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Lunar Flyby

nasa.gov

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Re: Lunar Flyby

#11

Post by chrismcb »

ranger207 wrote: post #2

I have to admit, I've been an Artemis hater ($4 billion per launch lol) but the experience of watching people go back around the Moon has been incredibly inspiring, and it proves to me that maybe we can still do hard things

Ignoring the fact that we aren't using money for rocket fuel (that is people are benefitting from us spending that money) the potential upside is immense. There are a time of resources available in the asteroids and a moon base makes mining those resources easier and cheaper.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#12

Post by ramesh31 »

sph wrote: post #9

I shared some of these pictures with family members that hadn’t even heard of Artemis, and one asked if the blue thing was Mars. I am shook.

There needs to be a word for that feeling of dread you get when reminded of just how feeble and weak the average human mind is, and how tenuous of a grasp on reality most people have.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#15

Post by moralestapia »

ranger207 wrote: post #2

I have to admit, I've been an Artemis hater ($4 billion per launch lol) but the experience of watching people go back around the Moon has been incredibly inspiring, and it proves to me that maybe we can still do hard things

>we can still do hard things

Absolutely! What do you have in mind?

Re: Lunar Flyby

#16

Post by Jblx2 »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #8
jameslk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $4 billion per launch lol The US spends almost that much on net debt interest each day (~$3 billion/day[0]). Not that adding to the debt helps at all, but the old proverb about being penny wise and pound foolish seems relevant 0. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61951

Also we spend that much every 4 days we're in Iran, and that's only ONE of our neo-colonialist irons in the fire, as it were. If you want to make the US financially solvent, cut defense. Defense LAPS every other budget category. Whether you want to take the conservative position on why that is (our allies freeload on our defense spending) or the Progressive one (the U.S. is an empire in decline and every major empire…

>Defense LAPS every other budget category.

I suppose it matters how you lump things, but for federal spending:

  - $678 B, Social Security
  - $478 B, Medicare
  - $425 B, Net Interest
  - $419 B, Health
  - $412 B, National Defense
  - $320 B, Income Security
  - $184 B, Veterans Benefits and Services
  - $75 B, Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
  - $53 B, Transportation
  - $43 B, Administration of Justice
  - $15 B, Other
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...

Re: Lunar Flyby

#17

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

ranger207 wrote: post #2

I have to admit, I've been an Artemis hater ($4 billion per launch lol) but the experience of watching people go back around the Moon has been incredibly inspiring, and it proves to me that maybe we can still do hard things

> $4 billion per launch

This is not a lot of money on a nation-state scale. It's equal to giving every person in the US about US$12.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#18

Post by sho_hn »

sph wrote: post #9

I shared some of these pictures with family members that hadn’t even heard of Artemis, and one asked if the blue thing was Mars. I am shook.

Maybe I'm an eternal optimist, but sounds to me like they actually tried to put themselves into space, made the assumption that anything visible past the moon must be further out and were left with "wait, I thought it was supposed to be red?"

Uninformed, but not ignorant and perhaps even interested. I hope your response started with "No, actually, even cooler: ..." and you made a space fan that day.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#20

Post by steve_adams_86 »

ge96 wrote: post #3

Wonder how it feels after being out there, seeing that, then coming back like alright back in the system I go.

I imagine it depends a lot on your outlook. Someone could see the system as the thing that made the experience possible in the first place, and feel a lot of gratitude and a sense of possibility as a result.
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