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Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#131
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m somewhat surprised a WikiObituary doesn’t exist yet, with them collectively written and crowdsourced prior to death and licensed permissively. Wikipedia + ChatGPT to do the heavy lifting perhaps for the rough cut, and then clean it up. Might try to find some time to spike a GPT or something and see what happens.

If you're old enough Facebook, becomes this.

okay, I might roll in my grave if an obit is published in fb

Adding that to my will:

- under zero circumstances will you publish any posthumous docs/writings/obituaries to Meta, Facebook, or anything bearing Zuckerberg’s name

- all to be made available publicly, any fees associated to be paid out of estate

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#132
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anything about Artemis occurred as planned? Why would we be silly enough to expect it to start now?

Artemis 1 flew without incident and Orion landed back on earth nominally and achieved all scientific objectives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_1

Launch date November 16, 2022, 06:47:44 UTC (1:47 am EST)

"Artemis 1 was outlined by NASA as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) in 2012, at which point it was set to launch in 2017"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_2

"Launch date During preliminary reviews in 2011, the launch date was placed somewhere between 2019 and 2021, but afterwards the launch date was delayed to 2023 on an SLS launch vehicle.[25][26] Although, as of March 2023, the mission is pegged for a November 2024 launch,[1] the need to recycle and refurbish components from Orion that flew on Artemis 1 may push this back to later in 2024 or the first quarter of 2025"

I'm getting older just reading it

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#133
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Michael Collins was also CAPCOM (capsule communicator - the one who was actually talking to the astronauts) when they initiated TLI (translunar injection - leaving earth's orbit for the first time). He was the one who said "Apollo 8, go for TLI".

... and in the book hilariously laments how, for something so momentous, he should've thought of something more profound to say haha.

I get what he means, but I have a hard time thinking of three words that give me more chills than “go for TLI”!

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#134
post #68
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explains the preference for test pilots -- when abnormal is normal, you're in rarified company. Amazing when "the office" might kill you.

At the time, the career casualty rate for fighter pilots was one in five. Just from flying around, without any enemy.

Are you sure that number doesn't include Vietnam?

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#135
post #134
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the time, the career casualty rate for fighter pilots was one in five. Just from flying around, without any enemy.

Are you sure that number doesn't include Vietnam?

Yes.

Read "The Making of an Ex-Astronaut",[1] from someone who quit the program because the part about becoming a fighter jock was too dangerous. Four US astronauts died in jet aircraft accidents in the 1960s.[2]

[1] https://archive.org/details/makingofexastron0000unse/page/16...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_ac...

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense; if you want to build a lunar base, you gotta have Venezuela and Azerbaijan on your team, otherwise it's basically futile.

In living memory of most of us, China was just a deeply impoverished nation known for little more than exporting cheap unreliable crap. Any achievement they did make was framed as being stolen from somebody else. Yet now, their successes in space, industry, science, and technology are completely taken for granted. Funny how quickly things change! The status quo of the world is constantly shifting. Those nations which…

> Countries can be developed, but they can't be moved.

Ever heard of Poland? It moved quite a lot.

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#137
Somewhat off-topic, but did anyone notice:

Apollo

The "A" could symbolize a rocket, the both "o" would stand for earth and moon (also in the official logo), the "ll" could represent break lines, symbolizing the vast distance between the two bodies and "p" could mean impulse (like the symbol in physics) or propulsion which brings the rocket from one place to the other.

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