Kevster

In case you haven't seen anything on the news about it (hard not to with the 40th Anniversary), all three Apollo 11 astronauts were at the white house today.

Here's Wired's Science blog entry on Apollo for today: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...ollo11science/

What is really cool is the website wechoosethemoon.com

They have been broadcasting the entire Apollo 11 audio archives, starting with the launch 4 days ago. I have been listening to it at work and at home and it has been fascinating to listen to since I wasn't around the first time it happened. The landing is coming up in 1 hour and 45 minutes from this post, so you can listen along with me if you want.

EDIT:

Here's another interesting link from Network World:

10 Gifts from Apollo (and no, Tang isn't one of them): http://www.networkworld.com/slidesho...l?t51hb#slide1

__________________
I think over again
My small adventures, my fears.
The small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.

And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing:

To live to see the great day that dawns,
And the light that fills the world.

-old Inuit song

zippyjuan

The race to the moon certainly captivated the country and the world at the time. It was a bright spot on the news which was filled with cold war news and the Vietnam War. I remember collection soda bottle caps with the various mission logos on them and staying up to watch the grainy footage shot out the side window of the craft of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon on a small black and white TV. And yes, we drank Tang because it was the "drink of the astronauts". Walter Cronkite provided the narration of the historical event.

My eventual university the University of Colorado (which was in the same town I grew up in) produced more astronauts than any other school in the country and still does. Scott Carpenter was a local.

__________________
I add new pictures to my photo gallery pretty regularly. You can see them here if you are interested: http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz

Hoser

40 Years Ago Today We first Walked on the Moon - or did we?

I can't believe that there are people now that don't think we ever made it to the moon.

Markel

Just take a look at THIS!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouUUWpEec0

__________________
stay low... keep moving...

DarkFury

Isn't the Earth really flat as well?

__________________


DarkFury's Pimptopia - Don't Hate the Playa, Hate the Game!
Home of the Original OG Pimp (accept NO imitations)

Kevster

Thanks to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that was recently launched, we are now able to at least see major parts of the landing sites.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LR...ollosites.html

Of course, the conspiracy theorists will simply say they're doctored, they're other robotic mission sites, or they're all black monoliths.

Jeffbx

It's a real disappointment to me that we could do that 40 years ago, but we couldn't do it again today.

Kevster

Oh we could do it again, but our current budget for it is about a tenth of what it initially cost us in adjusted dollars. As with everything, it all costs money and we're pissing it away on lots of other things right now.

Jeffbx

That's my point. I know the TECHNOLOGY is there - I want to see the money there as well.

zippyjuan

Somebody borrowed it to use in Iraq and Afghanistan. And now for bailouts too. It is incredible how simple the equipment they used back then was. A cell phone has more computer power than the entire space craft did back then. I have had the chance to see a couple of capsules on display (can't remember exactly where though- not at the Smithsonian since I have never been there).

Thesifer

Actually the Orion Project intends to send astronauts back to the moon by 2019. And since the Chinese are also attempting it by 2020-2024, maybe it will spur up a little competition, even though we already won. And no one has repeated the feat.

Japan send a probe that took pictures and mapped out some of the areas including being able to see the Apollo 15 halo from the LM Launch off the surface.

And actually there are people that strongly believe that---

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/

Some of them now obviously join as a joke, but it's a "real" society, and had real leadership until around 2001 when the main leader died.

__________________