the timelessness of the moonshots;

[oker59]

Humanity may set foot on the moon again, but it will forever be less an event than the Apollo program because the Apollo effort was with less science and technology and pretty close to a minimum.<br /><br />This is how great an achievement the first moon landers were;

 

[ambrous]

I do have to agree the the Apollo "moon shots" have a certain majesty and excitement that I do not think that any future missions will have. This is not to say that any new missions will be boring. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[halman]

oker59,<br /><br />Over the years, I have come to have very mixed feelings about the Apollo program. On the one hand, it was captivating, exciting, uplifting, and motivating. On the other hand, it was a foolish stunt, which stretched our technology to the limit, and did not set the stage, or prepare for anything. I think personally that the Apollo program set back our off planet growth by many years, as it leapfrogged that intermediate steps that have classically been taken when exploring new territory, which are establishing a base in the new territory, then exploring that territory, then building an advance base from which to explore further. The space station is a critical element in space exploration, a transfer point from the aerodynamic, high-thrust vehicles needed to traverse the energy barrier of the atmosphere, and the low-thrust spaceships needed for traveling to other places, and landing there.<br /><br />All of the carefully laid plans of the space exploration community were thrown out the window, as the rush to meet the deadline precluded anything but work on Apollo. And the Apollo program divided people over space exploration needlessly, by squandering resources in its reckless dash to plant the flag. Instead of a slow, steady progression of achievements, building interest in the space program, we committed to a goal that was far beyond our ability to capitalize on, which made many in the public opposed to any kind of space travel.<br /><br />But the benefits of the Apollo program to the country are beyond measure, just from the development of the microprocessor alone. This device has revolutionized our culture, science, our ways of manipulating the physical world, and our ways of measuring that world. So, in the end, perhaps it all balances out. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[onesmallstep]

oker59,<br /><br />Just imagine...From 1969 until 1972, twelve Americans explored the surface of another celestial body--the moon. This is a feat that has never been duplicated, before or since. (And I'm not holding my breath until the Orion missions begin, they may never happen.) <br /><br />Apollo was one of those "lightening in a bottle" moments in history when certain elements converged at just the right time to produce a truly unforgettable, quantum leap in the human condition. When you think about it, not much has happened in terms of human exploration of space in the past 35 years since Apollo 17. Aside from LEO missions and robotic missions...nothing else has happened. Don't get me wrong, robotic missions are great, but so much more could have been accomplished in the last 35 years. <br /><br />It has been the lack of political will and the short sightedness of the average american boob that has prevented the space program from reaching its full potential over these past years. I don' t look for this to change any time soon. Perhaps if the Chinese or some other country does something dramatic in space, something that could be perceived as a military threat, then maybe we will get it in gear again...until then I'm not optimistic. <br /><br />But I am greatful that I was fortunate enough to be alive to see the magic happen once...well, six times actually! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

After the collapse of USSR,USA LOST ZEAL.With Chinese rise USA MAY REVIVE.

 

[3488]

Could not agree more alokmohan. If China does indeed succeed in developing a crewed lunar spacecraft themselves, you can bet that the USA will not want to lose face & they will revive.<br /><br />Rather than compete, why not co-operate? I have always thought that the next person on the Moon or the first on Mars may come from India or China. Look at the intellect that both countries are producing. <br /><br />Our friend Alokmohan & my wife are good examples of my last statement.<br /><br />BTW, the moonshots are most certainly timeless. They will NEVER date. Each Apollo mission produced a unique set of data for the locality of their landing sites.<br /><br />My favourites were Apollo 15 & Apollo 17, due to the interesting lunar geology of the Hadley Rille & the Taurus / Littrow valley. Having said, none of the Apollo missions were 'boring' so do not get me wrong.<br /><br />The successful pre Apollo Surveyors too were interesting, particularly Surveyor 7. Landed in an interesting site, north of Tycho.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[oker59]

some of the best responces I've seen in awhile . . . sorry, but sometimes, I find myself just worrying about myself!

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

<font color="yellow">Rather than compete, why not co-operate?</font><br /><br />Because we get a designed by commitee project that tries to please too many people and ends up being overly complicated and very slow to adapt to change. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>