Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dont forget 4/1 Elon tweeted he was putting a doge coin on the moon. When that does happen in 2027 or 2028 its going to actually explode in price for the hype
... and then crash back down again
Seveneves confirmed?
Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
91–100 of 162 posts
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#92So we're re-creating the Apollo 8 Mission 60 years later. 60 years after swinging around the moon, we are going to attempt the feat again. I'm having a hard time getting excited... Especially when some say it may not survive reentry because of politics ( https://idlewords.com/2026/03/artemis_ii_is_not_safe_to_fly.... )
> So we're re-creating the Apollo 8 Mission 60 years later. Not even: Apollo 8[0] went into orbit around the moon (orbited 10 times), then left lunar orbit to return to Earth. This required mission-critical rocket burns both to enter (LOI) and exit (TEI) lunar orbit. Artemis II[1] is merely doing a "fly-by"; it'll never enter lunar orbit, a much less challenging/risky mission. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo…
Thank you for those links. Haven’t read them in a while.
It really makes you appreciate what the Apollo program achieved. Really amazing.
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#93So we're re-creating the Apollo 8 Mission 60 years later. 60 years after swinging around the moon, we are going to attempt the feat again. I'm having a hard time getting excited... Especially when some say it may not survive reentry because of politics ( https://idlewords.com/2026/03/artemis_ii_is_not_safe_to_fly.... )
> So we're re-creating the Apollo 8 Mission 60 years later. Not even: Apollo 8[0] went into orbit around the moon (orbited 10 times), then left lunar orbit to return to Earth. This required mission-critical rocket burns both to enter (LOI) and exit (TEI) lunar orbit. Artemis II[1] is merely doing a "fly-by"; it'll never enter lunar orbit, a much less challenging/risky mission. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo…
Space race notwithstanding, maybe less risky isn't such a bad idea.
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's just a matter of wasting enough money for some people to have the time of their life. That's such a cynical viewpoint. We are not doing this so that astronauts can have fun. Yes, we have been screwing up our planet. On that note alone, we should develop capabilities to access resources beyond our planet. We could have made that same argument before we had the capability of launching satellites ("why are we was…
> That's such a cynical viewpoint. We are not doing this so that astronauts can have fun. Don't get me wrong: I would totally love to be in their shoes, I completely understand why they want to do it. > Nowadays, they are crucial This is the typical "we need to do it because it's hard, and we don't know what we will learn from it, and BTW there are things we developed for the space program that got into civilian use"…
The Apollo program had a big impact on the development of integrated circuits, turning software engineering into a real discipline, and fly-by-wire technology. Could this have happened without? Probably yes, these technologies aready somewhat existed, but the program pushed them much harder than they would have done otherwise. Same thing for later space missions, they pushed technology to the limits of the time.
A good example here is solar panels. They were invented before the space race, but for what, why do you need them on earth? We had cheap oil and fossil fuels, nobody cared about renewables. But for the first 50 years after they were invented satellites was what kept them alive, as it made sense to use that technology there. That gave them a real use case, which continued investment and development into them.
I doubt today we would have the same level of satellite technology today if the space race didn't happen, so it's unlikely we would have the same level of solar panels either.
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, you may look at it from that perspective. Or, you could look into it as restoring a capability that we used to have, and potentially enable further, more interesting missions. I am not _too excited_ about the SLS itself as it looks like a political compromise, just as the shuttle was. But better late than never.
> and potentially enable further, more interesting missions. The further we go as humans is Mars, and it's useless. The next star is so, so, so far away that even considering reaching it with "something" requires a revolution in fundamental physics. No need to build rockets for that, just a whiteboard and physicists, I guess. And saying that we go to Mars is extremely generous. The engineering of the rocket going the…
> Chances are that we as a society collapse long before we get to send humans to Mars.
And possibly even before we make it back to the moon's surface.
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's just a matter of wasting enough money for some people to have the time of their life. That's such a cynical viewpoint. We are not doing this so that astronauts can have fun. Yes, we have been screwing up our planet. On that note alone, we should develop capabilities to access resources beyond our planet. We could have made that same argument before we had the capability of launching satellites ("why are we was…
> That's such a cynical viewpoint. We are not doing this so that astronauts can have fun. Don't get me wrong: I would totally love to be in their shoes, I completely understand why they want to do it. > Nowadays, they are crucial This is the typical "we need to do it because it's hard, and we don't know what we will learn from it, and BTW there are things we developed for the space program that got into civilian use"…
While I agree with the sentiment that sending manned missions to the Moon is kinda useless, unfortunately diverting those money to "noble purposes" is an utopia because that's not how things work.
In practice if those billions don't fund NASA programs they go into making some billionaires richer, Oracle laying off 30,000 people to fund data centers that will be obsolete by the time they are ready and similar stuff. Not a dime towards noble goals of humanity.
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#97Been there; done that. This whole thing is nerd fantasy come to life but its not particularly useful and right now the world for most people is about trying to figure out how to deal with the cost of everything thanks to a poorly planned war against Iran.
When Apollo 8 went up in December 1968, the US was near the peak of its involvement in the expensive and poorly planned Vietnam war, inflation had been rising in the US for three years and had hit 7.2% in October, the doomed, corrupt, and paranoid Republican president-elect had ran on lowering the price of hamburgers and medical care but was actively trying to manipulate the Supreme Court's composition behind the scenes, Israel was bombing its neighbors, control over the Panama Canal was being contested, the Hong Kong Flu epidemic was winding down, popular news was gripped by a kidnapping story involving a celebrity, and the NTSB was struggling to explain why so many passenger aircraft were being involved in fatal crashes and collisions with ground structures
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#98Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#99Probably because the first time we did it we were an optimistic country with a good economy and a bright future in front of us?
Re: Why Doesn't Anybody Realize We're Going Back to the Moon?
#100The real answer is that one of a kind single-launch Moon mission is not all that interesting. If you read anyone who participated in the Apollo program (engineers or mission control people like Gene Kranz), everyone knew that the only thing that kept the program afloat was novelty. It's not there anymore. I would say JPL is way too underrated compared to the moon flights, as it's the main reason we know so much about the Solar System.
Also, not a lot of tech from Apollo was reused after its termination, and this program is very similar. Original Soviet plan (orbital assembly and Venus/Mars flyby) and SpaceX's one much later were/are a lot more pragmatic, as they led to a lot more practical tech and infra even if not fully realized (orbital stations and heavy reusable launchers).