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Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

bbc.com

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Re: Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

#102

I like how most people's reactions at this point are "yeah, whatever", as if it's every day that humans observe the far side of the moon with a naked eye through a window :). We do know what it looks like and we have photos from the surface, yes, but seeing the reaction from real people who're actually there does hit different, at least for me

Speaking for myself (who has been fascinated with the space program since I was a small child), any joy I might feel around Artemis II feels tainted, by the immense amount of pork involved (SLS is called "Senate Launch System" for good reason) to the point where Artemis is more corporate welfare that happens to involve the Moon than a real space program, and by my belief that it is intended to be little more than a q…

I know the RS-25 engines[0] (aka SSME, Space Shuttle Main Engine) were "reusable" in an academic sense (needing a ton of refurbishment after each use) but it hurts my heart that we're dropping them in the ocean and it makes it hard for me to feel good about the Artemis program. It's irrational but it makes the kid who loved the Space Shuttle (which, itself, was a political pork barrel and a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of program) sad.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-25

Re: Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

#104
post #84
post #39

Am I losing it? They can’t be seeing the far side of the moon right now, because they haven’t adjusted course to go round the far side of the moon yet… So does this suggest the BBC is wrong and it’s the side of the moon we’re used to seeing, but just it’s “dark”? But then the astronauts are saying it’s weird seeing the moon in a whole new light (excuse the paraphrasing pun). I don’t understand.

>they haven’t adjusted course to go round the far side of the moon yet They did, 3 days ago! Maybe this is being pedantic (?) but the trans-lunar injection burn they did on April 2 put them on the complete trajectory including return to Earth. Though there are still possible correction burns that can be done to increase precision (the first 2 of these were already canceled).

I relish in the pedantry. Thanks Pierre

Re: Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

#105
post #68

There’s too many problems here on earth for me to get excited about a trip to the moon

Optimism will get you through.... Humans have bumpy rides, but in the aggregate we figure it out and move on

In the aggregate we live miserable lives and then die.

Re: Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are struggling to afford every day life and we are surrounding by crazy things every day like cellphones talking to satellites in space. On any objective measure it is definitely amazing to send humans to the moon, but there are more pressing issues for most people right now. If we as a species had more of our ducks in a row we may be able to better celebrate this as the achievement for humankind that it is.

nah, it just seems like that on Twitter. We have more prosperity by far than we've ever had in history, this is a time to celebrate. We have our 'ducks in a row' more now than in the 1960's when we went to the moon because of a cold war and nuclear annihilation / escalation. My grandparents were born on farms with no electricity, plumbing, there was no real 'police' no social services, no healthcare, no antibiotics,…

It is a fine time to be going to the moon, but we could be doing multiple productive things at the same time. It just doesn't surprise me that there are so many people that are not caring so much about this.

Re: Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]

#110

I like how most people's reactions at this point are "yeah, whatever", as if it's every day that humans observe the far side of the moon with a naked eye through a window :). We do know what it looks like and we have photos from the surface, yes, but seeing the reaction from real people who're actually there does hit different, at least for me

I'm not being a hater, but we landed on the moon 55+ years ago and now we're doing a flyby with 35+ year-old engine tech. It's good that we're doing something but we should be doing better.

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