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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]

#261

Post by JumpCrisscross »

influx wrote: post #253
GolfPopper wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You know the whole point of the space race was to prove that we could send ICBMs to the USSR right?

> the whole point of the space race was to prove that we could send ICBMs to the USSR right?

No, it wasn’t. The real world seldom has single causation. Some people supported Apollo as a messaging exercise. Most had other reasons.

And in any case, there are easy ways to demonstrate ICBM competence. Pyongyang isn’t going to the Moon to prove it can bomb Alaska.

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

#262

Post by JumpCrisscross »

randomNumber7 wrote: post #197
oceanplexian wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my belief that it is intended to be little more than a quick, dirty, and vainglorious Apollo repeat by a failing government. If the USA successfully sends people to the Moon, achieves all of NASA's technical goals, and the astronauts make it back in one piece, isn't that literally the opposite of failure? It might be expensive and you can argue that it's wasteful. But even to that point, the $11B cost of SLS is not…

> That doesn't seem a lot to explore a new frontier and expand the scope of humanity. There is no gain in knowledge from this mission. It's more like cheering for your favorite soccer team.

> There is no gain in knowledge from this mission

This is wrong. We’re learning a lot about the new life-support systems. (Courtesy of the ESA.) We’re also going to learn more about the heat shield on 10 April.

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

#264

Post by JumpCrisscross »

randomNumber7 wrote: post #204
nixon_why69 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also the heatshield is designed in a way that is cheaper to manufacture but less safe.

> but less safe

Depending on the outcome, that’s also a way to say less overengineered.

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

#265

Post by echelon »

_moof wrote: post #252

I just need to say it's an extremely huge bummer how much cynicism and negativity there is about this mission. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Neither was Apollo. We are all painfully aware of the things that make it imperfect. It's still joyous and exciting. Try to let it be.

Naysayers need to realize that very soon humanity will have a permanent presence on the moon. One that will outlive us all.

That's beyond exciting.

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

#267

Post by JumpCrisscross »

BurningFrog wrote: post #217
nasretdinov wrote: post #9

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 very excited about the later steps of the Artemis project! Landing on the Moon South Pole and start setting up the lunar station there will be a huge step, especially after 50 years of nothing!! But this flight has already been done without a crew. Doing it with a human crew is important, but it achieves nothing new and exciting.

> it achieves nothing new and exciting

I thought this but have since changed my mind. On board, real humans tax life-support systems in a way that’s difficult to simulate. And real human astronauts garble processes and communications with ground control in ways that a nation that hasn’t done deep spaceflight in a generation could probably do with practice on.

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

#268

Post by downrightmike »

whimsicalism wrote: post #225
guax wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be more depressed if, looking at the current political landscape this corner decided to be entirely alienated or oblivious to the environment in which this massive achievement is made.

do you think the current environment is more or less just than it was during the 1969 moon landing?

Nixon wasn't in office yet, but he did have his campaign manager got to Vietnam and promise the VietCong a better deal if they walked away from negotiations, which lead to FIVE more years of war and countless lives lost for nothing other than a point to talk about on his soap box

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

#269

Post by [deleted] »

_moof wrote: post #252

I just need to say it's an extremely huge bummer how much cynicism and negativity there is about this mission. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Neither was Apollo. We are all painfully aware of the things that make it imperfect. It's still joyous and exciting. Try to let it be.

[deleted]

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

#270

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

Eji1700 wrote: post #215
thegrim33 wrote: post #172

It's pretty depressing that on a corner of the internet that's supposed to be a gathering of tech/geeks/nerds/stem people, discussing topics that "good hackers would find interesting", it's seemingly impossible to have a single thread about something like this that isn't almost entirely negative or political bickering.

I have family who worked for NASA until the 70s. They’re one of the biggest sources of criticism of this project. There are negative things to observe about this project. They should not be ignored

I'd love to read your family member(s) criticisms; anywhere to do so? The perspective of a former NASA employee could be fascinating.

If you don't mind me asking, what did they do for NASA?

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