How could we forget the moon?

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The Big Dumb Rockets are coming back! I think there is only 2 or 3 space shuttle missions left and then they are going to put them all in the ocean for artificialy reefs or something!

 
Favorite line:

Yes, we have a financial crisis. No one’s asking for a crash Manhattan Project. All we need is sufficient funding from the hundreds of billions being showered from Washington — “stimulus” monies that, unlike Eisenhower’s interstate highway system or Kennedy’s Apollo program, will leave behind not a trace on our country or our consciousness — to build Constellation and get us back to Earth orbit and the moon a half-century after the original landing.
Part of the problem might be in the Twitter Generation, with a focus on entertainment as the primary reason for existence. I can't get my kids to read Bradbury, Asimov, or Arthur C. Clark to save my life. If they did, they might see the trappings of a society self-absorbed (Childhood's End); or the amazing, infinite complexity of the universe (Clark); or the wonder of exploring the unknown (anything by Bradbury).

Hm, this is inspiring me to restock the bookshelves at the house with sci fi.

Interestingly, in the Rama series by Clark, the span between the first and second books predicted a 35 year lull in innovation, a plateau in the technological revolution.

 
I loved Rendezvous with Rama. I read the second one, but don't recall it doing to well.

But Wolv brings up a good point. We, as a society, have become enamored of pretty, shiny things. We've become a society of crows.

I wonder if we (as a society) even have the ability to stick with a large engineering project that takes a decade or more to finish.

 
I loved Rendezvous with Rama. I read the second one, but don't recall it doing to well.
But Wolv brings up a good point. We, as a society, have become enamored of pretty, shiny things. We've become a society of crows.

I wonder if we (as a society) even have the ability to stick with a large engineering project that takes a decade or more to finish.

We do it all the time, we just estimate it at 5-6 years completion, and it rolls into 10 with all the screw-ups and rework.

 
Yucca Mtn points to a very serious problem. I've noticed science and engineering becoming more and more political footballs byuy the pols. Yucca Mtn is one example, the F-22 and the Osprey are two more examples. Hell, the F-22 took close to 20 years to field.

Biggest example, "Climate Change."

 
July 20 should be a national holiday. I'm really surprised that there never was much of a push for it.

Here's what happened to the equipment from the cancelled Apollo missions:

Surplus hardware

Two complete Saturn Vs went unused after the Apollo program, SA-514 and SA-515, as well as the third stage of the SA-513. SA-513 was the original launch vehicle destined for the Apollo 18 mission; it was used to launch Skylab (its third stage built from a converted S-IVB #212).

At the Johnson Space Center the Saturn V display is made up of the first stage of SA-514, the second stage from SA-515 and the third stage from SA-513. This display is made of real flight-worthy vehicles including an unflown command module (CSM-115).

At the Kennedy Space Center the Saturn V display is made up of S-IC-T (test stage) and the second and third stages from SA-514. The command module on display at KSC is a boilerplate, BP-30.

The first stage from SA-515 resides at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, Louisiana and the third stage was converted for use as backup Skylab and is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

Likewise the canceled flights' CSMs and LMs went either unused or were used for other missions:

After Apollo 15's original H mission was canceled, there was a surplus H mission CSM and Lunar Module. CSM-111 was used for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. LM-9 is on display at the Kennedy Space Center (Apollo/Saturn V Center)

Apollo 18's CSM and LM were used by Apollo 17.

Apollo 19's CSM (#115) is displayed on the Saturn V located at the Johnson Space Center. Its LM (LM-13, originally assigned to Apollo 1 was only partially completed by Grumman and is now on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. This LM was completed for the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon for use as a prop in moon exploration scenes.

Apollo 20's CSM was never completed and was scrapped. The LM was also scrapped before completion, though there are some unconfirmed reports that some parts (in addition to parts from the LM test vehicle LTA-3) are included in the LM on display at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions

 
Part of the problem might be in the Twitter Generation, with a focus on entertainment as the primary reason for existence. I can't get my kids to read Bradbury, Asimov, or Arthur C. Clark to save my life. If they did, they might see the trappings of a society self-absorbed (Childhood's End); or the amazing, infinite complexity of the universe (Clark); or the wonder of exploring the unknown (anything by Bradbury).
Good point!

Hm, this is inspiring me to restock the bookshelves at the house with sci fi wi fi.
Fixed it for you!! :D

JR

 
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