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Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

nytimes.com

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Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#21

Post by Retric »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #20
newbie12 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the cool look holds a fatal flaw....never again will we design rockets where the cargo rides adjacent to the fuel, rather than on top.

It wouldn't be so bad if the orbiter didn't have such big wings (due to a military requirement for a large cross-range flight ability that was never actually used). Big wings means a more difficult reentry scenario, which means exotic, and brittle, thermal protection systems on the wing leading edges, which means a much larger area of highly vulnerable thermal protection materials on the orbiter. And it wouldn't be s…

It's not really a question of wings so much as weight. The real issue with putting something on top is that what's below needs to carry that weight which is easier to avoid if the shuttle has it's own engines and sit's on the side. More importantly if the shuttle was not designed to send a few tones of stuff to orbit it could use the same basic design without experiencing anywhere near the same thermal stress and having a lot more safety margin.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#22

Post by keithpeter »

ErrantX wrote: post #14

For me at least, I hope man goes back to the moon in my lifetime. Dad has always talked about his memories of 1969 (he would have been a teenager at the time) and the excitement of it. I feel like going back after so long will feel almost as momentous for some of my generation. Although possibly not the the majority, which is a little sad.

I was 11 then. I have a feeling the actual landing was early morning in the UK, not sure I actually saw that.

I'm afraid my dominant memory is the bleep they had between the voice from the moon and the reply from Houston. A fraction of a second long, and a bit higher than E above middle C. I can still hear that now, with the sort of echo at the end from the satellite relay I suppose.

Dad (born 1930s, RAF technician and then radio repairs) was really excited by it all and loved the technology. Grandad (born 1890s, trained as blacksmith, operated a static steam engine, the kind that powers a mill through drive belts) found it sort of funny. Mum liked it when they got out of the capsules on the aircraft carrier.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#23

Post by tieno »

Kellster wrote: post #19

Mr. Armstrong replied: "Thank you Mr. President. It's a great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States but men of peace of all nations, men with interests and a curiosity and men with a vision for the future." Fucking awesome.

My appreciation circuits were fried at that point. Too few women, too many men.

So this text both brought me on the verge of tearing up and annoyed me. Bravo!

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#24

Post by totalforge »

Many of the Apollo astronauts still make themselves available to the public, and they appear at collector events where they will sign autographs for a small fee. More than fair considering what their government pay must have been in the 60's... Go and meet them while you still can!

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#25

Post by SagelyGuru »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #10
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #4

I remember the last lunar missions. We all thought that man would be going back to the moon within a few years or so. Not the way it worked out.

Wellllll... Pretty much the reason why a lot of progress in manned spaceflight came to a halt is due to the Shuttle program. It was sold on a laundry list of promises that somehow a lot of powerful folks utterly bought into. But in the end it ended up being far less capable and far more expensive than just about every alternative. Although admittedly it does look pretty cool.

Looks cool? You only need to look at it alongside the awesome Saturn rocket to see which is inferior. It is clearly the one involving assorted cans held together with the rubber bands.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#26

Post by Xcelerate »

tieno wrote: post #23
Kellster wrote: post #19

Mr. Armstrong replied: "Thank you Mr. President. It's a great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States but men of peace of all nations, men with interests and a curiosity and men with a vision for the future." Fucking awesome.

My appreciation circuits were fried at that point. Too few women, too many men. So this text both brought me on the verge of tearing up and annoyed me. Bravo!

"Men" as in mankind. It's just the way that word is used. I'm pretty sure Armstrong wasn't trying to be misogynistic there.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#28

Post by tieno »

Xcelerate wrote: post #26
tieno wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My appreciation circuits were fried at that point. Too few women, too many men. So this text both brought me on the verge of tearing up and annoyed me. Bravo!

"Men" as in mankind. It's just the way that word is used. I'm pretty sure Armstrong wasn't trying to be misogynistic there.

I know. But since I know that that kind of language is not ok my appreciation circuits are fried.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#29

Post by russell »

We need to be reminded that once we did great things.

I worked at MIT Instrumentation Lab on a compiler for the guidance software for the moon missions. My contribution was insignificant, but I am still proud to have been part of it. My only regret was that I never made it to Florida to watch a Saturn V take off.

Re: Men Walk On Moon - July 20th 1969

#30

Post by bdunbar »

Retric wrote: post #21
InclinedPlane wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be so bad if the orbiter didn't have such big wings (due to a military requirement for a large cross-range flight ability that was never actually used). Big wings means a more difficult reentry scenario, which means exotic, and brittle, thermal protection systems on the wing leading edges, which means a much larger area of highly vulnerable thermal protection materials on the orbiter. And it wouldn't be s…

It's not really a question of wings so much as weight. The real issue with putting something on top is that what's below needs to carry that weight which is easier to avoid if the shuttle has it's own engines and sit's on the side. More importantly if the shuttle was not designed to send a few tones of stuff to orbit it could use the same basic design without experiencing anywhere near the same thermal stress and hav…

It's not really a question of wings so much as weight.

The wings - because they were wings - were vulnerable to debris strikes during launch.

Which wasn't important during _launch_ but was sure a problem during re-entry.

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