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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]

#421

Post by bombcar »

SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #418
dingaling wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how many Moonshots could we have got out of $100 billion of vegetarian non-pork? Everything about SLS, and most of Artemis, has been dictated by Congress, often overriding expert advice. Why not just give NASA the money and let them get on with it? The same happens with the US military, Congress constantly deleting funding for programs they don't like to fund ones they do.

Possibly none, until we can figure out how to engineer political institutions that function without pork. We tend to look at pork as unambiguously bad because it's wasteful or often has more than a whiff of corruption, but the picture for political scientists is more mixed. Turns out it's easier to bargain with legislators when policy can give them a win in their districts or states. It greases the wheels for negotia…

The reality is that "anything" can be pork - if you have large amounts of money sloshing around, someone benefits from getting it, and you can use that benefit for negotiations.

The first question for me is always is this a thing worth doing - which has an aspect of price involved, but isn't the definitive answer.

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

#422

Post by Fricken »

Gagarin1917 wrote: post #395
Eji1700 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 don’t think the criticisms on HN are related to Artemis’ imperfect concept and technical design. They’re almost exclusively related to political reasons. “There are problems in the world, therefore I can’t enjoy this” is flawed reasoning and isn’t even something that they apply to any other interest. It’s just special pleading.

[dead]

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

#423

Post by esseph »

asdfasvea wrote: post #389
esseph wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's directly responsible for the deaths of several hundred thousand people via DOGE and their abrupt withdrawal and support of food aid. https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hund...

Directly? I do not think it means what you think it means. Hate the guy all you want, even for this, but don't try and juice it another 20% with emotional words that are ultimately incorrect.

Okay let me juice you with some "emotional words".

There is a direct line from his decisions to more than ten times the number of Americans KIA in the entirety of the Vietnam war.

Argue about how it happened all you want, the bodies are at his fucking feet. CEOs and leadership of organizations are accountable for their decisions.

"Emotional"

How about get a fucking working conscience.

Hundreds of thousands are dead, two thirds of which were kids. Children.

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

#426

Post by troyvit »

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.

Go through all the positive comments and upvote them. It feels good.

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

#427

Post by delecti »

scotty79 wrote: post #328
delecti wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope they don't. Even just the hint of connecting this achievement to the supposed Christian nature of the US would reinforce a lot of the bad things in the world right now. Namely, that we're actively at war in the middle east (Christianity and Judaism vs Islam), in a burgeoning cold war with China (more Christianity vs "godless" communists), and run by an increasingly fascistic administration (the ties betwe…

One of the astronauts is Sunday school teacher and took the Bible up there with him as a comfort item. It was mentioned in the news already. https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/there-are-no-a... Don't shoot the messenger

Surely you can see the difference between broadcasting a bible read from the module and him carrying that bible as a personal item. I certainly think there's a very stark difference between the two. I absolutely support people rights to whatever deeply held beliefs bring them comfort; I do not support him using his position literally and metaphorically atop a multi-billion dollar government project to proselytize.

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

#428

Post by unethical_ban »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #243
anjel wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not Pork and its not science. Its a strategically costly land grab rather than a political vain-glorious stunt. Same as Mercury/Gemini/Apollo except this time China instead of Russia.

> its not science. Its a strategically costly land grab Step away from your screens. Framing everything exclusively in these hard terms isn’t healthy (or true).

Jumping in late here. I think both can be true, that it's an inspirational moment and the idea of humans exploring and visiting other worlds is amazing. That a society's ability to do so implies its scientific prowess. And that we are in competition with other top nations to "have a seat at the table" if/when those nations start trying to put controls on the use of those celestial bodies.

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

#429

Post by unethical_ban »

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #266

So they let them just wear hoodies in space now? Or are these fancypants space hoodies that cost a quarter mil and weigh a couple grams less? Or does that level of weight reduction not matter because the rocket is nowhere near maxed out?

I'm sure the capsule is rated for plenty more thrust and weight than some personal items. The far smaller Apollo capsule was meant to carry back a load of moon rocks along with the crew.

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

#430

Post by juleiie »

WalterBright wrote: post #401
juleiie wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well he is a piece of shit no matter what theoretical ideals he holds. I am sure many evil people in history wanted to “save mankind” I don’t think I need to remind you how he treated his transgender daughter and that’s just single example

Steve Jobs rejected his daughter. George Washington declined being crowned king and set the tone for a modest and limited Executive branch. Yet he also owned slaves. Saint Thomas More burned people at the stake. You'll have a hard time finding any faultless people.

It's pretty annoying to be a fan of space in 2026. On the one hand you have NASA, a shadow of its former self. Clearly there is something deeply dysfunctional with it.

On the other you have an old drug addict, still functional, thankfully, dead set on antagonizing every possible person alive. (I guess dems will probably shut his space program down after they win? Can he even get on good standing with them at all after everything that has transpired?)

Shit CEO vs Money pit

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