book was about astronauts 'The Greatest Adventre', and it was a huge inspiration to me. So to me, personally, it was a tragic loss. If that's ok with you.

Of course it was a tragic loss.
He was a true modern day hero and just like that other great man Einstein, was humble to boot.

[rowneigerie]

Russian cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko said Sunday that Neil Armstrong took a big step in space conquest by becoming the first man on the moon just years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel to space.



What Armstrong did in putting his feet on the moon was a great success," Gorbatko told Russian television NTV, which ran a long report on Armstrong's death on Saturday at the age of 82. "After the flight of Yuri Gagarin—the first man to go to space—Armstrong took a new step in space conquest, a big step ahead," said Gorbatko, who was on two flights to space in 1977 and 1980 during the Cold War.




http://phys.org/news/2012-08-cosmona...trong-big.html

[vaalmerruutel]

Armstrong stepping out onto the Moon was the culmination of a decade of work by hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, tradies, seamstresses etc. How many of these will have their passing noted publicly?

It's natural that we remember the figurehead and there is no need or intent to denigrate Armstrong or downplay the skills and personal qualities he provided to the project. But it's also good to remember that July 21 1969 wasn't something that he and Buzz just went out and did.

[Haibundadam]

But it's also good to remember that July 21 1969 wasn't something that he and Buzz just went out and did.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Armstrong said that himself in all his humility.

[Metrujectiktus]

A sad day to be sure. The world has lost a great but humble man, who achieved a lot in his life apart from being the first person to walk on the Moon. He: was a US Navy fighter pilot; was a NASA test pilot who flew the X-15 rocket plane; commanded and survived the Gemini 8 mission; was a university professor; and headed the investigation into the "Challenger" accident.

He was apparently also a very good piano player.

[bobibnoxx]

> Dude could land on a rock blindfolded with 10 secs of fuel left and not have a pulse rate above 50.

Possibly because Buzz Aldrin did the landing.

No he didn't.

Armstrong as the Commander flew the Lunar Module, and Aldrin's job was to monitor the spacecraft's systems and provide information to Armstrong.

[BreeveKambmak]

Aldrin (on reading of Armstrong's death): Dammit, second again...

[mr.calisto]

Aldrin (on reading of Armstrong's death): Dammit, second again...

All he has to do now is outlive the other guy and he gets to keep the treasure they found...

[Rchzygnc]

So long Mr Armstrong.


P.S. If God exists, could you get him to write "HE IS HERE", on the flag you left on the moon?

[heinz_1966]

So long Mr Armstrong.


P.S. If God exists, could you get him to write "HE IS HERE", on the flag you left on the moon?

Maybe rename the "Sea of Tranquility" Armstrong Plains.

[Abedgebeefs]

On Neil Armstrong
by PAUL GILSTER on AUGUST 27, 2012
“Neil Armstrong may well be the only human being of our time to be remembered 50,000 years from now.”

— J. G. Ballard, “Back to the Heady Future,” Daily Telegraph, 17 April 1993.

If anything, Neil Armstrong was almost too perfect for the role he played. If I had been asked to script the kind of character I’d like to have seen as the first man on the Moon, Armstrong would have walked into the role effortlessly, a quiet, even diffident man who had the courage to ride rockets. Flyers come in all descriptions, but those I used to hang around with in my own flying days (far tamer than any of Armstrong’s, to be sure!) were generally raconteurs, full of improbable tales that could never be verified, jongleurs seasoned in the arts of extroversion.

Not so Neil Armstrong, and therein lies the reason for my own sense of pride in the man and his accomplishment. July 20, 1969 was, inevitably, a hot day in St. Louis. I had driven to Webster Groves that afternoon to watch the moon landing with my future wife along streets that shimmered with heat. A native of the city, I was used to the humidity and it wasn’t because of it that my hands were sweaty. Like so many Americans, I was jacked up and nervous as a cat. We watched the landing to the sound of distant thunder, not learning until later just how pulse-pounding the actual touchdown became, though hearing about computer alarms during the descent made it clear this was one script that hadn’t proceeded precisely by the book.

Later that night, back at my own house after the first steps had been taken on the Moon, I looked at the LEM on TV and knew I was in the middle of history and that someday I would be explaining how it felt to my grandchildren. I slept little that night, my thoughts — now and then turning into dreams — playing the landing sequence over and over again. The next day, which was a Monday if memory serves, I drove downtown to buy tobacco at my favorite pipe shop and saw a huge banner draped across one of the buildings. Its words were simple: ‘We Made It!’ That sense of collective exaltation is something that’s hard to describe to those who weren’t fortunate enough to experience it. It transcended an Asian war and the era’s violent politics.



Image: A time like no other: Collins, Aldrin, Armstrong amidst an exultant crowd in August of 1969.

The details of Armstrong’s life are all over the media — this Washington Post story is a good summary, especially in its comment by James Hansen, who wrote Neil’s biography First Man (Simon & Schuster, 2005). Hansen’s take is that Neil didn’t want any part of what would surely have become blatant commercialism growing out of Apollo 11’s accomplishments. Thus the withdrawal from public life that grew out of the natural instincts of a loner. The analysis helps to explain a man some saw as mysterious and others as mythic.

He was both those things, of course, but like all human beings, he transcended easy description. Armstrong would become the space program’s Garbo, elevated and magnified by virtue of his very untouchability. I wondered last night what his final thoughts were as the end approached. Would he have played over in his mind the dramatic moments of July 20, 1969? Maybe, and that’s how it would probably be scripted in a movie. But it’s just as likely that what he was perceiving in those last moments was deeply personal, a childhood Christmas, perhaps, or a favorite song during flight training, or the face of a woman he loved.

None of us can know how anyone else approaches death, but we are all creatures of bone, sinew and nerve and we live the truest part of our lives in the kind of deep emotional privacy that Neil Armstrong came to exemplify. This quietly dignified man vaulted into prominence only to remind us that great achievement does not have to walk hand in hand with ego. Indeed, Armstrong’s legacy will couple the Sea of Tranquility with the collected bearing of an individual who never elevated himself over others, whose gift of focused passion offers deep truths in the meaning of courage and character.




http://www.centauri-dreams.org/

[VtLe67WR]

My first ever science book was about astronauts 'The Greatest Adventre', and it was a huge inspiration to me. So to me, personally, it was a tragic loss. If that's ok with you.

Meh, for me a tragic loss is the death of a person who is younger and has more life ahead of them.

Armstrong's legacy is not lost - just the man has died. It is sad, but I think an ill old man might be somewhat glad to shuffle off the mortal coil. He was part of an amazing event and from what I read he was a nice old dude.

His family has lost someone and for them it might be a tragedy, or it might be a relief that he is not suffering anymore.

I don't know why you are so defensive about this, Victoria.

[Bromymbollile]

I don't know why you are so defensive about this, Victoria.

Probably because for Victoria it has (as stated) a much greater meaning. In the same or similar way that the death of someone close to you (a close relative/partner) would have great meaning/impact on you and most likely no meaning or impact what so ever on most everyone else. Each to their own.

Armstrong's demise is sad but ultimately inevitable.

[Accecyncphory]

Meh, for me a tragic loss is the death of a person who is younger and has more life ahead of them.

Armstrong's legacy is not lost - just the man has died. It is sad, but I think an ill old man might be somewhat glad to shuffle off the mortal coil. He was part of an amazing event and from what I read he was a nice old dude.

His family has lost someone and for them it might be a tragedy, or it might be a relief that he is not suffering anymore.

I don't know why you are so defensive about this, Victoria.

Though I haven't been following this thread, I agree with the general drift of what kii says.

It is a sad moment for us all, but we all die. Armstrong died after living an extraordinary life of great acheivement. That is something to celebrate, in its way.

[tsovimnpb]

The Moon walk was inspiring for me - I watched it on black and white teev. I was more amazed with how they televised this and having an older brother who explained it all was pretty neat.

[corkBrobe]

I bet he made stuff up, knowing his younger sister would beleive his every word...

[amotoustict]

My first ever science book was about astronauts 'The Greatest Adventre', and it was a huge inspiration to me. So to me, personally, it was a tragic loss. If that's ok with you.

Nothing at all wrong in having heroes Victoria.
Death may be inevitable, but it is still a hard cross to bear if it's a loved one or someone you greatly respect and admire.
The vast majority respected and admired Neil Armstrong.