Moon Landings

[trang]

watch the movie Capricorn One, its about space program conspiracy, good movie I think. has OJ the wife slayer in it, oh and he is in Pro Football hall of fame if anyone forgot.

[Freakzilla]

watch the movie Capricorn One, its about space program conspiracy, good movie I think. has OJ the wife slayer in it, oh and he is in Pro Football hall of fame if anyone forgot.

He was in the Naked Gun movies, too.

[Simon]

@A Thing of Eternity- Regarding the industrialization of space, I agree there as well. The moon is definitely the first step, but I think the entire solar system needs to be opened up before we make "SF fan type" progress. Sadly the estimates I'm hearing are, on average, 500 or so years, give or take a couple hundred depending on who you ask.

Oh definitely, my main thing is just that we can't keep blasting shit into orbit. We'll never ever build anything signficant up there that way. We need to be mining and manufacturing up there in low grav before we could even build something puny like a space station that could house a hundred people.

I got into an argument on here once about the subject of building space stations to house people in case something happened to the Earth. The reality is that if we even wanted to build one that would house maybe a thousand people we'd bankrupt the entire planet, and it would maybe be able to last, oh, 30 years tops is my guess.

We need to figure out how to make mining automated, then put the bloody robots on the moon and let them just build more of themselves and stockpile materials until we're capable of doing anything with it. Then we can get rocking on it.

Of course something like a space elevator could work as well.

The space elevator concept is an interesting one. Not being a scientist, the idea seems sound enough. Though I have definite misgivings about the hazards. Not saying it shouldn't be done, just that the variables should be well examined.

I accept that people will die in this endeavor (the exploration in general), and would happily volunteer if asked. It disturbs me when people question the programs (U.S, Russian, ect..) worth because 18 people have died (not counting the 10 who have died in training accidents). We war at the cost of countless lives lost, but 28 dead in the course of what (IMHO) is our greatest undertaking.... ..gives "the world" pause? I do not get it.

[Simon]

I was 3 when they landed so don't remember exactly, but have been enthusiast about the space program since I was about 7. Everyone has the right to doubt or question anything, but that doesnt make them right or less stupid.

I told someone the other day we started sending probes to mars in the mid sixties and on into the mid seventies with landers, they didn't believe me, they thought pathfinder was our first !! I said google it fuckhead, Mariner, Voyager and Viking.

The moon landings are pure reality, and people who challenge it are closer kin to neanderthal than homosapian, but are allowed to question what they like. I just hope they aren't breeding.

You probably have something there. Can't recall anyone I've heard put the hoax theory forward, whom I would categorize as "a thinker".

[Simon]

@Sandchigger- No trolling (I think? lol), the subject has just been on my mind, thought I'd see what you guys thought.
As for witnessing it, what was that like? I mean even today, to look at the footage, it's not so sharp. So on the old sets from the 60's I imagine it was even further diminished. What were your impressions at the time? How'd everyone around you ("the adults") react?

Even at 8 I was the weird geeky kid into Star Trek and science fiction, so I was in seventh heaven, glued to the tube. Everyone else seemed to take it all matter-of-factly.

Was it HBJ that pointed out that the moon landing was the culmination of a long series of experimental/test missions in Earth orbit and one lunar orbital flight? It was something people had lived with in the background for years, and I never heard anything about it all being faked. (Of course, I was just a boy and we just had the news from the three main networks and local radio stations. Plus the local papers.) It was years before I heard any of the conspiracy theory nuttiness...

LOL, I can imagine (wish I could have seen it in the context of the actual living moment!). It must have been the opposite of my experience with Challenger. I was in... 1st grade.. I think. We were watching Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", they stopped it so we could watch the launch, and in what to my recollection was a very short time, things went south. I just remember looking at the screen thinking "Huh? That isn't right.. is it?" Like most (though I had the excuse of age), it was all "matter of fact", I took the seemingly easy going routine of space travel for granted.

As for the conspiracy theory, your right there. Even I hadn't heard the idea put forward until maybe the last decade, 15 years or so. I read it came to what prominence it has due to a FOX television special (though I never saw it).

[Simon]

I was 3 when they landed so don't remember exactly, but have been enthusiast about the space program since I was about 7. Everyone has the right to doubt or question anything, but that doesnt make them right or less stupid.

Oh yeah, to clarify my earlier rant, I don't have an issue with people questioning the moon landing(s), it's the evidence they use that makes me think they're idiots.

Kinda like 9/11 (hmmm, that's today, weird...), I'm not saying the US gov couldn't have been involved, I'm saying most of the evidence put forth is hogwash.

Exactly. Debate is healthy.

[Demerzel]

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again - we're not going to do ANYTHING signficant (in the way us SF people think of significant, I'm not saying what hasn't already been done isn't!) in space until we have mining and manufacturing in space, ie: the moon. Until then we ain't going anywhere.

We need to stop focusing so much on nanotech and phones and iPods and slimmer screens and redirect our funds to a space program.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again - we're not going to do ANYTHING signficant (in the way us SF people think of significant, I'm not saying what hasn't already been done isn't!) in space until we have mining and manufacturing in space, ie: the moon. Until then we ain't going anywhere.

We need to stop focusing so much on nanotech and phones and iPods and slimmer screens and redirect our funds to a space program.

Well nanotech is vital to any real space work, so don't abandon that! Seriously, the space program will get us nowhere until we're further along with our technology in general - we need the ability to set up fully automated mining and manufacturing on the moon, and that's going to require decades more of simple technology advancements here on earth.

That same tech making silly consumer junk will aid in the space program, just like the space program and military advances helped in the consumer sector. It's not like each application of the technology exists in a bubble.

[Drunken Idaho]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

[Drunken Idaho]

And hey! It's Simon!

[Serkanner]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

Even I understand the physics after watching this:

[Drunken Idaho]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

Even I understand the physics after watching this:

Nice. Not really a fan of that show, but glad to see this being talked about in the mainstream.

[SadisticCynic]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

Even I understand the physics after watching this:

Nice. Not really a fan of that show, but glad to see this being talked about in the mainstream.

Quite a while back a friend and I decided that the criterion for not liking TBBT was that you are dead...

[Serkanner]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

Even I understand the physics after watching this:

Nice. Not really a fan of that show, but glad to see this being talked about in the mainstream.

Quite a while back a friend and I decided that the criterion for not liking TBBT was that you are dead...

+1 ... Rarely seen a comedy that manages to stay real funny and clever this long.

[Drunken Idaho]

Moon landings are real.

Ever heard of retroreflectors? They're special reflectors that always bounce light back at the same angle it was shone from. Grocery store tellers use these reflectors with the barcode-scanners to help keep things speedy when you're in line.

Anyway, several of these types of reflectors were placed on the moon's surface by various Apollo missions. They are little pads the size of a pizza box that sit on the lunar surface facing upwards. Observatories use these reflectors regularly, and shine high-power lasers at coordinates made public by NASA and receive the signal back, sometimes simply to align their telescopes, but have also been used to discover that the moon is slowly drifting away from earth as it orbits. Learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lase ... experiment

Even I understand the physics after watching this:

Nice. Not really a fan of that show, but glad to see this being talked about in the mainstream.

Quite a while back a friend and I decided that the criterion for not liking TBBT was that you are dead...

Ha! Yeah, it just seems to me every joke is "Haha, they said something nerdy, but she's hot! What the heck?" I don't find it that funny at all, and the laugh track does nothing to convince me otherwise. Besides, there have been many examples of much finer geeky humour... Ever watch "Spaced" with Simon Pegg while it lasted?

[SadisticCynic]

No, I didn't see it. I don't even get to see TBBT all that often either, since I have no T.V in my flat (yeah, I'm familiar with online sources ).

I do recall seeing one little bit of Spaced though; there was a guy who, presumably, liked to go to raves and such, and while on drugs he started rocking out to the clock ticking and the phone ringing etc. Was a good clip.

On the other hand physics jokes are right up my alley; I still giggle at Sheldon dressing as the Doppler effect for Halloween.

[Apjak]

Spaced was WAY better than TBBT, which IS getting worse. He's an example.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3p1f0-q ... re=related[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2X6T76E ... re=related[/youtube]

[SandChigger]

WTF?!

That's what's-his-face, from Sean of the Dead, what?