Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#371

Post by deathanatos » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:58 AM UTC

john_rambo wrote: post #365

how are they broadcasting in what seems like near real-time? i don't have a whole lot of understanding on the topic, but if they're seeing the dark side of the moon then i assume they don't have line of sight to Earth. it makes me feel pretty rotten about some SQL queries i have knocking about.

> but if they're seeing the dark side of the moon then i assume they don't have line of sight to Earth

No, you can see both the dark side & have line of sight to earth, at the same time. The key insight, probably, is that they're not behind the moon (yet) from Earth's PoV, and/or "seeing some of the dark side" vs. "seeing only the dark side"; currently, they are seeing only some of the dark side, assuming I'm interpreting the tracker correctly.

See [this tracker](https://issinfo.net/artemis.html) for a diagram of their position.

Currently, the arrangement is like this:

                 ⌝ toward Earth
               ⋰
        \    ⋰ 
         \ ⋰    ⦙
     Moon *      * Orion 
           \     ⇣
            \
        (moon's orbit)

The line I've put here is the moon's orbit. Everything ⬃ of the line is the dark side, as it faces away from Earth. From this diagram, if you drew a vertical line through the moon, Orion sees the right half. Some of that is what the Earth sees, and some of it is not — the portion that isn't is the dark side.

(Also note that "the dark side of the moon" is a specific term meaning the far side of the moon, not the literal dark portion. The "dark side of the moon" is lit 50% of the time.)

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

#372

Post by b00ty4breakfast » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:58 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #249

beacon294 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He could be expressing the generational frustration of being black in America. When things are so segregated you feel you are looking across at a different country landing on the moon, you might write such a poem.

> He could be expressing the generational frustration of being black in America I’m sure that’s how the racist young Republicans would defend themselves too. It’s hard being a young man in America today.

[flagged]

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

#373

Post by ndiddy » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:09 AM UTC

telman17 wrote: post #187

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.

These people existed in the Apollo era just not on a website. We weren't exactly living in a utopia then either and you'd have difficulty convincing some folks to be excited about space exploration then too. Some people feel their outlook on the world takes precedence. And they'll shit in other people's celebrations to get their point across. Best to downvote or ignore them and embrace what nuance you can find.

In case you're curious about US history and not just trying to make a point, "those people in the Apollo era" were the majority of Americans for most of the time the Apollo program was ongoing. Republicans argued that the large NASA budget was fiscally unwise and Democrats argued that the money would have been better used for social programs. The press referred to the program as the "Moondoggle". In 1962, the New York Times noted that the projected Apollo program budget could have instead been used to create over 100 universities of a similar size to Harvard, build millions of homes, replace hundreds of worn-out schools, build hundreds of hospitals, and fund disease research. The Apollo program's popularity hovered around 40% for most of the 1960s when it was underway. It peaked at 53% just after the moon landing, and by April 1970 it was back down to 40%. It wasn't until the mid-80s that the majority of Americans thought that the Apollo program was worth it.

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

#374

Post by _moof » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:09 AM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #353

_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.

The cynicism or even lack of interest is because it's extremely underwhelming. If you ask 100 people in 1969 what humans would be doing in space in 57 years I can guarantee not a single person would guess that we've done nothing of substance. And that the most exciting thing we have done that involved human space travel is simply flying around the moon, people wouldn't believe it

It really sucks that you responded to my exhaustion with the exact thing I'm exhausted by. And you aren't even saying anything new. Please don't do this again.

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

#375

Post by Aloha » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:28 AM UTC

dingaling wrote: post #141

bombcar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pork funnel is going to exist unless something major changes; so I'd rather get moonshots out of the pork.

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.

Also, if you dont think Apollo had pork in it, you're not aware enough of the history, the various assembly plants were placed mostly for political support, the shuttle and now SLS follows the same pattern.

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

#376

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:29 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #316

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I thought the various space stations were there to develop & test life-support systems long term?

> thought the various space stations were there to develop & test life-support systems long term?

I thought ducks were a preparation of chicken until my early teens. I was wrong.

We have never flown this deep-space life-support system on the ISS together. In parts, yes. But that doesn’t substitute for a real mission. As for simulations, how would you rate your experience from a role play versus the real deal?

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

#377

Post by Teever » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #364

Teever wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the reason you reject the claims and won’t even entertain the notion as a hypothetical is because you know deep down that you’ve been duped by Musk and can’t admit that fact publicly. Should incontrovertible proof of the magnitude of the atrocities that he has committed come to light you’ll pivot and say that it was worth it because he’s taking us to Mars. That’s how conmen work and Musk is a damn good o…

When you find proof of atrocities, feel free to post it. > dream of mars He's doing something about it, while nobody else does nuttin. Meanwhile, https://medium.com/swlh/here-s-to-the-crazy-ones-941190f58c5... And it's his money being spent on it, not yours. You're not out anything. And if he succeeds, we all win. The starship is a reality. Not a con.

Why don’t you just admit that you don’t really give a shit how many people he kills or laws he breaks as long as he does cool space stuff?

Like why beat around the bush? Just be honest man. The honesty would be refreshing.

It’s not like this attitude is unprecedented in aeronautics.

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

#378

Post by drjasonharrison » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:33 AM UTC

skeeter2020 wrote: post #302

al_borland wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran across this video[0] yesterday with Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about how it’s always been political. The first moon landing was more about global politics than science. As a child you likely weren’t concerned about that side of it, or were shielded from it. It isn’t always the purist motivations that push the human race forward, but forward it moves us. [0] https://youtu.be/j_AlXChA9F4

this is why I mark the divide between the manned and unmanned space program. Historically the unmanned accomplishments have been less political (at least IMO) and made far larger advances. I don't need a human to take a photo of the dark side of the moon and then email it to me if a satellite can do it (with 1980's tech)

"far side of the moon"

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

#379

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:34 AM UTC

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #372

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He could be expressing the generational frustration of being black in America I’m sure that’s how the racist young Republicans would defend themselves too. It’s hard being a young man in America today.

[flagged]

> to compare a black man who grew up in the Jim Crow era and was living through the civil rights era to thin-skinned white kids who grew up in the suburbs

I’ll stand by it. Frustration is genuine. Using it as an excuse for racism doesn’t have an obvious reason to scale with distress.

If you think I’m saying the input horror is similar, I’m not. But there isn’t a law of proportionality for racism. If you think being racist is okay because something in your past excuses bad behavior, I disagree with qualification.

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

#380

Post by drjasonharrison » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:34 AM UTC

beloch wrote: post #56

_fw wrote: 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.

Imagine you're holding a ball with drawings on it. Hold it out at arms length and fix how it looks in your memory. Now bring it close to your face and move your head a tiny bit to the side. You're not seeing the whole back-side of the ball. Far from it! However, you are seeing some bits you weren't seeing before and the whole picture you can see now looks different than it did when the ball was at arm's length. That'…

"far-side of the moon"

There is no dark side.