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America Needs a New Moon Mission

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Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#61
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I take a photo of the night sky, I'm lucky if I can see a single star. And that's without having the exposure levels set so that I can see the ground as more than a featureless white washed out expanse of light.

The stars are our map. With them we can find our way when we get lost. Every night they shine down on us and guide our direction. How can you excuse not a single orientable picture?

And the stars are a pretty romantic thing too! But no matter how much I repeat it, I can't convince my camera to fill my night shots with stars.

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#62

This comment shows what enormous damage belief in manned, extra-orbital space visits does to us (us = humans, life on Earth). Of course I'm going to take downvotes for saying this, so I'll ask gullible readers one question: what ^ ^evidence^ ^ have you seen that proved such extraordinary events took place anywhere other than on your screens?

Certainly there's a lot to be suspicious about. No matter how careful the government was, how likely was it that such a complex engineering project worked successfully on the very first try? Even getting there would've been difficult, but then the system can lift off and return to Earth? It does seem incredible. And it's not like you can point a telescope at the moon and see the flags or other evidence. But I think t…

> And it's not like you can point a telescope at the moon and see the flags or other evidence.

You can. The Apollo missions left mirrors on the lunar surface, so that lasers aimed at those coordinates would have their light bounce back toward Earth. That's not fakeable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiment

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#63
post #41

This comment shows what enormous damage belief in manned, extra-orbital space visits does to us (us = humans, life on Earth). Of course I'm going to take downvotes for saying this, so I'll ask gullible readers one question: what ^ ^evidence^ ^ have you seen that proved such extraordinary events took place anywhere other than on your screens?

buy a big laser, bounce it off the Apollo 11 "laser ranging" reflector still on the moon, then convince me how you can do that from something supposedly still in a sound stage in Arizona

I'm not an Apollo 11 denier, but it's possible to put a reflector there with a unmanned lander. Russia has to up there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retroreflectors_on_the...

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#64

America needs more schools and better basic education, not a moon mission. So much absurd brainwash simply works because people are basically very uneducated, mostly on a level you might expect in Africa or in the middle age. The results are obvious.

America needs and can afford to do both - better education and a space program.

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#65
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stars are our map. With them we can find our way when we get lost. Every night they shine down on us and guide our direction. How can you excuse not a single orientable picture?

And the stars are a pretty romantic thing too! But no matter how much I repeat it, I can't convince my camera to fill my night shots with stars.

Soooooo beautiful!!!!!!!..... http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&gws_rd=cr&q=night+sky+...

You'd think that with our history so closely connected with the stars (before urbanization limited your camera's view), someone would have made sure to take a couple of photos, even bringing additional lenses, for such a potentially interesting point of view.. Alas none

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#66
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understood what he said. I'm simply asking for evidence. What proved it for you?

> I understood what he said. Well, maybe, but the question was not corresponding to that understanding. > I'm simply asking for evidence. What proved it for you? It wasn't something that needed much proving in the first place, perhaps the contrary would have needed more proving. There was a space race, and both players had developed incrementally improved technology that was getting closer to achieving that. Besides…

> *It wasn't something that needed much proving in the first place

Why don't you question what you read? Humans flying to the moon seems pretty extraordinary, no?

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#67
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I understood what he said. Well, maybe, but the question was not corresponding to that understanding. > I'm simply asking for evidence. What proved it for you? It wasn't something that needed much proving in the first place, perhaps the contrary would have needed more proving. There was a space race, and both players had developed incrementally improved technology that was getting closer to achieving that. Besides…

> *It wasn't something that needed much proving in the first place Why don't you question what you read? Humans flying to the moon seems pretty extraordinary, no?

>Why don't you question what you read?

Who says I don't? For example I question all the "we've never landed on the moon" posts I've read.

>Humans flying to the moon seems pretty extraordinary, no?

Only if one's knowledge/information about technology and about what's possible is at pre-world war II levels, if not 19th century level.

In other words, not much more extraordinary than believing in a "network that instantly allows us to send image/sound everywhere in the world from the palm of our hand", or in "satellites that tell us our precise location", or in "pictures of the Earth from space", or "storing all the world's books in a 2" device", or "going around the Earth on a plane with a Jacuzzi in less than 2 days".

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#68
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the stars are a pretty romantic thing too! But no matter how much I repeat it, I can't convince my camera to fill my night shots with stars.

Soooooo beautiful!!!!!!!..... http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&gws_rd=cr&q=night+sky+... You'd think that with our history so closely connected with the stars (before urbanization limited your camera's view), someone would have made sure to take a couple of photos, even bringing additional lenses, for such a potentially interesting point of view.. Alas none

>You'd think that with our history so closely connected with the stars (before urbanization limited your camera's view), someone would have made sure to take a couple of photos, even bringing additional lenses, for such a potentially interesting point of view.. Alas none

If by "none" you mean "some", them yes. E.g:

http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/51000/5148...

Anything else?

(Even if nobody had bothered to take Earth photos with stars in them, the idea that there would be a huge conspiracy to manufacture a whole fake moon landing and tons of fake images of Earth from space, but somehow they would not know how to add stars with Photoshop to said images is beyond inane).

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're going to need to look beyond NASA for earth sciences for the time being - there's about to be a certain change in the US that has already said earth science research is to be scrapped. The new moon mission will likely literally be a moon mission, as the incoming change has alluded to. Honestly, not sure what the future is for NASA, other than perhaps the past, and a return to primarily propaganda rather than s…

I doubt that the downvotes come from people disagreeing with you. Rather, I suspect that the "certain change" references are simply off-putting. Trump. The guy's name is Trump. Alluding to it, vaguely-yet-obviously, makes it seem like you're trying too hard to sound clever.

The election is now being referred to as the "recent unpleasantness". I do agree that not saying "Trump" makes him seem a little too Voldemort for my tastes.

Re: America Needs a New Moon Mission

#70
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earth always has been, and in all likelihood will forever be, screwed up. Climate change will never be solved until (to paraphrase a quip from memory) global inequity has been evened out to a level a Pakistani brickmaker would consider prosperity. I don't see countries with higher standards of living making those sacrifices for the greater good of our planet. I'd sleep much better betting our species on space expansi…

If peak global output is barely enough to colonize, then there is no way any of the colonies will ever reach that level of output, and then whats the point? It should be done sustainably, or it doesn't really matter at all.

Resources, especially outside of a gravity well, and a new Frontier Thesis.
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