Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today • Hacker News Board

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#41

Post by nkoren » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 8:58 PM UTC

burke wrote: post #13

protagonist_h wrote: post #4

With no plans to go to the moon again, we will soon be out of living moon-walkers.

xkcd ran the numbers: http://xkcd.com/893/

Ah, yes, the mouseover text on that is brilliant, and apt:

"The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision."

Personally, I'm optimistic that there'll be boots on the moon sometime around 2020 (although I suspect they won't have NASA logos on them). Looks like there will be 2-6 moonwalkers left to see that, with a 90% confidence interval...

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#42

Post by hkmurakami » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:06 PM UTC

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer - born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."

-Neil Armstrong

http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4039730

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#43

Post by heyitsnick » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:06 PM UTC

blackjack160 wrote: post #25

Excellent 4-part interview series with him, quite recent too: http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/

This really is an amazing interview. Def. would recommend sitting down and enjoy all four parts; fascinating, honest and inspirational.

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#44

Post by corin_ » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:07 PM UTC

wazoox wrote: post #35

daeken wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been 13 moon walks since the Apollo 11 mission in which he was the first to walk on the moon, spanning 5 missions from 1969-1972, FYI. He was the first, but definitely not the last.

This snarky comment is quite superfluous, I say.

Not sure what was snarky about it, other than the fact that he pointed out that you were incorrect.. He didn't say it rudely at all?

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#45

Post by daeken » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

namidark wrote: post #40

jballanc wrote: post #31

Neil Armstrong would have been 17 years old when Orville Wright died in 1948. In the lifespan of those two men, humanity went from horse-and-buggy to standing on the moon. One wonders what the 17 year olds of today might accomplish...

Sadly, I think a consumer of cat pictures with the way our education (people not focusing on math and science) is going

People born with the drive to do amazing things will do them regardless of the education they (do not) receive.

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#46

Post by ricardobeat » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:20 PM UTC

jhuckestein wrote: post #8

Grovara123 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He waited until we got to Mars...

The earliest attempts at Mars exploration were made by the soviets and NASA in the 60s (largely unsuccessful IIRC). In 1976 NASA successfully landed on the Mars (Viking I) and, even more amazingly, sent back color photos. Curiosity is a great mission, but I'm still more impressed with the Viking missions.

Wait and see.

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#47

Post by vesky » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:23 PM UTC

jballanc wrote: post #31

Neil Armstrong would have been 17 years old when Orville Wright died in 1948. In the lifespan of those two men, humanity went from horse-and-buggy to standing on the moon. One wonders what the 17 year olds of today might accomplish...

Who knows... You might actually be surprised by the answer to that...

http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/12/08/30262/california-teen-wi...

http://blog.makezine.com/2012/07/18/15-year-old-maker-astron...

http://gizmodo.com/5813207/teen-builds-nuke-detecting-device...

http://www.livescience.com/14138-teen-cystic-fibrosis-drug-c...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iTa3n7CWj...

Rest in peace Neil. You were and always will be the beacon of achievement for all of us!

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#48

Post by uxp » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

001sky wrote: post #28

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-armstro...

Interestingly enough the NY Times article is nearly identical, word for word, to the linked article.

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#49

Post by daeken » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

herval wrote: post #26

mmcnickle wrote: post #22

"I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream." --- Neil Armstrong. An inspiring man. RIP.

It turns out humanity's real soul (at least most of it) is always looking for gimmicks to waste their time - be it compulsive little "games", the gadget of the week, etc, etc. I wish we had more Armstrongs. Truly inspiring man indeed...

People have always had their ways to escape; prayer, sewing, radio, books, TV. That doesn't mean we're in any less capable position to do amazing things.

Do I think we take our information-rich world for granted? Yes. Does that make us lazy or in any way bad? No.

Re: Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

#50

Post by lifeisstillgood » Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 9:26 PM UTC

I remember watching a documentary which quite rarely featured Neil Armstrong (and Buzz and Collins) discussing the actual trip to the moon. They related a story where they instructed the computer to begin reverse thrusters to slow their approach to the moon. The computer came back with a code which Collins duly looked up in the manual

  3E - Are you sure?

Twas ever thus.

It stuck in my mind, as humanising people who otherwise outstrip us who in all ways look up to them.

He will be sadly missed.